Koeiâ€s

Possessing immense military power, the Shogun or Military General was way more powerful than the symbolic Emperor. Hence, it kinda explains why Tokugawa Ieyasu was able to build such a huge residence complex for himself at the present Central Kyoto.

Defensive layers of Nijo Castle

The entire perimeter of Nijo castle is surrounded by defensive wall and moat to fend off potential enemies, plus Iâ€m certain there must be lots of castle guards patrolling the extensive grounds during those days.

If intruders sneak through the fortification to reach the Palace, they will need to deal with the infamous nightingale floor that make squeaking noise, which will alert the guards.

Around Nijo Castle

We proceed to the Palace after paying 600 JPY ($7.40) for the entrance fee. Footwear had to be removed before entering and sadly, photo takings are not allowed and strictly enforced. Sigh…what a pity since the paintings around the Palace are rather nice.

But I respect the reason to preserve the paintings since exposing them to light sources like camera flash will cause the paintings to disintegrate.

The Palace has multiple rooms with painted panels and ceilings but tourists have only limited access to certain area.

We also took a pleasant walk around Ninomaru garden in Nijo Castle.

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Nison-in, one of the temples we come across…but did not enter.

We did try the mochi from this particular shop along the way. The friendly owner even posed for the shot…nice and funny fellow.

And finally!!

About Adashino Nenbutsuji

For centuries, bodies of the nameless dead were often disposed of in the open around Adashino hill. Soon after, burial with gravestones replaced the age-old method of exposing bodies to the elements. But very few commoners can afford a proper gravestone during those days, unnamed gravestones scattered around simply signify another nameless dead.

One highly respected priest came along, did proper burial rituals and prayed for the dead, for the souls to rest in peace. Then thousands more stones were found under the bamboo forest around 100 years ago.

The huge numbers of stone statues now protected by Buddha’s benevolence, said to be over 8,000 of them, were placed in memory of the dead who were left here.

Bamboo Grove of Adashino Nenbutsuji

The bamboo grove here is in a smaller scale compared to the one next to Tenryuji but still equally charming.

For the return trip, we board the local bus from a nearby bus stop back to Randen Arashiyama Station instead of walking.

And from the station, we make our way to the nearby Togetsukyo Bridge (渡月橋), one of the landmarks in Arashiyama.

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