Kyoto Trip

   Hello everyone! It gets harder and harder to update, especially since I've fallen behind a bit in my posts as well as I've had a few busy weeks recently.

   About three weeks ago, I visited Kyoto with some of the Japanese students who were studying English here at JCMU. We visited Yasaka Shrine and Kiyomizu Temple. Because much of Japan is very open (and semi-secular) about religion, but their faith is based in polytheism, there are many shrines (both large and small) and a lot of temples. It is not uncommon to see a very small shrine squeezed in the alley between two houses. As a Christian, I also have not gotten a chance to see inside another religion's house of worship.

   Yasaka Shrine has a large white and bright orange gate.


When you walk inside, there are food-booths and a lot of mini shrines. There is also a place where one can buy protective charms (usually about $10 or more), "mikuji" (which are fortune sheets...I will talk about these in a separate blog post), and other temple/shrine-related things. My friends took me over to the main altar where you pray to the deity.

When you pray in Japan, you bow twice, clap twice, pray, and then bow once more. After that, we were able to watch part of a traditional Japanese wedding. A lot of people were taking pictures and videos, but I did not feel comfortable doing so...so no pictures of that.

After the visit at Yasaka Shrine, we continued through the Gion District of Kyoto. There are a lot of stores there (included the Ghibli store!) and it was really cool seeing women and men dressed in kimonos, as well as people dressed in contemporary clothing

After a long, but enjoyable walk, we reached Kiyomizu Shrine (which has a similar orange and white gate). 



The main temple was under construction and the whole complex was beginning to close, so we just wandered around. But it was still interesting to visit.

Finally, after a long, but satisfying day, we returned to Kyoto Station. We rode the escalators to the top of this large building, so I will leave you with pictures of the city as night descends.






For more information on Japanese religion, temples, and shrines, please go here.

Location: Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

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