I spent the most enjoyable day today playing tour guide to some friends from The States, and although it's not as if I'm lacking pictures from Kyoto, of course I brought my camera along. We visited Kibune, drove through the mountains (seeing this village and these rice paddies), and then headed over to the Arashiyama area of Kyoto to take a look around. (While there, we stopped by Giouji knowing that it would be closed for the evening, just so they could scout its location for a later visit.)

My guests were Lawrence Solum, his sister Alex, and their [...]

When I was at the Giouji Temple (祇王寺) the other day (intro - gates and walls), I overheard a taxi driver tell his customers that there were 18 different types of moss at the temple. I believe it, and they seemed to be mixed and matched all over.

They had a little display showing the types of moss to be found on the grounds. The names are in Japanese (and seem to be native Japanese, rather than phonetic representations of the Latin names).

Continuing with shots from my visit to Giouji Temple (祇 王寺) the other day, and following on from yesterday's description of the wall construction at the temple, this leaf on top of one of the walls is something I noticed on the way out.

It seems so peaceful.

I've provided links to various desktop background sizes (for both standard and widescreen desktops) for your enjoyment.

In the post yesterday about my trip to Giouji Temple (祇王寺) in western Kyoto, I commented about the formal entry gate (seen in the background of the second photo on that post). The picture above is the view of the gate while looking over the little door in the front wall.

The formal entry gate, having no doors to be closed or locked, seems to serve no practical function whatsoever. It just looks nice. Well, I guess on a rainy day it might provide some protection, but that's about it. It just looks nice.

You can see above how thick [...]