Kawasaki Daishi Temple & Daishi Park
While waiting for the start of the Kanamara festival mikoshi parade, I visited the nearby Daishi Temple, as well as Daishi Park and its Shinshu-en Chinese garden.
temple
Enryakuji Temple on Mount Hiei
Located in Kyoto’s eastern mountain range on Mount Hiei (比叡山), Enryakuji (延暦寺) is one of the most important monasteries in Japanese history. Enryakuji’s temples are concentrated in three areas: Todo (east area), Saito (west area) and Yokawa (which I did not visit). I went there using the Sakamoto Cablecar, the longest cable car route in Japan. While I was there, it was raining heavily and there was a lot of fog.
Osaka
Osaka is the biggest city in the Kansai region. By train, it takes about 30min to get there from Kyoto.
Nara
Kyoto
I finally visited Kyoto (as well as Osaka and Nara) this week.
I took the Shinkansen in Tokyo on Monday morning and arrived a bit more than 2 hours later in Kyoto. I walked from the train station to Sanjusangendo Temple and its 1000 statues of Kannon. Then I continued to Kiyomizudera Temple. Part of it is currently undergoing renovation so I could not visit all the buildings. I walked for a bit in the area (known as Higashiyama) and visited the Ryozen Kannon war memorial as well as the Kodai-ji Temple and its zen garden. I then made my way to the Yasaka Shrine and then on to the huge Heian Shrine. After that, I took the bus to Ginkaku-ji Temple (“Temple of the Silver Pavilion”). Not having reached temple overload yet, I ended the day at Kinkaku-ji Temple (“Temple of the Golden Pavilion”). Contrary to the Silver Pavilion (not actually covered in silver), this one is indeed plated with gold leaf. I then went back to my hotel, near Kyoto train station.
Snow at Mount Takao: Trail #6 / Konpiradai Trail
Mount Takao has many trails to and from the summit. This time, starting from the Takaosanguchi Keio station (高尾山口駅) at the foot of the mountain, I took trail #6 to get to the summit. There was still a lot of snow left. On the way down, I started on trail #3 then followed the paved road (trail #1) until Konpiradai, where I took a trail through the forest. I then walked to the Takao JR station, in town.
Nishiarai Daishi (Soji-ji Temple)
Nishiarai Daishi (aka Soji-ji Temple) is a buddhist temple located in Nishiarai, in Adachi City. It is one of the Three Great Temples in the Kanto region and a large number of people visit the temple at New Year for hatsumode.
Hatsumode at Senso-ji in Asakusa
Lake Tama
Lake Tama is an artificial lake in Higashiyamato City, in western Tokyo, right at the border with Saitama Prefecture. It was formed by damming up a river running through the Sayama valley, a project started in 1916 and completed in 1927. The lake now serves as a water reservoir for the residents of Tokyo.
The lake is surrounded by parks and forests and there is a popular cycling course extending from Nishitokyo City to Lake Tama. North of the lake towards Lake Sayama lies the Seibu Dome, home of the Saitama Seibu Lions baseball team. Also worthy of a visit are the buddhist Yamaguchi Kannon Konjoin (山口観音 金乗院) and Sayama Fudoson (狭山不動尊) temples.