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
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| Kyoto Tower. The first thing you see when you come out of Kyoto station |
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| Grey against grey |
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| Tall and proud |
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Evening stretches
there were a lot of cranes around the temples near the station. Great to see them |
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| Singular building near the station |
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| Beautiful at night |
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| Giant mushroom |
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| More than three centuries ago, when Kyoto was the capital of Japan,
three magnificent gardens were created there for the imperial court |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Beautiful sliding panels |
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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" |
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| We were there a bit early for the full autumn colours, but it still didn't disappoint |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| On fire! |
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| Walking around the lake |
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| Paradise must be something like this.... |
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| It woudn't be complete without a bridge |
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| Reflections |
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| Later that evening in the centre of Kyoto.... |
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| ....the sunset was simply.... |
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| ....stunning |
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| 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! |
