Hooray for nihonbarre!

We got up early on Wednesday to make the most of our last day in Kyoto. As i do every morning, I checked weather.com for some insight as to how the day was going to be. The result, as i had expected, 100% chance of precipitation all the way through until 7 pm, when we were planning on leaving, then it was going to miraculously clear up as we headed back to Tokyo. So we dressed for cold rain, rolled up our pant legs, grabbed the umbrellas and headed out the door. We checked out of the hotel and had them hold our bags to be picked up later.

It wasn't raining outside, but it looked like it could at any second, so we hopped a cab and headed to Ginkakuji to try and get at least one temple in before the eminent downpour. We arrived at the gates just before they opened and were the first people to walk in. Ginkakuji is also known as the silver pavilion. This building itself is a copy of the gold pavilion without the gold. Contrary to the name, it doesn't actually have any silver on it either - just wood. In fact the pavillion itself was under construction as they were re-roofing and doing repairs. What makes this sight special is the garden and surrounding grounds. It was a treat to be able to walk through this treasure without hordes of other onlookers around. Everything seems so peaceful and not one leaf looks out of place. There are also two sand sculptures that must be constantly maintained especially with the recent rain. We saw some of the staff with brooms in hand helping to keep everything perfect and pick up fallen leaves to allow all of the magnificent moss to be exposed. The path around the grounds leads up a tree covered hill and offers some great views of the valley below. We were having the temples calligraphy and stamp done in Erica's book as a group of loud school kids were entering. It made us appreciate our early start even more.

Nihonbarre is a japanese term meaning the cleansing of japan. It is used to refer to the day after a typhoon has passed, and the weather is perfect. It became apparent as we were leaving Ginkakuji that today was in fact Nihonbarre. We have had the pleasure of experiencing this event twice in our trip. We have also had the misfortune of experiencing a typhoon twice during our stay as well. Our current situation was a reminder of how inaccurate weather.com can be as we were both dressed inappropriately for the beautiful day that we were going to have and had to carry around our umbrellas even though we wouldn't need them - ce la vie.

Just down the hill from Ginkakuji is the beginning of "tetsugaku no michi" loosely translated to the path of philosophy, which is a small sleepy path next to a canal along the base of the mountain. The path pointed us back in the direction of the hotel so we walked along. The walk is extremely pleasant, quiet and without much foot traffic. We passed maybe 10 people while following the canal for the next mile or so. Covered by trees, with the sound of the flowing water the entire distance, it was really nice and relaxing.

We continued walking through some back streets and saw some beautiful homes as well as passed some less well known temples and shrines. As we turned a corner we could see the hotel so we headed there to catch a cab to our next point of interest - Kyomizudera.