Word heritage in Kyoto(5) ---kiyomizu-dera temple ---
Kiyomizu-dera temple is the one of the most famous temple in Kyoto.
This temple is famous for the words "Kiyomizu no butai kara tobioriru ".
In English this means "Just like you jump off a cliff into a lake or the ocean".
Kiyomizu-dera , officially Otowa-san Kiyomizu-dera , is an independent Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto. The temple is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) UNESCO World Heritage site. It was one of 20 finalists for the New7Wonders of the World.
The place is not to be confused with Kiyomizu-dera in Yasugi, Shimane, which is part of the 33-temple route of the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage through western Japan, or the Kiyozumi-dera temple associated with the Buddhist priest Nichiren.
in spring we can see cherry blossom
Kiyomizu-dera was founded in the early Heian period. The temple was founded in 778 by Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, and its present buildings were constructed in 1633, ordered by the Tokugawa Iemitsu. There is not a single nail used in the entire structure. It takes its name from the waterfall within the complex, which runs off the nearby hills. Kiyomizu means clear water, or pure water.
It was originally affiliated with the old and influential Hossō sect dating from Nara times. However, in 1965 it severed that affiliation, and its present custodians call themselves members of the "Kitahossō" sect.
in autumn the leaf's color turn to red
The main hall has a large veranda, supported by tall pillars, that juts out over the hillside and offers impressive views of the city. Large verandas and main halls were constructed at many popular sites during the Edo period to accommodate large numbers of pilgrims.
The popular expression "to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu" is the Japanese equivalent of the English expression "to take the plunge". This refers to an Edo period tradition that held that, if one were to survive a 13m jump from the stage, one's wish would be granted. 234 jumps were recorded in the Edo period and, of those, 85.4% survived. The practice is now prohibited.
Beneath the main hall is the Otowa waterfall, where three channels of water fall into a pond. Visitors can catch and drink the water, which is believed to have wish-granting powers.
The temple complex includes several other shrines, among them the Jishu Shrine, dedicated to Ōkuninushi, a god of love and "good matches". Jishu Shrine possesses a pair of "love stones" placed 18 meters apart, which lonely visitors can try to walk between with their eyes closed. Success in reaching the other stone with their eyes closed implies that the pilgrim will find love, or true love. One can be assisted in the crossing, but this is taken to mean that a go-between will be needed. The person's romantic interest can assist them as well.
The complex also offers various talismans, incense, and omikuji (paper fortunes). The site is particularly popular during festivals (especially at New Year's and during obon in the summer) when additional booths fill the grounds selling traditional holiday foodstuffs and souvenirs to throngs of visitors.
In 2007, Kiyomizu-dera was one of 21 finalists for the New Seven Wonders of the World. However, it was not picked as one of the seven winning sites.
Word heritage in Kyoto(4) ---Byodoin ---
Byodo-In is a temple in Uji-city,southward of Kyoto city.
The shape of this temple is seems to be a phoenix.
We Japanese are fascinated the beauty.
This shrine is famous for the design in the back side of 10 yen coin.Please check the 10 yen coin.
Byōdō-in (平等院) is a Buddhist temple in the city of Uji in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, built in late Heian period. It is jointly a temple of the Jōdo-shū (Pure Land) and Tendai-shū sects.
This temple was originally built in 998 in the Heian period as a rural villa of high-ranking courtier Minamoto no Shigenobu, Minister of the Left. The property was purchased from Minamoto no Shigenobu's wife after he died by Fujiwara no Michinaga, one of the most powerful members of the Fujiwara clan. The villa was made into a Buddhist temple by Fujiwara no Yorimichi in 1052. The most famous building in the temple is the Phoenix Hall (鳳凰堂 Hōō-dō) or the Amida Hall, constructed in 1053. It is the only remaining original building, surrounded by a scenic pond; additional buildings making up the compound were burnt down during a civil war in 1336.
The main building in Byōdō-in, the Phoenix Hall consists of a central hall, flanked by twin wing corridors on both sides of the central hall, and a tail corridor. The central hall houses an image of Amida Buddha. The roof of the hall displays statues of the Chinese phoenix, called hōō in Japanese.
