Twice to the bathroom during the night, I got up at 6:00, overslept than usual.
At 8:28, we got on the shuttle bus of the local Keihan Sightseeing Co. at the hotel to the meeting place in front of Kyoto Station.

We already reserved the sightseeing tour in the morning, which is going to take us to Sanjusangen-do Temple and Fushimi-Inari Shrine. Our plan for the afternoon was to visit Ginkakuji Temple, but there was no such tour on the day.
So instead, we applied for the tour of visiting Ryoanji Temple and Nijo Castle with mixed feelings, because we had visited both of them 3 months ago.

This kind of bus took us to vaious scenic spots as a sightseeing tour.

- - - - -
Now, it's time to introduce the places we visited today.
For the whole introduction during the stay here in Kyoto, I owe the following.

JTB's guidebooks: "Kyoto for Walking alone" and "Kyoto for Enjoyable Walking".
The leaflets at the visited places.
Internet, mainly Wikipedia.

This is the temple of the 1,000 Buddhist-statue Kannon dedicated to the Senju Kannon as the principal image. Senju Kannon means Thousand Armed Avalokiteshwara.
The one-story temple faces east and the height of the ridge is 15 meters. The inner sanctuary of the temple is very oblong faraway, where over 1,000 statues of Buddha are systematically arranged in a row and are all gazing at us. Their center is the seated statue of Senju Kannon.

I was overwhelmed rather than impressed.
To my regret, photography was not allowed inside, so I bought a book "The Buddhas in Sanjusangen-do" at the exit.

Sanjusangen-do, Other Pictures

We walked along the busy road with both sides lined by stores and entered the temple gate.

Gorgeously vermilion-painted temple halls are seen here and there in the precincts. Before some of them seated statues of foxes hold each in mouths a scroll, rice and something instead of deep-fried bean curd.
We strolled around there for a while, and then headed for the famous so-called thousand toriis. (A "torii" means a gateway at the entrance to a Shinto shrine.)
Toriis are obviously over a thousand, which are numerous and shining brightly in vermilion color. Each of the toriis had a donator's name and the built date.

Fushimi-Inari Shrine, Other Pictures

Back to the bus terminal, our couple went down to the underground Porta Restaurant Street in front of Kyoto Station, and not feeling hungry, we had a simple soba-noodle lunch at the soba-restaurant "Tagoto".

The sightseeing bus in the afternoon started at 13:30 with 20-odd guests in it.

The Rock Garden The simple and remarkable garden measures only 25 meters from east to west and 10 meters from south to north. The rectangular Zen garden is completely different from the gorgeous gardens of court nobles constructed in the Middle Ages. No trees are to be seen; only 15 rocks and white gravel are used in the garden. The walls are made of clay boiled in oil. As time went by, the peculiar design was made of itself by the oil that seeped out. This internationally famous rock garden was said to be created at the end of Muromachi Period (around 1500) by a highly respected Zen monk Tokuho Zenketsu. (Ryoanji Temple's pamphlet)

Kyoyochi Pond The pond was made in the late 20th century. Until recent years many mandarin ducks were seen on the pond. Hence the Ryoanji was generally known as Oshidoridera, the temple of mandarin ducks. The water wells out from around the two rocks in the south. On the islet named Bentenjima is a hall, in which an image of Sarasvati has been housed. (Ryoanji Temple's pamphlet)

A unique wash-basin of stone "Tsukubai" Tsukubai, the stone wash-basin for the tea room, has a unique inscription, "I learn only to be contented" (足るを知る). He who learns to be contented is spiritually rich, while the one who does not learn to be contented is spiritually poor even if he is materially wealthy. This concept is important in the Zen spirit. The Tsukubai is said to have been contributed by Mitsukuni Mito (1628-1700), a feudal lord and the compiler of the great History of Japan known as "Dai-nippon-shi". (Ryoanji Temple's pamphlet)

We entered the main hall and, sitting on the porch, seriously enjoyed the dry landscape garden.
Just like this March, in spite of a number of guests, it is quiet itself here. Foreign-looking people, about half of the guests, seemed also to be impressed and were nodding each other.

The bulletin board says "The nunber of the stones are 15." I was moved by their exquisit arrangement, more than that.

Ryoanji Temple, Other Pictures

Not to change the subject, when we traveled in Kyoto last time in March, we got on the "Truck Train" from Kameyama to Arashiyama first in the morning.
After strolling around Arashiyama for 3 hours, we stopped at Ninnaji Temple and then visited this Ryoanji Temple.
The follwing links are pictures then around there.

