Sanzenin (三千院) in Kyoto

Ohara (大原) is the place that is one of my favorite spots in Kyoto. It's a bit far from the center of Kyoto city (30 minutes - 1hour by bus), so there're less tourists at temples in Ohara than at the other famous temples such as the golden temple. Popular spots are always crowded with too many people, taking my energy to look around. At this point, Ohara is the best place to visit for me.

Let's check it out and know how great it is !!!

↑From Ohara bus stop, walk ten minutes to the temple. Along the road to the temple, you can find the perfect balance of artificial things and nature.

↑To Sanzen-in (三千院).

↑In front of the temple, there're some souvenir shops.

↑Inside of the temple.

 ↑A pond reflecting the shadows of the trees.

 ↑Road surrouonded by the moss.

↑Statues of children in the moss.

↑Iced cucumbers (pickles). Buy one and eat as you walk to Sanzenin.

↑After getting a cucumber, pass the small bridge in front of the shop. Field that is full of cosmos.

↑Absolutely beautiful !!!


Sanzenin http://www.sanzenin.or.jp/ (Japanese)
540, Ohara Raigouin-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, JAPAN
京都市左京区大原来迎院町540

Housenin (宝泉院) in Kyoto - a temple with a tasteful garden

Went to Kyoto last week. 

Kyoto is always fantastic, historic, and a relaxing place to me. 

I think Japan has lots of spots that should be boasted to the people all over the world. However, the number of the foreign tourists are ten times smaller than that of France, which is also a good country to visit but the difference of the numbers between Japan and France is much bigger than it should be. One of its reasons is, in my opinion, Japan hasn't been appealing its attractive tourist resources to other countries.

So from now on, I will do that for the country.

Housenin is a temple with a little unique garden, which looks as if it's in a frame like a painting.

↑This is the garden. It really looks like a painting. The two pillars standing beside the big pine tree act like a frame.

↑This pine tree has been living for over 700 years !!!

↑Green tea with a cake. At this time, no one else was here. What a magnificent room !!!

↑This is called Suikinkutu (水琴窟), with which you can enjoy the sound of echo in a bottle. The sound is like metallophone.

Housenin http://www.hosenin.net/index.html (Japanese)

Open 9:00-17:00

187, Ohara Shorinin-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, JAPAN　(京都市左京区大原勝林院町187)

Adachi Museum of Art - Japan's finest garden in Simane

Didn't know much about the association though, Journal Of Japanese Gardening (JOJG) has picked up one garden in Simane prefecture as the best Japanese garden for eight years in a row. That is called Adachi Museum of Art (足立美術館).

Before I start writing this article, I looked up what JOJG was like. They should be some official group or some organization about studying gardens enthusiastically, otherwise the ranking of gardens by them means nothing. And the result of what it's like is, according to their website, they seem to be kind of a group of specialists for Japanese gardens, consisting of four Americans and one Japanese. Thinking about it, I remembered that, in Kyoto, I've met a female gardener from an European country. She said she loved her job.

Needless to say, Japanese gardens attract people not only the Japanese but also people from many other countries.

I guess this place is not so famous even among Japanese people, but it's quite worth going indeed.

The great spot is always difficult to access without a car. This garden is as well. Perhaps, I think I spent little time to look around for the Japanese paintings it shows, and just most of time to walk along the garden, taking many photos.

↑Though window. So it's a bit bluish.

↑Had a green tea ice cream beside the garden:) Great !!!

Adachi Musuem of Art (足立美術館) http://www.adachi-museum.or.jp/e/index.html (English)

320, Furukawa-cho, Yasugi-shi, Shimane, JAPAN

Mizuki Shigeru Road - A city of Ghosts (Yokai)

How many people want to visit Tottori prefecture? Even Japanese don't, or maybe can't because of the difficulty of access from big cities such as Tokyo and its scarcity of attractions. Its most famous attraction is definitely the desert hill called Tottori Sakyu. Another famous one might be ...pears? I didn't expect much from Tottori before getting there.

Actually, I found that Tottori had a good spot to visit, called Sakai-minato city. There seem to be two types of charms in the city. One is Shigeru Mizuki (maybe the best known manga artist in Japan), the other seafood. He was born in Sakai-minato and his well known manga is "Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro", focusing on the life of ghosts (Yokai), so the particular parts of the city like Mizuki Shigeru Road are decorated with creepy Yokai characters.

↑At Yonago Station.

↑To get to Sakai-minato station, you can get on the special train wrapped by the characters of his manga.

↑Yokai shaped breads !!! They don't taste bad.

↑Medama-oyaji (one of its main characters).

↑A taxi with Medama-oyaji on top. Funny !!!

↑The person sitting in the center of the desk is Shigeru Mizuki.

↑Sakai-minato is also famous for seafood. (minato means port in Japanese) The city is one of the main ports of fish catches especially for crabs and tuna. Ummm, YUMMY!!!

Mizuki Shigeru Road (Sakai-Minato) http://www.sakaiminato.net/foreign/en/ (English)

Kenrokuen - One of the three major gardens in Japan

Kenrokuen is a Japanese garden which is said to be one of the most beautiful gardens (the rest; Korakuen in Okayama and Kairakuen in Ibaraki), located in Ishikawa prefecture.

↑Tasty green tea with a special Japanese snack. In the traditional way, people take turn eating and drinking because having only the tea is too bitter and having only the snack is too sweet.

Kenrokuen http://www.pref.ishikawa.jp/siro-niwa/kenrokuen/e/index.html (English)
1-4, Kenroku-cho, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa, JAPAN