Hello, thanks for coming. This post shows photos from two evening walks in the city of Kyoto and an afternoon walk in one of the beautiful Imperial Villas' gardens. I hope you enjoy the photos. They were taken in October 2014
|
Kyoto Tower. The first thing you see when you come out of Kyoto station |
|
Grey against grey |
|
Tall and proud |
|
Evening stretches
there were a lot of cranes around the temples near the station. Great to see them |
|
Singular building near the station |
|
Beautiful at night |
|
Giant mushroom |
|
More than three centuries ago, when Kyoto was the capital of Japan,
three magnificent gardens were created there for the imperial court |
|
Today these three gardens - those of the Sento Imperial Palace (Sento
Gosho), the Katsura Imperial Villa (Katsura Rikyu), and the Shugakuin Imperial Villa (Shugakuin Rikyu) - are among the most celebrated in
Japanese garden art |
|
This garden is Shugakuin Rikyu. Shugaku-in Imperial Villa (修学院離宮 Shugaku-in Rikyū), or Shugaku-in Detached Palace, is a set of gardens and outbuildings (mostly tea-houses) in the hills of the eastern suburbs of Kyoto |
|
Beautiful sliding panels |
|
So lovely you have to see it twice!
The Upper Garden contained a large artificial pond, created by building
an earthen dam across a ravine; the pond contains a number of small
islands. Unlike the typical Japanese garden, it is a very large stroll
garden, making extensive use of the technique of "borrowed scenery" |
|
We were there a bit early for the full autumn colours, but it still didn't disappoint |
|
A simple pavilion of several rooms and wooden porch provides an
excellent vantage point, with superb views of the pond, its islands, and
the surrounding Kyoto hills |
|
The pond is ornamented with Chitose-bashi, a
relatively ornate bridge of two large, stone piers connected by a
central walkway, each capped with a wooden pavilion, one of which sports
a Chinese phoenix of gilt copper |
|
On fire! |
|
Walking around the lake |
|
Paradise must be something like this.... |
|
It woudn't be complete without a bridge |
|
Reflections |
|
Later that evening in the centre of Kyoto.... |
|
....the sunset was simply.... |
|
....stunning |
|
On the way to our hotel, walking to the metro, these lovely young women, dressed in traditional Maiko style, were happy to give me a final photo of the day. A beautiful finale! |
No comments:
Post a Comment