It was a rainy day when we decided to visit the north-western part of Kyoto.

We came to the area with the umbrellas, but after 10 minutes I’ve already known that the umbrella
won’t help me stay dry.

This area of the city very interesting because there are located a lot of small shrines from different periods of Japanese history.

The first one- Gioji Temple. It’s a small temple of interest in that it’s a Buddhist nunnery- with a story. Gioji is all that survives of the formerly huge Ojo-in Temple, founded by the priest Ryochin, a disciple of Honen.

Arashiyama bamboo forest.

Tenryu Shiseizen-ji is the head temple of the Tenryū branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The temple was founded by Ashikaga Takauji in 1339 and in 1994, it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto”.

The view from the Tenryu Shiseizen-ji to the Sogenchi garden.

One of the interesting places in this area- Iwatayama Monkey Park. This park located on Arashiyama mountain and inhabited by a troop of over 170 wild Japanese macaque monkeys.

North-western Kyoto from the monkey park.

Daikakuji is a large Shingon Buddhist temple, originally built in the early 800s as the detached palace of Emperor Saga (785–842 CE) and later various emperor conducted their cloistered rule from here.

Daikakuji has had a role in several significant historical events. A succession of retired emperors reigned from here, and in the 12th century the temple hosted peace talks that reunited the Northern and Southern Imperial Courts after 50 years of civil war.

The Osawa Pond is older than the Daikakuji temple itself. It is an artificial lake of 2.4 hectares that was created by Emperor Saga and it was supposed to reflect the outlines of Dongting Lake in China, which has a special significance in Chinese culture.

The Shingyo Pagoda is located on the territory of the temple, too. It’s a two tiered, tahoto style pagoda erected to commemorate the 1150th anniversary of Emperor Saga.

Quiet country life and rain…

Katsura river.

Arashiyama’s hills.

North-western one-story Kyoto.

Katsura river.