The Phoenix Hall, completed in 1053, is the exemplar of Fujiwara Amida halls. It consists of a main rectangular structure flanked by two L-shaped wing corridors and a tail corridor, set at the edge of a large artificial pond. Though its official name is Amida-dō, it began to be called Hōō-dō, or Phoenix Hall, in the beginning of the Edo period. This name is considered to derive both from the building's likeness to a phoenix with outstretched wings and a tail, and the pair of phoenixes adorning the roof.
Inside the Phoenix Hall, a single image of Amida (c. 1053) is installed on a high platform. The Amida sculpture is made of Japanese cypress and is covered with gold leaf. It was executed by Jōchō, who used a new canon of proportions and a new technique, yosegi, in which multiple pieces of wood are carved out like shells and joined from the inside. The statue measures about three meters high from its face to its knees, and is seated. Applied to the walls of the hall are small relief carvings of celestials, the host believed to have accompanied Amida when he descended from the Western Paradise to gather the souls of believers at the moment of death and transport them in lotus blossoms to Paradise. Raigō paintings on the wooden doors of the Phoenix Hall, depicting the Descent of the Amida Buddha, are an early example of Yamato-e, Japanese-style painting, and contain representations of the scenery around Kyoto.
There is a Jōdo-shiki garden with a pond in front of the building, which in 1997 was dredged as part of an archeological dig. The gardens are a nationally designated Historic Site and Place of Scenic Beauty.
The Byōdō-in museum stores and displays most of Byōdō-in's national treasures, including 52 wooden Bodhisattvas, the temple bell, the south end Phoenix, and other historically noteworthy items.
Japan commemorates the building's longevity and cultural significance by displaying its image on the 10 yen coin,and the 10,000 yen note features the phoenix image. In December 1994, UNESCO listed the building as a World Heritage Site as part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto". The Phoenix Hall, the great statue of Amida inside it, and several other items at Byōdō-in are national treasures.
The Japanese post has issued three definitive postage stamps showing the phoenix hall, each prepaying the then postal rate for a surface mail foreign letter: 24.oo yen 1950, 24 yen 1957 and 30 yen 1959. Stamps were produced by the costly engraving method, showing the appreciation of the hall.
Entry to the complex grounds costs 600 yen for adults, and includes access to the gardens and the museum. An entry pass to the Phoenix Hall, which was newly restored in March 2014, costs an additional 300 yen and can be purchased near the gate.
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World Heritage In Kyoto(3) ---Ginkaku-ji temple---
We introduced about Kinkakuji-temple previous day.
The Ginkaku-ji temple is the contrast to the Kinkaku-ji temple.
The reason is simple. The word Kin means the "Gold", and the word "Gin" means the "Silver".The Kinkaku-ji temple is gorgeous ,but the Ginkaku-ji temple is frugality
Ginkaku-ji , officially named Jishō-ji , is a Zen temple in the Sakyo ward of Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the constructions that represents the Higashiyama Culture of the Muromachi period.
Ashikaga Yoshimasa initiated plans for creating a retirement villa and gardens as early as 1460; and after his death, Yoshimasa would arrange for this property to become a Zen temple. The temple is today associated with the Shokoku-ji branch of Rinzai Zen.
The two-storied Kannon-den (Kannon hall), is the main temple structure. Its construction began February 21, 1482 (Bummei 14 , 4th day of the 2nd month). The structure's design sought to emulate the golden Kinkaku-ji which had been commissioned by his grandfather Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. It is popularly known as Ginkaku, the "Silver Pavilion" because of the initial plans to cover its exterior in silver foil; but this familiar nickname dates back only as far as the Edo period (1600–1868).
During the Ōnin War, construction was halted. Despite Yoshimasa's intention to cover the structure with a distinctive silver-foil overlay, this work was delayed for so long that the plans were never realized before Yoshimasa's death. The present appearance of the structure is understood to be the same as when Yoshimasa himself last saw it. This "unfinished" appearance illustrates one of the aspects of "wabi-sabi" quality.
