Thirty years ago, I lived in The Town of Shichijo Higashiwa in Kyoto, facing the foothills of Higashiyama in the east, facing south, where the ancient bears were infested, the Thirty-three Halls of the National Treasure Senju Kannon, and the Chikakuin Temple, which treasures the "Sakura Map" and "Kaede Map" in the north.
It was the first year of Heisei, and most of the Chinese in Japan were running for study and part-time work, and traveling abroad had not yet formed a climate. I was also working as a newspaper deliverer, and the newspaper read that Kyoto was preparing for the 1,200th anniversary of the establishment of the capital of Heian Kyo a few years later, but I was not aware of the world heritage at the time.
Map of Kyoto
In 794 AD, Kyoto was established as the capital, known as Heian Kyo, imitating the layout of Luoyang City and Chang'an City in China, with streets like a chessboard and scenic spots and monuments. I posted a map of the "Ancient Capital Tour" on the wooden sliding door, intending to travel to all corners of Kyoto. Surrounded by mountains on three sides to the northeast and west of Kyoto, the Kamogawa and Kono rivers originate in kitayama, and merge into the Kamogawa River near the Shimo-Kamakura Shrine to form a "Ya" character. The Kamogawa River crosses the city to the south of the city, and forms a "Ya" character with the Gyugawa River, which flows into the Yodogawa River and flows towards the southern plain. The character for kyoto geography "Ya" says that I studied the map by looking at it.
Shimo-Kamakura Shrine
Kiyomizu-dera Temple is relatively close to where I live, and there are three roads to go. I often pass from Yasaka Shrine via the Ninninomik Trail, Ninasaka, and Sansaka to Kiyomizu-dera Temple, which is a classic route in Kyoto that preserves its historical traditions. In addition, you can also take the two short roads of Shimizusaka and Chabasaka. A clear spring flows from the foothills of Mt. Higashiyama to form the Otowa Waterfall. There was a monk who built Kiyomizu-dera Temple there, dividing the mountain spring into three streams, which symbolizes schoolwork, love, and longevity, and let people drink and pray for luck. A wooden clear water stage is built on the cliffs, cherry blossoms fill the mountain streams in spring, and in autumn the woods are transformed into red leaf forests like the hands of magicians.
Kiyomizu-dera Temple
Not far north of Kyoto Station, Nishi Honganji Temple and Higashi Honganji Stand symmetrically. At that time, I felt that the two monasteries were about the same size, and the wooden buildings were imposing and exquisitely carved. When Honganji Temple was built, there was a lack of ropes to carry building materials, and female devotees from all over the world sacrificed their beautiful hair and woven a huge rope "Mao Gang" that was 40 centimeters thick, 110 meters long, and weighed 1 ton. Nishi Hongan-ji Temple has ancient buildings such as the Tang Gate, the Academy, the Imperial Shadow Hall, the Feiyun Pavilion, and the Noh Stage, and the ginkgo trees in the courtyard are golden in autumn.
Nishi Hongan-ji Temple
Heading north from Nishi Honganji Temple, you will encounter Nijo Castle, which was the residence of Tokugawa Yasunari during the Sengoku period. There are pine eagle screens in the temple, and people walking barefoot in wooden corridors will make the sound of warblers and birds, which is an ingenious design in ancient times to prevent assassins from sneaking in. Nijo Castle has a castle, castles, gardens, and a garden full of cherry blossoms.
Nijo Castle
Every year on May 15, Kyoto hosts the Aoi Festival. Kyotoites, dressed in ornate and elegant ancient costumes and leading ox carts with sunflower leaves, depart from the Kyoto Imperial Palace to the Shimo-kamika Shrine and Kamikamo Shrine to offer sacrifices, take refuge in disasters, and pray for a good harvest. A "Aoi Festival" implicates three places of interest: the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the Shimo-kamika Shrine, and the Kamiga-Shigeru Shrine. At the intersection of the upper "Ya" characters, the Lower Duck Shrine is famous for its worship of the water god. In summer, there is a "Midori Wash Festival" at Shimoduka Shrine, where people walk through the forest and go barefoot into a cool stream, carrying small lit candles in their hands, wading through the bridge hole, and inserting small candles into the shrine. The terminus of the Aoi Festival is Kamikamo Shrine, famous for its sacrifice to the god of thunder, and legend has it that the god of thunder blessed agriculture with abundant grain.
Kamigata Shrine
Kinkaku-ji Temple, also known as Luyuan Temple, is a tourist icon in Kyoto. The three-storey Golden Pavilion by the pool of Mirror Lake shines golden under the sun. It is said that the total weight of the gold leaf pasted by the Golden Pavilion reaches 20 kilograms. The pavilion was set on fire by a monk and written in a novel by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, and Kinkaku-ji Temple is tinged with mystery.
