Garden visit in rainy Kyoto

September 29

Tuesday was our first day to explore Kyoto, and unfortunately, it was quite rainy. In fact, a tropical storm was already making its way to the southern coast of Japan. Although the storm subsided and posed no further threat, it still brought plenty of rain.

Therefore, we decided to change our plans for the day a bit. Instead of visiting the large Fushimi Inari Shrine, we visited a few smaller temples and a famous Japanese garden. After all, we wanted to see Japanese gardening art ourselves and maybe even take some ideas back to our own garden. Who knows?

So here is our complete morning tour:

First, we visited the Tenryū-ji Temple with its Zen garden. Everywhere, there were very well-maintained and meticulously trimmed trees, large gravel areas with precise lines raked into them, and a beautiful pond. Everything looked quite orderly.

Right behind it, you could stroll through a bamboo grove.

Next, we visited the park around the Ōkōchi-Sansō Villa. The famous Japanese silent film and samurai film star Denjirō Ōkōchi (1898–1962) spent almost 30 years of his life meticulously planning every tree and stone in the landscape. We particularly enjoyed this garden.

Next up was the Gio-ji Temple, also known as the moss temple. The name is quite self-explanatory, as the entire temple grounds are covered with a thick layer of moss. Especially with the rain, it was a really lovely sight.

Lastly, we visited the Otagi-Nenbutsu-ji Temple. The grounds hold around 1,200 small Buddha statues that were made and placed there by laypeople and pilgrims under the guidance of the priest and sculptor Kocho Nishimura in the 1980s.

Unfortunately, the rain kept getting heavier, and we were slowly but surely getting quite soaked.

For lunch, we treated ourselves to Okonomiyaki. Essentially, these are very hearty pancakes that contain finely chopped cabbage and, depending on the variant, also meat, fish, or vegetables. Every table has a hot plate on which the food is served and stays nice and hot afterward.

That was just what we needed in this weather.

Afterward, we checked out the pagoda and temple halls of the Tō-ji Temple. Since we arrived just before the entrance stop, there were hardly any visitors on the grounds. This allowed us to enjoy the enormous structures and impressive Buddha statues in a pleasantly quiet atmosphere.

Afterward, we first went back to the hotel. We warmed up, changed into dry clothes, and later went for a little evening stroll to a nearby shopping center, where we also had dinner.

And then this day was done.