Monuments to visit Kyoto

The Silver Pavilion is one of the must-see places in Kyoto. It is located at the beginning of the Path of Philosophy and nestled in a very pleasant wooded park, mixing moss garden and dry white sand garden. The shōgun Yoshimasa Ashikaga had the Silver Pavilion built between 1479 and 1482 to serve as his place of retreat. Upon his death, the residence became a Buddhist temple. During the shogun's stay in the pavilion, it became the heart of Higashiyama culture, based on Zen ideas in the main. Tea ceremony, ikebana and other arts were developed there while the shogun invited artists and poets to his court. The residence was to be covered with silver shingles, following the model of the golden pavilion, but the crisis caused by the Onin civil war ruined the project. What was supposed to be a pompous building finally became a model of the sober Japanese style. It was in this same residence that the first tea room, or chashitsu, was built. This room had only four and a half tatamis. Later, at the urging of Rikyū Sen, known in Japan for codifying the tea ceremony, the pavilion would be built outside the residence in an appropriate garden. The whole thing is a World Heritage Site.

Ginkaku-ji. The pavilion consists of a first floor and a first floor. The first floor is built in what would later be called the residential shoin style while the upper floor is decidedly Zen with its bell-shaped windows. This aesthetic feature is found in the Golden Pavilion, Kinkaku-ji, dating from 1359.

Other buildings: In addition to the pavilion, the temple has a moss-covered woodland and a Japanese garden attributed to the painter, poet and garden architect Soami. This sand garden is very famous. For the little anecdote, a pile of sand, which is said to have been left by the workers when the work was interrupted, is now part of it. It would symbolize Mount Fuji.

Togu Do. You will need special permission to visit the shōgun's residence and chapel. One can see the famous tea room (Dōjin-sai) made up of the 4.5 tatami square. The architectural style remains that of shoin. The building houses a wooden statue of the shōgun as well as two other statues: one of the Buddha executed by Jōchō in the 11th century and the other of Kannon, carved by Unkei in the 12th century.

The castle dates from 1603. Ieyasu Tokugawa, then the new shōgun, had it built both to establish his authority, to emphasize the weakness of the emperor, and to have a place of residence during his stays in Kyoto. To accomplish this task, he did not skimp on architectural means and placed the construction under the direction of Enshū Kobori (1579-1647). The famous tea master and garden architect retrieved structural and ornamental elements from Fushimi Castle, located in the southeast of the city.
It is entered through the eastern gate which gives access to some gardens and the two enclosures, Honmaru and Ninomaru. The buildings of Ninomaru have been preserved in their original state. The visit leads us through the audience rooms with richly decorated doors and ceilings, and connected between them by corridors with nightingale floors.
A^second castle was built in the Honmaru, as well as a keep, but both buildings were destroyed by fire in the 18th century and never rebuilt. The current palace was moved after the fall of the shogunate in 1867. It is not regularly open to the public although one can walk in its gardens.
South of the castle, the Shinsen-en garden, with its shrine and pond, remains the only remnant of the original imperial palace burnt down in 1227.
Many varieties of cherry trees can be admired in the gardens, and it is a popular spot during the cherry blossom season in April. A visit at an early or late hour is a good way to avoid being overwhelmed by the crowds.

This residence located about ten kilometres northeast of the heart of Kyoto was built by order of Iemitsu Tokugawa for the retired Emperor Go-Mizuno in 1650 and completed by his daughter in 1680. It is built against the mountain and is divided into three terraces called the three tea pavilions on an area of 28 ha. The emperor undertook the construction of the 1st and 3rd terraces while his daughter had the intermediate terrace built, which became a monastery.