ホテル料金比較「トリバゴ」世界中、約１７５社の予約サイトから宿泊料金をまとめて比較
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Like Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji was originally built to serve as a place of rest and solitude for the Shogun. During his reign as Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa inspired a new outpouring of traditional culture, which came to be known as Higashiyama Bunka (the Culture of the Eastern Mountain). Having retired to the villa, it is said Yoshimasa sat in the pavilion, contemplating the calm and beauty of the gardens as the Ōnin War worsened and Kyoto was burned to the ground.
In 1485, Yoshimasa became a Zen Buddhist monk. After his death on January 27, 1490 (Entoku 2, 7th day of the 1st month), the villa and gardens became a Buddhist temple complex, renamed Jishō-ji after Yoshimasa's Buddhist name.
After extensive restoration, started February 2008, Ginkaku-ji is again in full glory to visit. The garden and temple complex are open to the public. There is still no silver foil used. After much discussion, it was decided to not refinish the lacquer to the original state. The lacquer finish was the source of the original silver appearance of the temple, with the reflection of silver water of the pond on the lacquer finish.
The Ginkaku-ji temple is not used the metal silver.The atomosphere seems to be like silver.
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World Heritage In Kyoto(2) ---Ryoan-ji temple---
There are 17 World heritages in Kyoto.
Ryoanji -temple is also the one of the World heritage.
Roanji -temple is famous for its garden.The symbolic structure of the thought "Zen style " Almost all of Japanese is fascinated by the beautiful garden.
The temple's name is synonymous with the temple's famous 'Zen garden', the karesansui (dry landscape) rock garden, thought[by whom?] to have been built in the late 15th century.
The garden is a rectangle of 248 square meters. Young and Young put the size at twenty-five meters by ten meters. Placed within it are fifteen stones of different sizes, carefully composed in five groups; one group of five stones, two groups of three, and two groups of two stones. The stones are surrounded by white gravel, which is carefully raked each day by the monks. The only vegetation in the garden is some moss around the stones.
The garden is meant to be viewed from a seated position on the veranda of the hōjō, the residence of the abbot of the monastery.
The stones are placed so that the entire composition cannot be seen at once from the veranda. They are also arranged so that when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder.
The wall behind the garden is an important element of the garden. It is made of clay, which has been stained by age with subtle brown and orange tones. In 1977, the tile roof of the wall was restored with tree bark to its original appearance.
When the garden was rebuilt in 1799, it came up higher than before and a view over the wall to the mountain scenery behind came about. At present this view is blocked by trees.
The garden had particular significance for the composer John Cage, who composed a series of works and made visual art works based on it.
Like any work of art, the artistic garden of Ryōan-ji is also open to interpretation, or scientific research into possible meanings. Many different theories have been put forward inside and outside Japan about what the garden is supposed to represent, from islands in a stream, to swimming baby tigers to the peaks of mountains rising above to theories about secrets of geometry or of the rules of equilibrium of odd numbers. Garden historian Gunter Nitschke wrote: "The garden at Ryōan-ji does not symbolize anything, or more precisely, to avoid any misunderstanding, the garden of Ryōan-ji does not symbolize, nor does it have the value of reproducing a natural beauty that one can find in the real or mythical world. I consider it to be an abstract composition of "natural" objects in space, a composition whose function is to incite meditation."
This is Japanese Culture.
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World Heritage In Kyoto(1) ---Kinkaku-ji temple---
There are a lot of Japanese traditional buildings in Kyoto,for example Temples(In Japanese "Tera") and Shrine(In Japanese "Jinja"),
Some Temples and Shrines is has been registed as World Heritage.
We are going to introduce representtive building for sightseeing.
Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺, literally "Temple of the Golden Pavilion"), officially named Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺, literally "Deer Garden Temple"), is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the most popular buildings in Japan, attracting a large number of visitors annually. It is designated as a National Special Historic Site and a National Special Landscape, and it is one of 17 locations making up the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which are World Heritage Sites.
