Bamboo Forest, Thousand Torii and Thousand Buddhas

The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is a delightful walking experience near Kyoto.  It is a pleasant uphill walk surrounded by very tall bamboo.  Like all Kyoto destinations, it can be very crowded.

Talk about crowded!  The Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine is better known as the "Thousand Torii."  Torii are those tall red-orange gates that define Japan.  At this location outside Kyoto more than a thousand torii are lined up for walks up a gentle hill.  The torii near the start are very tall and thick, like those shown above.  Further on, the torii are thinner.  The crowds were so dense I cut out about halfway through.

The temple of Emperor Go-Shirakawa was built in 1164 east of Kyoto.  The temple, Sanjūsangen-dō, holds 1,001 statues of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of compassion.   It is a very impressive sight.  Photographs are not permitted inside, so I bought a postcard and photographed it.  

Making Ceramics in Kanazawa

 

He is the 6th generation making ceramics in Kanazawa over a 150 year period at the Kutani Kosen Kiln.

Golden Leaf Painting in Kanazawa

 We visited the Hakukokan Gold Leaf Center, a museum celebrating the art and craft of gold leaf technology.  It holds a collection going back to the late 16th century.

We spent some time applying gold leaf to lacquerware plates under the guidance of this woman.

There was also a gift shop.  A couple of items might have gone home with me.

The Thatched Roofs of Shirakawa-Go

 Shirakawa-Go is a UNESCO World Heritage mountain village famous for its thatched roof buildings.    

The steep thatched roofs are built without nails.  

It is a very small village with fewer than 2,000 residents.

This steeply pitched profile is chosen to handle the region's heavy winter snowfall.

Each field produces about enough rice to feed one family for a year.

These three houses are famous in Japan.

The buildings resemble hands pressed together in prayer.

A Country Mural

While traveling in our bus outside Kanazawa, Japan, we had a rest stop beside a simple local mural.

Linked to Monday Murals.

  

Kyoto's Heian Jingu Shrine

 

Old Town Takayama

Takayama has a section of old shops along three parallel roads.  

Every now and then there is a gap between the shops and a little place for quiet reflection appears.  

Shrines are everywhere.