Our couple visited this spot on March 30, too. It was the last spot to visit on the last day during the 3-day tour. We walked and looked around both the castle inside and the gardens outside completely.

This one-story castle is different from usual castles. At least it is not a fort for the purpose of battles. Rather, it looks like a palace surrounded by wide gardens.

Since Muromachi period (1336-1573), such clans as Ashikaga, Oda, Toyotomi and Tokugawa built their castles here at each ruling period for showing off their power and also apparent allegiance to the Imperial Household, which had a significant meaning of the existence of this castle in relation to the Imperial Family. I interpret it so.

This Nijo Castle's 3,300 square-meter Ninomaru Palace, consisting of five connected separate buildings, is the place of the beginning and ending of Edo (Tokugawa Shogunate) period, where Ieyasu was appointed as the Shogun and Yoshinobu announced to return government to the Emperor.

drawn by Tonda Tanryo (Wikipedia)

Here in the Kuroshoin Hall, the 15th shogun Yoshinobu announced to return government to the Emperor before more than 20 important daimyoes stationed in Kyoto, and on the next day, November 10, 1867, the Emperor gave an instruction document showing the imperial sanction for Taisei Hokan to Yoshinobu who visited the Imperial Palace. Thus so, Taisei Hokan was completed and Tokugawa period ended after 165 years of government in Edo.

Our couple saw the inside of Ninomaru Palace twice in March and this time, with such history going round in heart.
We could walk slowly around Ninomaru Garden and Honmaru Garden twice, too.

Nijo Castle, Other Pictures

Pictures as of March 30

The grace in the morning.
The assistant guide was Ms. YK. As there was no foreigners in this tour, she seemed to have nothing to do and have time to kill, not being able to make use of her special skill of English interpretation.

We began to talk sometimes on the way to Fushimi-Inari Shrine. Just on the way back walking at some yakitori (grilled-chicken) shop, she suggested me saying, "Why don't you eat a quail? Sorry it's over the season of sparrows."
I bought a fresh-grilled quail and stuffed my mouth with a whole. I could not cry "Good!", but tasted nice moderately.
I actually ate all from head to tail while walking. Emiko looked at me strangely, but Ms. YK was happy to see me.

For myself, it is nothing strange remembering my childhood in the local town. More than that, isn't it a kind of transmigration of nature and among the local culture? Thinking this way, my mind was back in the early childhood.

Several days after returning home, I received her email, saying "I have been reading your 'Viva, Seniors!'. I have ever been to Bali Island when my childen was young, too. The story of your stay in the US seems interesting, too.. ..."
When finishing this travelogue, I will let her know and ask a check to her.

Besides, I was blessed by good fortune, too.
There was an Australian family in our afternoon members. A couple, mother of the husband and 2 children. The wife was a Japanese, who signaled me to talk to her husband in English. He answered me in such a smile.
First, he said they live in Caiens, northeast of Australia, and our talk lasted lively both walking on the way and in the bus.
I told him that my father had ever worked around Arafura Sea north of Cairns as a pearl diver for 13 years until the age of 33 and that he was baptized by a father there and given a Christian name "Peter".
This story made us more friendly and he stuck to me until the end of the tour.

On March 29, 3 months ago, we viewed the streaming scenery on the truck train from Kameyama to Arashiyama.
After getting off the train at Arashiyama, we walked through the bamboo forest for a while and stopped by at Nison-in Temple.

Then visited Rakushisha.
Emiko has a strong hobby of haiku, and I am a kind of chaser of Basho. So, this was the spot both of us had expected to come over if there had been any chance during the tour.

It is a different world from temples and shrines. The simple but refined hut with a thatched roof welcomed us.

Firstly Kyorai's haiku monument came into our view. And also the one of Basho, who was Kyorai's master and visited here three times faraway from Edo that period.

柿主や梢はちかきあらし山　去来

五月雨や色紙へぎたる壁の跡　芭蕉

The following are several other pictures around Rakushisha.

Rakushisha, Other Pictures

It's time to go back. I decided to leave here even with some deep emotion. Emiko is still unusually interested in this hut.
She seemed reluctant to leave, but finally after a while she accepted my suggestion.

The following are Kyorai's 10 haikus at Rakushisha and Basho's 5 haikus in his "Saga Diary".