Kinkaku-ji Temple
The first time I went to Toji Temple, I actually went to see the Toji Antique Market. On the 21st of every month, the East Temple holds a market, similar to the Chinese temple fair and the Western flea market, many people set up stalls in the East Temple to sell calligraphy and paintings, bone china, bronzeware, silk, ornaments, and even foreigners practice stalls at the East Temple. During the cherry blossom season and autumn foliage season, Toji Temple becomes a snack market. The five-storied pagoda of Toji Temple is the tallest pagoda in ancient Japan, with a height of 55 meters. Kyoto has a height limit of 45 meters for buildings in some areas of the city, and with reference to the height of the Toji Tower, it is hoped that nearby buildings will not obscure the Toji Pagoda and make the Toji Pagoda a prominent point in the city skyline.
To-ji Temple
In 1994, on the occasion of the 1200th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto, UNESCO assessed the value and influence of the participating units in the history of world human culture from the aspects of cultural relics, architecture and ruins, promulgated the "Cultural Wealth of the Ancient Capital of Kyoto" as a World Heritage Site, and included 17 scenic spots in Kyoto on the World Heritage List: Nijo Castle, Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Nishi Hongan-ji Temple, Toji Temple, Shimoda Shrine, Kamikamo Shrine, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Ginkaku-ji Temple, Ryoan-ji Temple, Renwa-ji Temple, Tenryu-ji Temple, Saiho-ji Temple, Takayama-ji Temple, Hiro-in Temple, Uji-jo Shrine, Daigo-ji Temple, Enriji Temple.
A closer look at the 17 places of interest in Kyoto on the World Heritage List reveals that I have been to 7 and not 10. In the years that followed, I went to Japan several times, but I never had the opportunity to expand my achievements.
The turning point came in the summer of 2016, when I went to see the Kyoto "Gion Festival" and the Osaka "Tenjin Festival". I live in Osaka and travel between Osaka and Kyoto, and I use a Keihan Train 2-Day Pass that offers a discount to foreigners, and I can get on and off the Keihan Railway line unlimited times. I transferred from Nakashujima Station to Uji, and the exit was the Yume Keibashi Bridge, where the statue of Lady Purple Shibu, author of The Tale of Genji, sits on the side of the bridge, crosses the bridge to see the "Surugaya" matcha shop, crosses the matcha and ice cream streets, and arrives at the World Heritage Site - Koji-in Temple. The pattern in the yen 10 yuan coin is the Phoenix Hall of Kodanin Temple, and the designer has built a symmetrical building on the left and right according to the western concept of Elysium, as if the phoenix spreads its wings and is colorful.
Equality House
World Heritage is a common treasure of mankind, so I crossed Kawashin-chau and climbed up the hill to visit another World Heritage Site, Ujigami Shrine. This is the oldest shrine in Japan, the main hall was built in the Heian period, with a bark roof, simple and simple. There is Kirihara Water in one of the pavilions, which is the Uji Famous Spring.
Ujigami Shrine
Kyoto's wooden architecture, religious architecture, and garden art have a unique charm. The Ginkaku-ji Temple at the northern end of the Philosophical Path, also known as Cizhao-ji Temple, is not luxuriously covered with silver leaf like the Golden Pavilion Temple, which is covered with gold leaf, but uses black paint to paint the building, which appears simple and dull. The dry landscape garden has a gravel shape created by white sand, such as the silver sand beach of the waves of the sea and the platform of the miniature Mt. Fuji. There is a Hokuto stone in the Jinjing Pond on the edge of the Ginkaku-ji Temple, giving people an imaginary heaven and earth.
Ginkaku-ji Temple
In the early autumn of 2017, I traveled from Okinawa to Kyoto for a shorter stay, so I chose Daigo-ji Temple, a World Heritage Site. The idiom "Daigo empowerment" means to make people suddenly realize in Buddhist wisdom. On the Kyoto Metro Tozai Line to Daigo Station, you can walk a short walk to the location where Toyotomi Hideyoshi organized the cherry blossom viewing meeting "Daigo Hanami". The most typical standard photo of Daigo-ji Temple, across the lake, is photographed of the Bentaku Tenjo Pavilion and the Scarlet Arch Bridge surrounded by leaves. Bencaitian is the only goddess of the Seven Blessings of Japan, wearing a crown of eight lotuses on her head, embracing a pipa, proficient in music, and good at eloquence.
