Tuesday 9 October 2007

Toji Temple and the return to paradise

Dumb Luck, Old Pagoda

I woke up feeling very sleepy the next morning, although thankfully I did not have a hangover. That was just dumb luck. We got breakfast at a conbini (onigiri and orange juice is delicious). We then took a bus to Kyoto Station and took at rain back to Toji Pagoda. We walked around the Pagoda in the rain, and it was very beautiful. We didn't want to pay to go into the acual pagoda due to the weather and the fact that we all had backpacks and were in a hurry, but we did walk inside a main temple. The temple is extremely old, built in 794 which makes it over 1200 years old! Inside are very very old Buddhist statues, and a large shrine in the middle with a less Japanese, more Indian looking Buddha statue adorned with gold and flowers and paintings. It was very lovely! The pagoda is ominous looking. Standing at 5 stories, it is the largest in Japan. And it almost always looks silhouetted because of its age and dark exterior. It was then we decided to go back home early, due to weather and exhaustion. We grabbed some coffee at Starbucks and headed home.

The drive home was better in the daytime because it was raining quite a bit, and after a nice peaceful dinner back in Tango (joined by Simon and Lyle), I think everyone was ready for bed. I drove back up to Ine and fell asleep almost immediately without unpacking or anything.

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