Page 174 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

172  JAP AN REGION B Y REGION

e Okazaki Area
Okazaki Park Area
@ 5 or 100 to Kyoto Kaikan
Bijutsukan-mae. _ Jidai Matsuri
(Festival of the Ages, Oct 22,
Heian Shrine).
Okazaki is home to museums,
galleries, sports grounds, the
municipal zoo, and Heian-
Jingu, one of Kyoto’s largest and
View from the veranda of the main hall at Kiyomizu-dera Temple newest shrines. Built in 1895,
the shrine was intended to help
0 Kiyomizu-dera which Chion-in is the head- boost the city’s morale and
Temple quarters. It was also an economy – both at a low ebb
emphatic statement of the
Kiyomizu Temple after Tokyo was made capital in
authority of the Tokugawa 1868. With its ver milion pil lars
Tel (075) 551-1234. @ 100, 206, 207 to shogunate, which funded the and green tiles, the shrine harks
Gojyozaka. Open 6am–5:30pm, 6pm, temple’s restoration. back to Tang Dynasty China.
or 6:30pm daily. & ∑ kiyomizu The well-endowed complex Its pond gar den is famous
dera.or.jp/lang/01.html occupies the site where Honen, for irises and a Chinese-style
the founder of the Jodo sect, covered bridge.
While many other famous started to preach in 1175. It The National Museum of
temples are the preserves of boasts a lavish founder’s hall, a Modern Art houses a superb
certain sects, Kiyomizu-dera smaller hall enshrining an image collection of paint ings by a
seems to belong to everyone. of Amida Buddha, and elegant school of Kyoto artists active
For over 1,000 years, pil grims reception halls decor ated with in the Meiji and Taisho eras.
have climbed the slope Kano School (see p165) paintings. Across the street is the
to pray to the temple’s The Gongen-do mausoleum venerable Kyoto Municipal
11-headed Kannon enshrines the spirits of Tokugawa Museum of Art, which hosts
image and drink Ieyasu, his son Hidetada, and exhibitions of European and
from its sacred grand son Iemitsu. The temple American works. The Kyoto
spring. The main also possesses a huge bell that International Exhibition Hall
hall’s veranda, a is solemnly rung 108 times (Miyako Messe), hosts a variety
nail-less miracle (once for each sin Man is prone of shows, while its basement
of Japanese joinery, to commit) on New Year’s Eve, museum presents scores of
offers wonderful an event broadcast on TV. Kyoto crafts, including
views of Kyoto. To Kiyomizu-yaki porcelain.
view the temple
itself, walk to the w Shoren-in Temple P National Museum of
Modern Art
pagoda across Shoren-in Temple
the ravine, and Tel (075) 761-4111. Open 9:30am–
Statue of Kannon you’ll see why Tel (075) 561-2345.  Higashiyama 5pm Tue–Sun (Apr–Aug: to 8pm
at Kiyomizu-dera the expression stn, Tozai line. @ 5, 46, 100 to Jingu- Fri). &
“to jump off michi. Open 9am–5pm daily. & P Kyoto Municipal Museum
∑ shorenin.com/english/index.
Kiyomizu’s stage” is the html of Art
Japanese equivalent of “to Tel (075) 771-4107.
take the plunge.” Aristocratic Shoren-in’s symbol is Open Tue–Sun. &
On the temple’s north side its ancient camphor trees whose
is a small shrine where love 800-year-old gnarled limbs P International Exhibition
charms can be purchased. spread majestically on either side Hall (Miyako Messe)
of the front gate. The grounds are Tel (075) 762-2630. Open daily.
beautifully landscaped, with a
q Chion-in Temple bright pond garden on one side
and a mysterious, camphor-
Chion-in Temple
tree-shaded expanse of moss
Tel (075) 531-2111.  Higashiyama on the other. The teahouse
stn, Tozai line. @ 206 to Chion-in- in the garden has been
mae. Open 9am–4:30pm daily. & rebuilt, the original
∑ chion-in.or.jp/e
having been burned
Chion-in’s colossal Sanmon, the in April 1993 by left-
largest such gate in Japan, was wing radicals protesting
built to proclaim the supremacy the Emperor’s visit
of Jodo-sect Buddhism, of to Okinawa. Heian-jingu, the shrine built in 1895 in Okazaki
For hotels and restaurants see pp303–4 and pp329–30

172-173_EW_Japan.indd 172 08/08/16 2:54 pm