We had to walk up a somewhat steep street, lined with little shops, to get to the entrance of the temple. Even then, its buildings were spread out in tiers across the mountainous landscape. There were stairways leading up and down to different areas with worship sites or lookout points onto the city below. The main sanctuary was dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, or Avalokitesvara, the deity of compassion and mercy.

View from far side of temple looking onto city below

Before leaving we had some time to explore the shops along the street. I had a really peaceful feeling walking through the spaces of the temple and I wanted to get something to remember that by. I was hoping to get a representation of a Budhha or bodhisattva, but the shop that I found with small wooden versions were selling for 10,000 yen ($100). However, I ended up with the next best thing by accident.

In the same shop I purchased some beaded bracelets, which I figured were for protection or healing. Later when I took them out of the bag I noticed the center bead had a hole in it. Curiously I put it up to my eye and felt like I was looking through a kaleidascope. The small bead actually held an image of a bodhisattva inside, which could be viewed when you held it up to the light. What a surprise!

Left to Right: Outside a street shop below Kiyomizu,
Another shop full of candies

We piled back on the bus and drove over to see Sanjusangen-do, another Buddhist temple. The outside of the main temple hall seemed plain at first but we were amazed to see what was held inside. We took off our shoes and then entered the main hall. Along the wall was a description explaining the temple's dedication to Kannon or the Thousand Armed Kannon. Then we turned the corner to see a line of statues, row upon row, proceeding down the entire length of the hall.

To be exact there were 1,000 standing statues of Kannon with a larger seated statue of Kannon in the center of the hall. I was in awe the entire time, walking past the weather-worn statues, thinking about their history dating backing to the 12th-13th centuries. The pure volume of space that the statues were taking up was stupefying enough. I was also excited to see guardian statues situated in front of the army of Kannons. There were 28 of these guardian statues and each of them had signs with descriptions. You can visit http://www.taleofgenji.org/sanjusangendo.html to get a better idea of the statues inside (as we couldn't take photos).

Since I had studied Buddhist art I paid special attention to the gestures and expressions on the standing Kannon statues. I thought it was interesting that some of their expressions and facial structures were different, whereas their hands seemed to be positioned in the same greeting mudra. The way the statues were carved, having incised or excised features, varied from statue to statue. Later I read through the temple's brochure and found that only 124 of the standing Kannons were made in the 12th century while the other 876 were completed in the 13th century. This might account for the variations I saw in some of the statues.

Left to Right: Side of Sanjussangen-do's main hall,
Fortune rack in front of hall, Looking towards temple entrance

After walking past the long line of statues the opposite side of the hall was filled with more history about the temple. There were glass cases with artifacts in them, including one detailing a fire and restoration the temple had undergone. They also had a section on archery competitions with some of the original bow and arrows (which were huge!). The competitions had been held on the grounds since the Edo period, between the 17th-19th centuries.

Now we were heading to the last temple visit of the day. We arrived at Rokuon-ji or the Golden Pavilion and went through the entrance gates to get our tickets. The tickets themselves were very artistic, with red and black lettering printed on a long strip of paper. Once through the gates we walked along a dirt path and came up to an opening onto Kyoko-chi pond. The view was magnificent with the Golden Pavilion and trees reflecting off of the still water. I can see how this place was a refuge for peace and meditation.

I found it interesting that the temple actually blends 3 different styles of architecture. The first floor is built in a palace style, the second according to the style of a samurai house, and the third in Zen temple style. Furthermore, the islands and stones scattered throughout the temple grounds represent parts of the Buddhist creation story. It was amazing to see first hand so many Buddhist sites that I had only read about in books before.

Golden Pavilion over-looking the pond of Kyoko-chi

We continued along the path passing by some smaller buildings and other isolated ponds. The main attraction was of course the Golden Pavilion, which could be seen at different angles from the pathway. I also thought it funny that the many openings on the path were occupied by gift stands. They were selling tiny healing or protection bags; some decorated with Hello Kitty icons. We had to have passed 4 or 5 of these gift stores by the time we reached the exit.

The final stop of the day was to Toei Uzumasa Movie Land. Described as a theme park, Movie Land was inhabited by exhibits of older movies/shows and actors dressed up in costume. Apparently real filming was even completed there in a separate acting area. Looking through the map on the brochure it seemed like there was a lot to explore.

Front of one of Movie Land's attractions

However, once inside and after some walking we found the park to be fairly empty. The fact that it was a Monday afternoon could account for this, but overall we found ourselves passing up gift shop after gift shop in hopes of finding a meaningful exhibit.

Eventually we made it into a large complex that had a Super Hero Land. We waltzed through sections of popular life size character rooms and props. The only ones that I recognized were the Power Rangers. They also had some rooms dedicated to photos of actors dressed up as samurai or geishas.

Left to Right: Power Ranger display, Signed photos of Movie Land actors

We had lunch at the park's Star's Cafe. I ordered fried pork on a stick with a side of salad. It was delicious (there were bits of cabbage mixed in with the pork). We left Movie Land and spent the rest of the evening at the hotel. The rest of our group was ancy to check out the arcades around the area. Later we got dinner at an Italian place inside the train station. If I wasn't already full from lunch I was definitely full after dinner. I ordered a dish of eggplant with cheesy gratin and it was almost better than what I've gotten back home. Yum!