Best Last Morning in Kyoto

We had just a couple of hours before we had to catch our train to the Osaka airport for our flight back to Okinawa, but we wanted to see what we could. After a breakfast from Mister Donut (it is so crazy which chains are popular in Japan), we walked just about 5 minutes down the street from our hotel where we had seen what looked like an interesting temple. 

The temple is called Nishi Hongan-ji which translates to the "Western Temple of the Original Vow". Nishi Hongan-ji serves as the head temple of Shin Buddhism, one of the most widely practiced forms of Buddhism. Built in 1591, the temple is a good example of the design during that period. Once inside the gates of the temple grounds, the sound of traffic and city life disappeared.

In the main courtyard, we were greeted by this enormous, 400-year-old ginko tree.  My photo doesn't do justice to the colors of the foliage.

The main building was beautiful from the outside, but we weren't entirely sure about etiquette, so we hesitated at first. Since this is an active temple location and not a tourist destination, we wanted to be sure we were not intruding on any ceremonies.

While we were taking in the site, we observed people going into the temple and we could hear music coming from the inside. So we removed our shoes and quietly entered.

One of my favorite photos of our sabbatical, especially Zoe's boots with the left/right confusion.

We didn't take any photos inside as we weren't sure of the custom, but I found this photo on another site that shows the altar that we were greeted with.

We sat in some chairs in the back. There were monks singing and some worshippers who were kneeling on the tatami floor. It was a stroke of luck that we found ourselves there, and it was one of my favorite memories of our trip to the mainland. It certainly felt like a message to this frazzled mother to just sit and breathe for a moment.

The Karamon gate shown below has been designated as a National Treasure of Japan, and dates back to 1573.

Nishi Hongan-ji is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were fortunate to see so many of these World Heritage Sites during our time in Japan. Listening to the news today about more of these UNESCO sites in Syria being taken over and likely damaged, if not destroyed, is heartbreaking. The history that these sites represent is incredibly important to preserve, no matter where they are located.

What started out as a morning of "well, we have nothing better to do" ended up being one of my favorite mornings of all. And perhaps I gained just enough patience and calm to survive the train to Osaka/Kansai Airport, our flight to Okinawa, and the one-hour drive back to our apartment!

Coming Soon: Only one month left in Okinawa - time to check the bucket list!