Kyoto Station Pt 2

Yesterday I showed you a view of Kyoto station from the ground up. Today it is a view from one of the viewing platforms down. A little too cold and sterile for my taste, especially after all the beautiful timber structures we had seen the day before

Kyoto Station

In stark contrast to what we had spent the last two days looking at, this is Kyoto Station. Very very modern compared to all the temples and shrines that we had seen the day before.We were here to catch the Shinkasen train back to Tokyo, and had arrived a little early to have a little look around.

Size wise, it is similar to Sydney's Central Station, but much higher. There are shops, viewing platforms, and of course the trains. I think there may even be a hotel in there too if I remember correctly. If you look closely you will see the escalator that will take us to the roof,  but that's for another day.

Kyoto Laneways

After our taxi tour of Kyoto, we were dropped off in a main street with lots of car traffic & even traffic lights, From there we walked through narrow, tiny back streets looking for the restaurant we were booked into for dinner. As we walked ( not too far thank goodness!) the lane-ways became narrower & narrower. Such a contrast in a very short space.

The restaurant  was a Japanese BBQ type place, and between certain times it became an "all you can eat" ( & drink!) for a certain price. Our trusty guide had became aware of this place long before we left home, and after having a vegetarian lunch, the men in our group were hungry for meat.

When we arrived, there were a few small plates of very thin meat set upon tables with a BBQ in the center to cook it ourselves. ( I had been to Korean BBQ before ) Not a worry, the men in our group outnumbered the women, and they soon got busy. Within 5 minutes the first plates had disappeared and we were asking for refills. The poor waitress I think feigned "no English" to keep the time spread out, but with hungry Aussie men there was no hope of this happening. The "all you can eat" time frame was one and a half hours, and by the end of it we were all stuffed silly and quite a few were under the weather.

This was the end of a very long day, and from here we left by taxi to go back to the hotel for a long hot shower and a good night's sleep. Tomorrow would be another long day.

The Messenger

The fox, known as "kitsune", is believed to be the messenger of Inari, the God of rice. There are quite a number of these foxes throughout the Shrine complex. Often seen in pairs, they guard most of the shrine entrances.

Vermilion Torii

One of the attractions of the Fushimi Inari Shrine is the endless ( or so it seems) pathway with thousands of Torri gates.  Inari,  ( the God of rice) now governs the modern business in success and prosperity, so each one of these thousands of Torri gates has been donated and inscribed by  a business who is thankful. Apparently the pathway goes on for miles, with over 10,000 of these gates, and takes a few hours to walk the distance. We were at the end of a very long day so I didn't walk too far.

Another Shrine Building

Yes, still another shrine building in the grounds of the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Showing off again those beautiful decorations on the line of the roof. If we look closely we can just see the art work on the doors.

Shrine Decoration Pt 4

Another panel of decoration on the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This is very similar to the last one, just shorter and wider. Beautiful!

Shrine Decoration Pt 3

Another decorative panel on a railing of the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This one is similar to the one I showed you a few days back, just narrower and mirrored.

Shrine Decoration Pt 2

Another panel from the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This one was at the base of a post. Inspiration plus!

Shrine Decoration

The gateway into the Fushimi Inari Shrine is full of decoration and inspiration. From a distance it appears to be gold, but I would say that is not the case. My guess would be stamped  brass, but brass would need an awful lot of polishing, especially out in the weather! They are metal of some kind, then carved, moulded, etched, stamped or whatever into these beautiful panels. The panels have then been nailed to the timber structure. I did wonder if the panel had been painted, but I think paint would not give the fine detail that we see here. If we look closely, we can see the nails, six of them. The one at the top and three at the bottom are  different to the two at the sides. I wonder if there is a reason for this? This panel was actually sideways, decorating a railing, so we need to imagine it turned at 90 deg anti clockwise.

The panel itself is still beautiful, and full of inspiration to me as a stitcher.