The Golden Temple

There were still two days of Silver Week left, and we were prepared to cram them full of sightseeing. Cailyn had read a book about a temple called Kinkaku-ji, which happened to be the #1 sight in my Japan and Kyoto guidebooks. I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to see this “golden” temple. (The “Kin” part of Kinkaku-ji means gold.)

So we all piled on the train, which thankfully was a little less crowded than the day before. We rode to Kyoto, and took a bus from the main station there to the temple. Once again, the bus was ridiculously crowded. What was worse than the train the other day was that this bus seemed to stop every 100 feet, and we were standing near the front, which meant that everyone had to push past us to get off. It was a pretty long trip.

And, once again, the vote was unanimous from the three of us to eat at McDonald’s for lunch. We’re college kids in a foreign country, and it’s cheap. It’s tough to go somewhere more expensive. (Side story: Last night, I told my Okaa-san that I was planning on meeting some friends at Starbucks on Saturday, and she actually recommended McDonald’s because it’s so much cheaper. I thought that was funny.) On the way to McDonald’s, we saw an interesting sight:

After we ate, we went on to the temple. Kinkaku-ji is actually on fairly large grounds compared to some of the other temples I have gone to. And the grounds are beautiful, covered in old trees and moss.


Nothing prepared me for how beautiful the temple would be. It’s something that doesn’t quite show in pictures – so you all need to go for yourself sometime! All of the walls of the temple are completely covered in gold.



There is even a little gold phoenix on top of the temple:

As you can see, the temple is set on a small pond, which on a sunny day would probably reflect the gold. But alas, it was cloudy the day we went. However, everyone is telling us we should go back when it’s snowing. That sounds awesome, so I will probably do so if I have the chance. Anyway, the pond is full of koi fish, which were very sociable.

After we passed the temple, I bought a good luck charm, and we wandered on, taking pictures of other beautiful areas on the grounds.



That last one is my favorite. There was also a spot to try and throw a coin in into a bowl by some statues for good luck. Of course, lucky girl that I am, when I tossed it it hit my thumb and went sailing off to the side. Oh well.

My bad luck continued when I bought a fortune from the boxes near the exit of the temple.

I should have put it in here after I read it.

After we left, we headed back to Kyoto Station and walked around for a little while. We plan to go back soon. More on that later. Then we caught a much less crowded train back to Hirakata City Station.
(The view from Kyoto Station.)