A Stairway to Heaven

April 22, 2023

We walked over to Sanjusangendo Temple in the morning. This temple is famous for its 1,001 statues of Kannon, goddess of compassion and mercy. Kannon has 11 heads, to better witness the suffering of humans, and 1,000 arms, to better help fight the suffering. The 1,000 life-sized Kannon in the temple we visited had 42 arms each - 2 regular arms, plus 40 arms multiplied by the 25 planes of existence to total 1,000. It is quite an amazing thing to see 1,000 life-sized statues and one very large statue in a single room.

We were not permitted to take photos inside the Sanjusangendo Temple, but here is a photo of a similar statue of Kannon:

Photo from Japan-Experience.com

The Sanjusangendo Temple is the longest wooden building in Japan. It is 33 intervals long, an “interval” being a standardized measurement of the distance between support columns. “San-ju-san” means 33.

The Temple had a nice courtyard where we could take photos.

The outside of the Main Hall, where the 1,001 life-sized statues are located

A typical temple bell in the courtyard

Garden in the courtyard

After seeing Sanjusangendo, we walked back to our hotel via Kyoto Station. The station was designed by Hiroshi Hara, an important Japanese architect.

North side of Kyoto Station

After lunch we met our guide and friend, Terin. Terin took us to a quiet (no tourists) neighborhood temple in the Fushimi ward. 

Fushimi has excellent water and therefore excellent sake is brewed there. Perhaps that is why this temple features paintings of water.

We walked through one of the covered shopping streets that are so popular in Japan, and looked at the fresh seasonal produce for sale.

Bamboo shoots

We stopped at a liquor store. There was a little bar in the back for tastings. We told the server what our preferences were (sweet, dry, strong, fresh, etc.) and he picked out three types of sake for each of us, and suggested the order for trying them. All of the sakes we tried were brewed locally. I really liked the three sweet and fresh sakes I tried.

Next we visited a historic sake brewery in the neighborhood. We tasted some of their sake and we got to keep the cups. They are packed away somewhere. I will try to remember to post a photo later.

Boats like this used to carry sake down this canal to the ocean so that Kyoto sake could be shipped to other major cities in Japan, such as Tokyo.

Finally, Terin took us to the iconic shrine called Fushimi Inari. It was established in 711 CE on Inari Mountain. Inari is the Shinto god of rice, and foxes are Inari’s messengers.

Thousands of torii gates line the trail all the way up the mountain. The torii gates are donated by individuals and companies. It is a remarkable sight!

Fox with a sheaf of rice in its mouth

The names of the donors are written on the backs of the torii gates

We very much enjoyed takeout sushi for dinner.

Today’s color is a repeat. How could it be anything other than vermilion?

Note: I said I would get a photo of the dinosaurs. I have now added it to the April 19 post, with a brief description. But here is a small version of it: