Kyoto

KYOTO, JAPAN - Day 3 - Rest Day, Local Playgrounds & Photography at Dusk

This day was very much a rest day where we didn’t plan any extensive outings. We create some time and space for the girls to just play together at the accommodation and then watch a movie while Braino and I sorted out some planning for the upcoming days and washing. 

Our guesthouse in Kyoto was a two story apartment / house in the Chayama neighbourhood in the northern part of Kyoto. We booked it through Booking.com although I’m fairly certain it was available through Airbnb too. It was a very authentic Japanese house with a small kitchenette and a lounge area with a small bathroom at the back of the house and a laundry in a very small courtyard that lead out to a back alley. 

Upstairs was two room that were only separated by sliding doors and both had traditional tatami mats, which is a like a sturdy woven straw mat, very authentic to Japan. The beds were also very authentic in nature - essentially just thin mattresses on the tatami mats, which could be folded up and stored in cupboards to create more living space during the day. I found the thin mattresses on the floors to be suprisingly comfortable while Braino didn’t. The girls were all in one of the rooms while Braino and I were in the other, but essentiall you could open up the sliding doors to make one big room on the upper level.

It was fairly cozy for a family of five but much better than a hotel room. 

Fiona, the owner of the guesthouse, was so friendly and helpful! She was originally from England and lived in Kyoto with her family including two teenage daughters. She was incredibly helpful with restaurant & playground recommendations and luggage forwarding. (More on luggage forwarding later - it’s been amazing option to ditch the two large suitcases)

The guesthouse also had a selection of bikes that we could use, Braino made use of these to ride out to get takeaway and groceries.

Also the weird little bear statue is actally a Tanuki, a native Raccoon Dog that features heavily in Japaness folklore. We saw so many of these statues around Kyoto, in front of houses and shops as it symbolises good luck. The girls love spotting them throughout the neighbourhood.

In the afternoon, we went to explore a local playground that Fiona recommended - Tarakgarike Children’s Playground. It was quite a large park with a playground that appeared to have something for kids of all ages. It was a lovely hot Sunday in Kyoto and there were many families who had set up little tents in the park, probably having spend most of the day there. The girls liked the big slide that was built into a large mound and the maze. 

Our guesthouse was very close to the Chayama train station on the Eizan railway line. Tarakgarike Station was a few stops north but afterwards we rode the rail back to the end of the line to Demachiyanagi Station where I had spotted a lot of people out in the parkland near where the river spilts. There was some large stepping stones that crossed the shallow river, including some that been custom made to looks like turtles. The girls loved it here, it was really relaxing just people watching and enjoying the fresh air along with all the locals.

Later the evening, I headed back into the Gion area of Kyoto to capture some photos at dusk. Gion is the iconically authentic, albeit a little touristy area of Kyoto, it’s very photogenic and there was a lot of other photographers out snapping photos from the popular vantage points. I think I arrived a little too late but I was quite happy with what I captured.

KYOTO, JAPAN - Day 2 -Fushimi Inari Taisha, Nara Deer Park and Todai-Ji

FUSHIMI INARI TAISHI

After the crowds of Kiyomizu-Dera the previous afternoon, we committed to getting up very early and heading to Fushimi Inari Shrine, another iconic shrine of Kyoto. We were out of the accommodation by 6:30am, which saw us reach the shrine by 7:00am and this turned out to be the perfect time. Thankfully, our accommodation was fairly close to Demachiyanagi Station at the end of the Keihan line, Fushimi Inari train station is a few stops down on the same line so it a nice and easy to reach. 

Fushimi Inari Taishi is a shinto shrine dedicated to the gods of rice and sake, which features many statues of foxes, who are considered to be the messengers of the god of cereal. The girls loved spotting all the stone foxes, I think any animal association, like GotoKuji Temple in Tokyo, makes visiting temples and shrines a little more interesting for kids. 

The vermilion red torii gates are probably the most well known aspect of this shrine complex and it was a really amazing experience to walk through all the torii tunnels that line the path that winds up the mountain. for approximately 4km. However we made it about two third of the way up. It was a very enchanting shrine to experience, definitely one of our favourites. 

There was still a number of other people but it didn’t feel too crowded or hot. As were leaving around 9:00am, we were gobsmacked by the shear amount of people getting ofF the trains that were arriving at Inari Station, and these trains were arriving every 10 or so minutes! So thankfull that we were able to experienced this shrine early in the morning. 

NARA DEER PARK & TODAI-JI

As we still had the rest of the day ahead of us, we continued south on the train towards Nara. Nara is a solid day trip from Kyoto, but it’s well worth the visit. Like Kyoto, Nara was also once the ancient capital of Japan and is home to many fascinating shrine and temples. It’s also well known for the deer in the Nara Koen area. 

The deer have lived in the Nara Koen area for a hundreds of years and are considered to be messengers of the gods, they are protected as National Treasures. Tourist can actually buy shika senbei, ‘deer crackers, to feed the deer which are made out of flour and rice bran. The deer were fairly friendly and the girls were quite keen to see them up close, but we soon realised that the deer love the crackers and can get a little pushy if you have crackers for them. If you don’t, well, the deers won’t give you much time. We even saw some deer pull at peoples shirts and chase people who had crackers. It was kind of amusing. We realised that if you hold up your hands and show the deer that you don’t have any crackers for them, they will leave you alone. 

Nara Park has a number of temples and museums in it, but we wandered over to Todai-ji, Nara’s main attraction. Todai-ji is a sprawling Buddhist temple that contains Daibutsu-den (Hall of the Great Buddha), which is considered to be largest wooden structure in the world. It’s truly awe-inspiring! Inside is the daibutsu (Great Buddha) is one of the largest bronze figures in the world, again truly awe inspiring. 

It was free to enter Nara Park and wander around Todai-ji, however it was 1200 yen per adult to enter the Daiutsu-den, so I went in alone. The deer and rest of the temple grounds was interesting enough for the rest of the family. I wasn’t too knowledgable about the significance of Todai-ji and the Great Buddha inside, but I’m grateful to have had the chance to visit it. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and such a magnificent site to behold. 

KYOTO, JAPAN - Day 1 - Kyoto Train Museum & Kiyomiza-Dera Temple

KYOTO RAIL MUSEUM

To carry the theme of trains over from yesterday’s bullet train trip, we decided to start the day with a visit to the Kyoto Train Museum. 

I had read on Trip Adviser that this train museum is the best in the world and I would have to agree. We stayed for 3 hours and even then it was hard to drag the girls away, especially Hallie. 

The museum has so many actual train carriages and driving carriages that you can walk through. They have one of the first ever Shinkansens from the 1960’s that you can sit in the drivers seat and pretend to  drive. 

There are loads of interactive things for kids to do like building model bridges, manoeuvring life sized controls and controlling miniature trains around a miniature city track. And there are lots of displays and information about the history of trains in Japan. There was even an exhibit about how rain tunnels are built which really resonated with Braino. There is minimal English information but you can scan a QR code to get more in English or we often used the translate app, where you can take a photo and the translation appears in over the photo - very handy!

There was a good cafe inside with tables that overlooked the actual train lines near Kyoto Station. It was quite fun to spot all the Shinkansens travel past. 

There was also a kids indoor play area with lots of toy trains and tracks to build with and then outside there was a great playground surrounded by a railway turntable and a dozen old steam trains - just like Tidmouth Sheds, if you know that reference. 

Hallie has always had a thing for trains and the other two girls seem happy enough to get into trains as well, so this was a real win. Even if you’re not that interested in trains but can appreciate Japans next level train technology, I say it’s still worth a visit.

KIYOMIZU - DERA

After the Kyoto Rail Museum, we caught the train to Kiyomizu-dera where we then walked for about 20 mins to reach Kiyomizu-Dera Temple. We wound our way up the narrow streets lined with tradition Japanese architecture until we reached the base of the temple grounds. 

Kiyomizu-dera is a thousand year old buddhist temple dedicated to Kannon, the deity of compassion and great mercy. (The same deity that Senso-Ji in Tokyo is dedicated too). It sits halfway up Mt Otowa, and is set in beautiful lush greenery, overlooking Kyoto. The main hall is a sight to behold, perched on the side of the mountain, supported by traditionally constructed wooden  beams that interlock, no nails have been used. 

Even though we are there at 4:30pm in the afternoon, it was still very busy. Lots of school groups as well as the many other tourists. We were aware that the well known temples and shrines in Kyoto can be very busy, and it was really fascinating to witness the amount of people that dress in traditional kimonos and take photos around the temple.  It was a rather hot but we’re still glad we visited this popular destination in Kyoto. It’s free to enter the temple grounds but 500 yen each to enter the mail hall, so only I walked through the main hall around the mountain side path. 

We walked back to the train stations through the Gion district, which holds a lot of beautiful historic architecture and is traditionally the area where a lot of Geisha work in the teahouses. The area is very popular with tourist but still has a magical air about, in some of the streets it’s very easy to imagine yourself transported back in time.