Ken-nin-ji Temple and Flower Gardens

Ken-nin-ji Temple is located at the end of Hanami-koji Street in Gion area.
Ken-nin-ji is the oldest zen temple in Kyoto.
It is also famous for the picture of Fujin Raijin(the gods of wind and thunder) drawn by Tawaraya Sotatsu, the famous painter in Edo period.

We can see nice zen gardens and pictures on the paper slides.

We can also see the picture of twin dragons on the ceiling of the major building.

There are independent temples in Kenchuji like Ryosoku-in and Rei-gen-in, each temples are famous for Amacha flower gsrden and han-ge-sho flower garden.

In Ryosoku-in, from May 29 to June 7 we can see han-ge-sho  garden. The edge of the Han-ge-sho leaves  turn white in esrly summer and look like flowers. We can enjoy the very  serene garden there.

There also are two famous tea ceremony room.

In Rei-gen-in Temple, we can enjoy beautiful Amacha flowers in early summer.

Amacha flowers look like hydrangea flowers.

We can enjoy Amacha(sweet tea made from Amacha lesves) and sweets there.

There are very peculiar Koma-inu(the gsrdian animal made of stone) in Ken-nin-ji.

One is the shape of a wild boar and the other is a tiger.

Mifune(three boats) Festival

On May 19th, Mifune Festival was held on the Katsura River near Togetsu Bridge.
There were festival attendants dressed in Heian period costume performing as Seisho-Nagon, an essayist in Heian period, girl servants, dancers, and musicians on the boats.

Chinese Restaurant, Moriko, and Jibo-sha, the cafe along the Shirakawa River

Walking from Keihan Sanjo Station along the Shirakawa River, we went to the Chinese Restaurant, Moriko. The restaurant serves Kyoto taste Chinese meal.
We had fried rice, ramen, spring roll.
They were all delicious.

After having lunch, we continued walking along the Shirakawa River and got to Nanz
Sosui Museum. From there we walked along the ex-incline railroad.
Walking there was very interesting.

After that, we went to Konchi-in temple, near Nanzenji Temple. Nanzenji Temple is very famous and always crowded, but Konchi-in Temple was not crowded and we enjoyed very serene time seeing beautiful garden.

We walked back along the Shirakawa River again. We took a rest and had coffee and cookies at a cafe, named Jibo-sha.

Take-sasa-do, paper shop and Japanese-style cafe on Koyaku-no-zushi Road

Turning to Koyaku-no-zushi Road  from the Shijo-dori Street, you can find the paper shop, Take-sasa-do and Japanese cafe.
You can buy colorful designed paper at the shop. On the opposit side of the paper shop, there are cake shop and a Japanese cafe.
At the Japanese cafe, you can enjoy Japanese sweets, cakes, and drinks. The cafe’s interior is very chic and full of Japanese taste.

Take-sasa-do, the paper shop

Japanese style cafe

Ishiyama-dera Temple and Mii-dera Temple in Shiga

From Kyoto Station, it takes about 30minutes to go to Ishiyama-dera Temple by train.It’s in Otsu City, on the south side of the Lake Biwa. Ishiyama-dera is famous for having been the place where Murasaki Shikibu thought out the story of The Tale of Genji. The temple was founded in 8th century and one of the most old temples in Japan. The major building was rebuilt in 11th century and still remains there now.
The temples were built on the rock. The name of the temple was from this; Ishi means stone or rock.

Mii-dera is located near Mii-dera Station the six stops from Ishiyama-dera Station of Keihan Ishiyama-dera Line. Mii-dera is also with long history and famous for its bell with beautiful sound.

Hosen-in, Jisso-in and Jakko-in Temple in Ohara

There are about six temples 2 kilometers around in Ohara. You can go all of them on foot from Ohara bus stop.
Housen-in Temple is famous for 700-year-old pine tree and the view of the garden through its window. The garden seen from the room seems like pictures in frames.
We can enjoy having maccha green tea and sweets seeing beautiful scenery.

Jikko-in also has a very compact but beautiful garden. Shakunage flowers were very beautiful with SHAKKEI, including back ground scenery into the garden.

Jikko-in Temple is located on the opposite side of the bus stop. It takes about 15 minutes to walk there.
The main building of Jakko-in got fire and burnt out in 2000. Present building was newly built in 2003.We entered it and listened to the explanation of the history of the temple there.