Tuesday, March 3rd, dawned cloudy. Our first stop was to the Toji Temple to see the tallest pagoda in all of Japan. It was not far from our rental, maybe 6-7 blocks away. The kids had seen it from back stairs to our dance studio rental.
Toji Temple's (translated to mean "East Temple") five story pagoda originally dates from 826 and was then rebuilt in 1644. It is 55 meters tall. It used to have a "sister" named Saiji (West Temple), and together they guarded the main south entrance to the city of Kyoto. The Saiji pagoda burned down a long time ago. The Toji Temple's pagoda now stands near the middle of the city and can be seen from afar as one enters Kyoto.
We had to pay to get in, and with our family size it was going to be around 4000 yen....too much. We just wanted to walk around the tallest pagoda in Japan, we weren't interested in anything else that was here.
We took pictures through the gate, zooming in to look at the detail of the pagoda.
The pagoda is all wood, it looks really old. Notice the lanterns on each corner.
We were kind of disappointed that we couldn't get closer, but there's no way we were going to pay that much for a 10 minute walk around it. On to Nijo Castle....
As we were biking along the streets, we passed a temple that had some beautiful plum blossoms just inside the entrance. I stopped and snapped a quick picture.
This is a side entrance to the same temple. So much gold and ornate detail goes into the gates of temples. They are one of our favorite aspects of the temples and shrines that we visit. Chris (in his blue coat) can been seen up ahead on the sidewalk.
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