Toji, Thunder and Nijo Castle

On Toji, the temple of Turtles
Remember I mentioned that Ida and I live close to a temple? On Thursday we went to visit it. First of all I was impressed by the size of it; the grounds had looked big from the outside, but getting inside, the twisting pathways and peaceful sakura-alleys seemed simply endless.
The sakura might not be blooming at the moment, but it is still a beautiful area even without the pink overhanging.

Toji Temple (East Temple) is apparently a very important temple, it was erected in the Heian era (around 700) just when Kyoto had become the new capital in Japan and it acted as one of two spiritual wards erected alongside a gate so as to protect the city. Toji is the only one of the two temple-wards to remain though.
At Toji is a five-story pagoda, which happens to be the tallest wooden structure in Japan. It burned down four times because it was struck by lightening, but the latest version was built in the 1600ds, so it is still rather old and it is very impressive.

Toji has national treasures, gold-statues of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas and it has sculptures as well, commemorating a famous monk who lived there, but what is most noticable is the fact that the place is covered in turtles! The first one we saw was this fellow:

Turtles symbolize longevity, good luck, and support  in Japanese culture, but this guy doesn't look like a good-luck charm so much as he looks like a sneaky trickster.

This guy, on the other hand, deserved to be taken home and cuddled, we all agreed. He wasn't at all the only turtle there, but the rest of them were lying on rocks in the water, sunbathing and looking like a bunch of lazy kappas. This one actually wanted to say hello. Aki was steadfast in wanting to name him 'Dude' - I don't think that's very considerate of her, what if it is a lady-turtle?XD

On Amewarashi overstaying her visit
in other news, the goddess of rain has not been kind to Japan. She's been hanging around here for a bit too long, creating floods, but Kyoto, thankfully, has only had the occasional showers and, yesterday night, a couple of hours of pelting rain and noisy thunder. It's impressive how much lightening and thunder happens around here and how quickly it disappears again; she is a fickle spirit that amewarashi.
Then again, Kyoto is known for having weather that changes quickly.

On Nijo Castle and 'nightingale'-floors
On Saturday we all went to visit Nijo Castle. It was started in 1601 and was intended as the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa Shoguns. It's an impressive place for sure, with loads of immaculately cut greenery and fascinating exhibitions about fashions during that era, but admittedly I don't find the buildings as impressive as I do shrines and temples, because they are not as decorated. They are quite big on the inside though and one could definitely get  lost inside.
Nijo has an abundance of shoji-screens as well as silk-tapestries depicting cranes and trees in golds and greens. It's all very calming.

Another interesting detail are the 'nightingale-floors' inside, so called because they were designed to squeak specifically so that the shogun and his guards would be warned of any assassination-attempts. Only very skilled ninjas could hope to pass along those floors unheard.

 

 Here, have some samurai-fashion behind stupidly reflective glass.

Some ending remarks, I love vending-machines on every corner when it's swelteringly hot outside, a fan is a must in Japan in summer and I had my first proper ramen-noodles today<3

Also, our French house-mate, Geraldine, practices kendo and so I have inadvertently gotten to examine a kendo-uniform in detail, while she went on and on about the details of a match - I love kendo so that was utterly epic.

Gion Matsuri is in a couple of days and so you can already see people walking around in yukatas and kimonos on the street. It's going to be so pretty on the actual parade-night. I hope for pictures!

That's it for now!
 ~A~