Daigo-ji Temple
In the cherry blossom season of 2018, I came to Arashiyama, where the mountains are full of flowers, crossed the Togetsu Bridge on the Dayan River, crossed the Sagano Bamboo Trail, and crossed the Tenryuji Temple several times, and this time I went in. The Temple's Caoyuan pond garden, centered on a waterhole with rocks and trees strewn around the temple, and Arashiyama and Mount Kokura in the background, is the first garden in Japan to be designated as a historical site and a special scenic spot.
Tenryuji Temple
I walked along the Keifuku Railway from Arashiyama in search of the famous Cherry Blossom Tunnel. Unfortunately, due to the climate, the cherry blossoms bloomed early, and only the remaining cherry blossoms on the side of the railway were left. But I walked to the World Heritage Site, Ninwa-ji Temple, where the royally planted Omuro cherry blossoms are varieties of late-blooming heavy-petaled cherry blossoms. It rained that day, and people wore umbrellas and walked through the pink cherry blossom forest to enjoy the beautiful scenery of cherry blossoms with dew and hanging beads in the rain, and the pagoda of Renhe Temple in the background.
Renhe Temple
The stone court in front of the abbot's hall, the stone garden adjacent to Renhe Temple, is likened to the ocean, and the scattered rocks are likened to islands, giving people the infinite reverie of the chaotic world. The dry landscape garden is dotted with 15 large and small rocks. But no matter from which angle you look at it, several of these 15 rocks are hidden, and it is incredible that you can't see all 15 of them. Like the people of Kyoto, I sat on the tatami mats, watched the stone garden, and quietly felt the realm of Zen enlightenment.
Ryoanji Temple
During the 2018 autumn foliage season, I'm ready to launch a final assault on three other World Heritage sites in Kyoto that I haven't been to yet. According to my Kyoto geographical distribution method, Takayama-ji Temple and Enri-ji Temple belong to the previous "Ya" character margin, and Xifang-ji Temple is in the next "Ya" character extension, which is relatively distant.
Enriji Temple
I drove to Kaohsiung, west of Kyoto, and visited Mount Tsugao, "The Temple of the Mountain Where the Sun Rises First." Enter ishizuin Temple, the birthplace of the Originator of Japanese manga, "Bird and Beast Character Painting", where anthropomorphic rabbits, frogs, and monkeys come to life with fights and frolicking. Go out and see The oldest tea plantation in Japan, in front of a primeval forest. Summer typhoons rarely hit the interior of Kyoto, blowing the tall Kitayama cedar to the east and west, and some trees uprooted on the hiking trails. I crossed the dangerous situation alone, found the Golden Hall of Takayama Temple in the mountains, and conquered a blind spot in the World Heritage Tour.
Takayama Temple
Saiho-ji Temple, also known as Moss Temple, is a temple designed by Japanese Zen monks dream window stone, located in a remote corner. The world's famous places are generally expected to be more tourists for good, but Xifang Temple hopes that the fewer visitors the better, it belongs to the temple of lonely fang. I walked past the Kiji-ni street next to Matsuo Taisha Shrine, past Suzu-ji Temple, and found the secluded Saiho-ji Temple, which was truly different. Originally, Xifang Temple preserved more than a hundred kinds of original mosses, and a green carpet was laid on the side of the courtyard wood pool. Xifang Temple adopts a reservation system to limit the flow and protect the moss vegetation and the natural features of the ancient temple.
Xifang Temple (Moss Temple)
I arrived at Hachise Mountain Station on the outskirts of Kyoto early, took the track gondola up the mountain, and then changed to a cable basket on the way to the top of Hiei Mountain. Mt. Hiei, also known as Tendai Mountain, overlooks Lake Biwa at the top of the mountain. Enryaku-ji Temple, the main headquarters of the Tendai Sect of Japan, is a majestic temple that embraces the mountain, and the ancient temple is spread over the three areas of the mountain: the East Pagoda, the West Pagoda, and the Yokogawa River. At night, I took the cable car down the mountain, suddenly the lights in the cable car turned off, the carriage was dark, only the head of the car lights shone in front, and the maple leaves on the hillside formed a red leaf tunnel, like a piece of colorful xia, gorgeous. Three minutes after the autumn leaf tunnel, the headlights were restored, the autumn leaves disappeared dreamily, and the passengers returned from heaven to the earth in exclamation.
After 30 years, I finally traveled to all corners of the ancient capital and photographed the seventeen maps of Kyoto, a World Heritage Site.
(Editor of this article: Xu Yunqian.) Inner text photo taken by the author)
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Yong Text Editor: Gu Yong Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Xiang Jianying