About temples, shrines, pavilions and castles

I have been going around quite a lot now, visiting temples, shrines, pavilions and castles and I have to say the clear winners are the shrines for me.
True, temples often have astonishing and really massive gates and halls and beautiful screen paintings and of course exploring a castle has its own thrill, but in the end I am just more interested in finding a small shrine somewhere amidst lots of greenery, moss growing everywhere and few to no other visitors around. It is there that I can feel really at peace and like I can esteem the beauty surrounding me. The same with gardens, the great and well visited Heian shrine itself was less interesting for me than the gardens surrounding it.
Seems like I am more of a nature-type than expected.

That is of course only my personal view and temple-hopping is fine as well, I just want everyone to consider visiting some off-the-beaten-path shrines if the chance arises.

So long and stay tuned,
JuergenS

written by

JuergenS on July 26, 2010 from Kyoto, Japan

from the travel blog: Two month of Japan

tagged Rant

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