Kyoto pt.2

I was privileged with the chance to spend a day in Kyoto doing what I pleased. I am quite fond of schedules so the two nights before this day, I spent my evenings doing research to figure out what it was that I wanted to do. Realizing that Kyoto is so big with many things to do, I found out quickly that I would have to pick a few places. Creating a schedule for the day I cam up with a few points of interest where I go into greater detail on this post bellow. After our free time we had a planned presentation along with a dinner. We met with the owner of a bakery chain of restaurants who is also an MSU Alumni. At this dinner we were treated to a magnificent meal and this was perfect after a long day traveling throughout Kyoto.

Kiyomizudera Temple

Arriving here at 8am, I started the day here because of the location is on a hillside giving a nice view of Kyoto and a beautiful site to see. There is a large deck located here and these large type of structures amaze me.

Sanjusangendo Temple

Wow! After walking through this place I felt the need to spend quality time working on a special project. Because of the elaborate art here, I was left with the feeling of doing something right, no matter how long it may take. This place was truly amazing. 1001 statues of Kannon that took over 100 years to create reside here in this temple, which is one of the longest wooden structures in all of Japan. There was a lot of meaning behind the statues and also the guardian statues that are sitting in-front of these 1001 golden statues.

Nishi Honganji & Higashi Honganji Temple's

Another beautiful site! These massive structures are crazy talk! Seriously! These buildings were pure creation. These building temples were so awe-striking, I thought to myself how much time it would take to build something this massive. While thinking about this amazing building, I was focusing on how it must have took a community of people who were willing to sacrifice towards building these types of monuments. I think that today, society has lost sight of this type of communal work, but visiting these two temples was certainly a reminder for me to work with/for the community to make a grand impact.

Kyoto Aquarium

After lunch I went to the Kyoto Aquarium. It was a very hot day so an activity indoors was a great idea, plus I got to see some beautiful animals. I spent an hour to two here and bellow are a few pictures of the aquatic life at the Kyoto Aquarium.

Salamander

Eel

During my visit to Kyoto, I noticed that many temples/shrines/gardens were established and then preserved... while a city was built surrounding all of this. It was sometimes hard to locate a building because there was so much city is surrounding everything!! All in all, Kyoto is very influenced by Japanese culture and I was able to experience it during my stay in Japan!