We only had one full day free for Kyoto, so we decided to visit the Sourthern Higashiyama and Gion areas. We arrived from Osaka in the morning and left our luggage at the train station. We found a few lockers however the larger ones were all full. After wondering the train station looking for a free locker, I found an online website that showed locker availability. I tried to find that website again, but wasn’t able to – so if you have access to data I would recommended doing a quick search (it wasn’t hard to find). After using the website we found a locker to store our luggage.
After storing our luggage we headed out of the train station to catch the Kyoto city bus. To get to Kiyomizu-dera you can take bus number 100 or 206 to the Gojo-zaka or the Kiyomizu-michi bus stop. After getting off the bus it’s an easy 10 minute walk up the hill to the temples.
When you get on the bus you enter through the back and you pay the flat bus fee of 230 Yen when you exit the bus through the front door.
The path up to the temples contained a few shops and restaurants so was a nice, easy walk up the hill.
At the top of the hill is the Kiyomizu-dera temple. At the entrance to the temple you will find Nio-mon, which is the main gate to the temple,
Sai-mon, the west gate, the Zuigu-do hall.
In the Zuigu-do hall there is the Tainai Meguri which is underneath the hall. It’s not clear what this is, so Ben and I paid our coins and headed down the stairs into total darkness. The atmosphere of the space is supposed to represent the womb of a female Bodhisattva. At the bottom of the stairs is a curtain that you pass, and from there it is completely dark. There is a rope along the wall that you use to follow the path. After slowly making your way through the darkness you come to a light shining on a power stone engraved with a sacred symbol. Shortly after the stone you go through another curtain and return to the brightness of the day.
Past these structures you will then enter the Hondo, the main hall, with a large wooden veranda. Unfortunately, they were doing some restoration work while we were there. You can still view the construction of the veranda, which is built without the use of any nails.
Through the main hall you can get to the Jishu Shrine or go down the path to see other areas of the temple grounds. The grounds contain other structures such as the Okunoin Hall, and the three-storied Koyasu Pagoda.
At the base of the main hall is the Otowa Waterfall. The water from the waterfall are divided into three separate streams and visitors are able to drink from the streams using the provided cups attached to long poles.
After leaving the temple we started to walk through the Ninen-zaka and Sannen-zaka streets. These are slightly sloped streets full of shops and restaurants. We found a place from a quick lunch and then continued down the street until we reached the other temples in the area.
We next visited the Shoren-in Temple, which is next to the more popular Chion-in. This isn’t a main tourist stop, but it contained my favorite garden. There was something magical about the garden in this temple. During your visit you can walk through the temple buildings and the gardens.
From the entrance you walk into the Kachoden drawing room, which opens over the garden. The other buildings are connected by wooden walkways. You can view the gardens from the buildings, but you should take some time to stroll through the gardens and up a small hills where you will walk past a tea house, a small shrine, and a bamboo grove. From the top of the hill you will also have a great view overlooking the main buildings and gardens.
We didn’t have time to visit the Chion-in temple. We spent extra time at the other temples and arrived after opening hours. We did get to see the massive gate as we made our way to the Gion district.
It was later in the evening and starting to get dark, but we enjoyed an evening stroll down the streets in the Gion district. After enjoying the area and keeping an eye out for a geisha (unfortunately we didn’t see any), we got back on the bus towards the train station. We picked up our luggage and got the bullet train back to Tokyo.
We spent the night in Tokyo at a Capsule hotel. Ben really wanted to stay in a capsule hotel, so we agreed to staying one night. I searched for capsule hotels but was finding that they separated men and women across different floors. This made sense since the capsules are small and mostly designed for business travellers needing a place to stay.
After lots of searching, I finally found a capsule hotel that offered double occupancy in the capsule rooms, the Tokyo Kiba Hotel. I was expecting a terrible night’s sleep – cramped quarters, noise from others around us, etc. I was preparing myself for the worst.
After we arrived and checked in we put our luggage in the lockers provided. We then took the lift up to our “room”. We got a capsule on the bottom row, which I was glad about because it was easier to get in and out of the capsule (no ladder required). There were a few people around in the capsules near us, but I found everyone was talking quietly and trying to be respectful. The women’s bathroom was on our floor and the men’s as on a different floor. At the time we arrived the men had access to the main bathroom which contained a Jacuzzi. At different times in the day they switch the access to men and women.
Ben and I both left to go get ready for bed. I arrived back to the capsule before he did (turns out he was enjoying the Jacuzzi) so I made myself comfortable. The capsule was much larger than I expected and there was plenty of room for our wash stuff and a backpack in the corner by our feet. There was a small TV attached to the wall and a narrow ledge with controls for the lights, and the capsule was tall enough that I could sit upright. The “door” to the capsule was simple a curtain that barely went to the edges of the opening.
As I made myself comfortable in the capsule I surprised myself by really enjoying it. The capsule felt very warm and snug, I didn’t feel claustrophobic at all – it was just the right size. I ended up having a really nice sleep!