Kyoto, Japan -- 8 Temple Gardens

Video Description

We’re going to take you on wonderful strolls through eight of Kyoto's most beautiful temple gardens. 00:00 Intro 02:17 summary of temple gardens 03:07 Fushimi-Inari-Taisha 07:31 Tofuku-ji 12:04 Kiyomizu-dera 15:57 Chion-in 20:33 Nanzen-ji 26:23 Heian 29:05 Honen-in 30:46 Ginkaku-ji Kyoto, Japan’s majestic city of ancient temples and serene gardens, offers superb cultural treasures and a variety of sensual delights. Your most enjoyable activity will probably be strolling through artistically designed garden landscapes with their winding paths, tranquil ponds, stately trees, lush vegetation and traditional wooden temples. They are strolling gardens, so the idea is to walk along with your eyes open and stop here and there, look this way, look that way, and enjoy all the different views as they unfold. The sublime gardens unfold as you walk along paths that lead through changing vistas around each bend, where you can stop frequently to absorb each new perspective looking left, right, up and down. The different views are enhanced by small statues, foot-bridges, bamboo railings, temple back-drops and glimpses of distant mountains, all exquisitely arranged to be appreciated in moments of reflection. Maybe you haven’t thought much about Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines, and perhaps never had them on a priority list of must-see places, but visiting this city is different, and we'll show you the harmony and beauty of those temple sites. It’s all about the harmony of the gardens and their relationship to the venerable wooden structures which meld into a delightful experience. Nature-lovers will gain high value from the effort and those with a spiritual bent can get that much more out of the visit. You should try and spend at least two days in Kyoto so that you can visit the major attractions and experience the essence of this special city, or you could easily stay a week and never run out of worthwhile attractions in this former imperial capital, which has a staggering 2,000 temples and shrines. You’ll never run out of places to see. Kyoto is surrounded on all sides by numerous temples, shrines and gardens located within a few miles of the town center. A reasonable two-day strategy for dealing with this array is to focus attention in one direction, on Kyoto’s east side (Higashiyama) which has a very high concentration of sites nestled on the edge of the lovely, hilly topography. Many of these temple sites on the east side are in walking distance of each other, reaching about 4 miles from south to the north end of the cluster in Higashiyama, so you can walk between some of these sites as we'll be pointing out in the series. However when you add up the amount of walking within each site and time spent shopping along the approach lanes, the combined distance is going to reach well over 10 miles, so you will sometimes want to use buses, subway and taxis. More than 50 million visitors come to Kyoto each year, most of them are just staying for the day then moving on, but about 1 million of them do spend the night in a local hotel – there are lots of accomodations of all price ranges -- and most of the visitors are Asian. No doubt with the growth of Chinese travel these numbers are going to continue increasing. Try to visit during the less-busy late fall or early spring in order to properly experience the tranquil garden atmosphere. Temperatures will be nippy then, many trees will lack leaves and garden colors are more subdued, but the absence of crowds makes those trade-offs very much worthwhile. Especially in early December when we were photographing these visuals the fall colors still linger yet crowds are not around, making a perfect combination, and late March offers fresh air scented by spring flowers before the stampede of cherry-blossom viewers arrive. However, even if you cannot visit during those ideal, small windows in time, Kyoto is a four-season destination that can be appreciated throughout the year. If you don’t mind crowds, consider the peak seasons of cherry blossom-viewing in April and colorful foliage reaching its peak in November, or arrange your itinerary to connect with one of the major festivals, but try to avoid the national holiday periods when it is jam-packed. Minimize interference by visiting major sites early or late in the day. This program is all about the 8 major temple gardens of Eastern Kyoto, the Higashiyama district. travel videos & photos at: https://townsofeurope.com/ with text, maps & links.