Today started with a short walk to a waiting bus that took us to Nijo-jo Castle. This castle is one of the most important in Japan as it was the site of the beginning (in 1603) of the Tokugawa Shogunate by Ieyasu Tokugawa and the return of political power to the emperor fifteen generations later (in 1867) by the fifteenth Shogun, Yoshinobu Tokugawa.
There were a lot of people visiting today but I managed to get a couple shots without many humans intruding on the spirits of many generations.
The Phoenix atop the temple is covered with gold foil as are the top two floors of the pavilion.
I thought there were a lot of people at the Nijo-jo Castle but here at the Kinkakuji it was wall-to-wall people. When I first visited here in 1961 there were perhaps one hundred people in the entire grounds. Today I estimated at least five thousand people speaking languages from all over the world, jostling for the perfect place to take selfies.
Next stop on today's tour was the Kinkakuji (Gold Pavilion)
Moving on to the Kyoto Imperial Palace, we had a little more breathing space.
These old shutters with wrought iron hinges and vintage lock caught my eye.
This tranquil scene wrapped up our tour. If you have a sharp eye you might see the heron fishing on the rock in the lower left corner.
Back to our hotel area for lunch. Then, while most of the group went to the Gekkeikan Ozeki Sake Museum, Ikuko and I went window shopping and exploring around the local neighborhood.
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