Day Four: The Kyoto Imperial Palace and the mountain shrine...

Hello! You found the compass!


      This morning we got to sleep in a little bit longer. Mother Nature proved to be strange; for the first time in all the years Dr. Huang has done this trip, it snowed. Yep, woke up to snow in Kyoto. Throughout the rest of the day, Mother Nature couldn't decide what to do with herself. It cleared up briefly but was still really cold, and then it rained, snowed, and was sunny all at the same time, and basically stayed like that all morning (occasionally the precipitation would let up).

    
      Our first stop of the day was a shrine right down the road from our hotel. The shrine, called Goo Shrine, enshrines Lord Wake no Kiyomaro. Boars guard the gates, which is unusual for a shrine. Of course, there is a story behind it. Apparently Lord Wake no Kiyomaro blocked a scheme by a Buddhist priest to usurp the throne in 769. He was exiled by the person he stopped, and on the way to his area of exile he was attacked by that person's men. He was badly wounded in the leg, but suddenly almost 300 wild boars appeared out of nowhere and escorted him to a shrine where his leg was healed by a miracle. The male and female boars in front of the shrine celebrate the boars that saved the Lord. They are venerated objects for fast recovery from illness and injuries related to the legs and back, for safe journeys, and for life free of accidents and mishaps.

One of the boar statues guarding the main gate.

There is the shrine!

        Our second stop of the day: the Kyoto Imperial Palace, where we got to go on a tour! To my great surprise and delight, photography was allowed. Our tour group was pretty big, but the guide was able to speak clearly to everyone and overall it was a thrilling experience!

Woohoo!

      We learned about why part of the temple was painted orange. Apparently it is a belief that orange wards off evil. Also, we were told that the Japanese believe that Northeast is the unluckiest direction. Because of this, the Northeast corner of the palace is cut out and a statue of a monkey is guarding it and fending off evil.
      The first rooms we saw were places that visitors to the Emperor would wait their turn to see him. There are three rooms for it, and each room is for a different class of visitors.

The Tiger Room, for the upper class.

The Crane Room, for the middle class.

The Cherry Blossom room, for the lower class.

There's part of the palace!

     

      After an hour long tour of the palace and gardens, we moved onto our second (and last stop of the day).

      "One more shrine" he said.

      "It will be a short day" he said.


      What Dr. Huang (the aforementioned "he") failed to tell us was that the shrine was up a rather large mountain. Granted the hike was maybe one hour uphill, but it was a steep hill and we were not prepared for such things.

Okay, so the view was worth it. However: This shot was from the *halfway* point.

      We made it to the top of the shrine and discovered that feral cats enjoyed living there. On the way back down the mountain we saw more cats, one of which was crouched in the middle of the road and meowing angrily at us. Even as we walked away, the angry Gandalf-kitty (so named because of the "You shall not pass!" quote, which the cat was undoubtedly yelling at us) was still yowling at our retreating backs.

      The shrine was dedicated to the god of harvest, who is supposedly very mischievous. That's why the guardians of his temples and shrines are foxes.

 

The temple!

      That about wrapped it up for our last day in Kyoto. We had wanted to go out and have some fun for our last night in the old capital city, but unfortunately our legs and feet are far beyond the ability to walk. So instead, I am going to take a bath and sleep. Tomorrow we get up early and head to Hiroshima and spend the night in Miyajima at a traditional inn. Now, because of the whole "traditional inn" thing, I seriously doubt I will have internet access. I also don't know if the hotel we're spending the night after tomorrow night at will have internet either. SO, it might be three days before my next entry (which will be three entries to cover any days missed). By then, we will be in Tokyo for the last four nights of our trip.


    That about wraps up my last entry in Kyoto. Before leaving, I have one final question for all of you...

      Oyasuminasai!