The site of Kinkaku-ji was originally a villa called Kitayama-dai (北山第), belonging to a powerful statesman, Saionji Kintsune. Kinkaku-ji's history dates to 1397, when the villa was purchased from the Saionji family by ShogunAshikaga Yoshimitsu, and transformed into the Kinkaku-ji complex.When Yoshimitsu died, the building was converted into a Zen temple by his son, according to his wishes.
During the Onin war (1467–1477), all of the buildings in the complex aside from the pavilion were burned down.
On July 2, 1950, at 2:30 am, the pavilion was burned down by a 22-year-old novice monk, Hayashi Yoken, who then attempted suicide on the Daimon-ji hill behind the building. He survived, and was subsequently taken into custody. The monk was sentenced to seven years in prison, but was released because of mental illnesses (persecution complex and schizophrenia) on September 29, 1955; he died of tuberculosis in March, 1956. During the fire, the original statue of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was lost to the flames (now restored). A fictionalized version of these events is at the center of Yukio Mishima's 1956 book The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
The present pavilion structure dates from 1955, when it was rebuilt.
The pavilion is three stories high, approximately 12.5 meters in height.
The reconstruction is said to be a copy close to the original, although some doubt such an extensive gold-leaf coating was used
on the original structure.
In 1984, the coating of Japanese lacquer was found a little decayed, and a new coating as well as
gilding with gold-leaf, much thicker than the original coatings (0.5 µm instead of 0.1 µm),
was completed in 1987. Additionally, the interior of the building, including the paintings and Yoshimitsu's statue,
were also restored. Finally, the roof was restored in 2003.
The name Kinkaku is derived from the gold leaf that the pavilion is covered in. Gold was an important addition to the pavilion because of its underlying meaning.
The gold employed was to mitigate and purify any pollution or negative thoughts and feelings towards death.
Other than the symbolic meaning behind the gold leaf, the Muromachi period heavily relied on visual excesses.
With the focus on the Golden Pavilion, how the structure is mainly covered in that material,
creates an impression that stands out because of the sunlight reflecting and the effect the reflection creates on the pond.
Kinkakuji-Temple in winter
The Golden Pavilion (金閣 Kinkaku) is a three-story building on the grounds of the Rokuon-ji temple complex. The top two stories of the pavilion are covered with pure gold leaf.[11] The pavilion functions as a shariden (舎利殿), housing relics of the Buddha (Buddha's Ashes). The building was an important model for Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion Temple), and Shōkoku-ji, which are also located in Kyoto. When these buildings were constructed, Ashikaga Yoshimasa employed the styles used at Kinkaku-ji and even borrowed the names of its second and third floors.
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Fushimi inari shrine
There are also a lot of shrine in Kyoto.
Shrine are the for the laity of "Shinto".
Shinto is based on the Japanese myth.
It is said Japanese emperor is derived from this character of the myth
So this is the reason there are a lot of shrine in Kyoto.
Fushimi-Inari-taisya Shrine is famous for the "senbon torii".
"Torii" is a entrance gate of shrine.
People around this shrine dedicated to the shrine for a long time to wish family's happiness.
The word "Senbon" means the count thousand.
But the count may not be a real number.
This expression means a lot of toriis.
A lot of foreign tourist vistit this shrine.
This shrine is a most popular place to sightsee.
Have a good trip!!!
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Temples in Kyoto
Kyoto is the most famous sightseeing spot in Japan.
There are a lot of historical and wonderful place for tourists.
There are a lot of temples in Kyoto.Of course there are a lot of temples in other cities in Japan.
Japanese emperors used to live in Kyoto more than 1300 years.
They connected the temple strongly.
That's the reason many temples concentrates in Kyoto.
Every japanese tourist is fastinated the beautiful scenery from the main stage.
The trees leaves color is green from spring to summer.
But in autumn the color turn to red.
The stage is built very high place.
We japanese always feel fear.
There is a proverb "Kiyomizu no butai kara tobi oriru".
This translation is "Dive from the stage of Kiyomizu-tera temple.
The meanings is "Like a gamble once in your life ".
