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With 16000 temples and over 400 shrines, Kyoto has no shortage of places to visit. In fact, the hardest part about coming here on holiday is trying to figure out which sites you should go out of your way to see and which ones you should leave for your next visit. As with tourist destinations all over the world, the most famous sites are not always the best. The Higashiyama (Eastern Mountain) District is widely known as one of Kyoto’s most beautiful areas but even in this district alone there are more temples than can be seen in one visit.
Rather than talk about which ones I like the best I thought I would introduce a few of the temples on this website through photos that I have taken on previous visits and let the images speak for themselves. The following black and whites have all been taken at Kodaiji and it’s sub-temple Entokuin.
Kodaiji was established by the wife of the “great unifier” Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It was the custom of the day that the widowed wives of aristocracy would become Buddhist nuns upon their husband’s death. (a policy that was as unpopular then as it would be today) Toyotomi’s wife Nene established this beautiful temple in 1608 and it has changed little since. Although nothing could be better than visiting in person, hopefully the following pictures will give you some idea of it’s charm.
