It probably rained at night. And now unstable. Seems to be such a weather today.

Both of our couple had breakfast of only store-bought yogurt in the room and talked to each other, "Let's eat something when feeling hungry."
Free plan today, so left the hotel by ourselves at 9:00.

Yasaka Shrine is not too far on foot. The roads are in a checkerboard pattern, so it is easy to judge distance and time.
Walked along Kawaramachi Street down until Shijo Avenue, then turned left and after a while we saw Minamiza Theater of kabuki in a dignified manner.

Passing it, Yasaka Shrine appeared right in front.

We went up the stone-steps and passed through West Tower Gate.
Eki Shrine (the god of pestilence enshried) and Ota-Shirahige Shrine are located around the place thickly covered with camphor and chinquapin trees.
We passed by there and walked on the stone-paved road to reach Main Hall in the precincts, which was rebuilt in Sho-o 2 (1654).

This shrine is very famous for the Gion Festival. The odd-looking main hall is in an architectual style of "Gion-zukuri".
The 15 other temple buildings in addition to the main hall are located in the precincts. I passed by, thinking each of them should have its own role as a matter of fact.

We stayed there for more than one hour, but were never bored.

Yasaka Shrine, Other Pictures

Kodaiji Temple was located just a few-minute walk from Yasaka Shrine along the alley.
Mt. Jubusan Kodaiji Temple. It is the temple of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Nene rather than a temple of Kenninji branch of Rinzai sect.

After Hideyoshi's death, Nene, his wife, officially Kita-no-mandokoro, built this temple in Kan-ei 1 (1624) with Sanko Shoeki as the founder.
For its construction Tokugawa Ieyasu is said to have made a lot of financial support due to the then political consideration, so its appearance was the most magnificent at that time.

However, it was hit by fire so often that the remaining buildings are Kasa-tei Teahouse, Shigure-tei Teahouse, Entrance Gate, Kangetsu-dai House and some others.
The garden named 'Tsurukame-no-niwa' (Garden of Cranes and Turtles) is a designated place of scenic beauty and said to have been created by Kobori Enshu.

Kodaiji Temple, Other Pictures

I would like to make a detour here.
Kobori Enshu. It's the name of a landscape gardener I have ever heard of at several famous gardens. And here at this temple, too.

The garden was redesigned by the renowned landscape architect Kobori Enshu (1579-1647) from an older garden located on this site. Famous for its excellent stone layout, it is one of the finest gardens of its period. In the north section of the pond is an island in the form of a turtle, and in the south section is a group of stones representing cranes. This garden has been designated by the Japanese Government as a "Place of Historical Importance and Outstanding Scenery."

Such garden as Garden of Cranes and Turtles is called Chisen-Kaiyushiki garden, a style of Japanese garden with a path around a center pond and spring. In this garden Engetsuchi Pond and Garyuchi Pond face each other across Kaizan-do Hall.

Kobori Enshu created the gardens of this style at Nijo Castle as Hachijin-no-niwa of the Ninomaru Palace Garden, and at Nanzenji Temple as Toranokowatashi-no-niwa which we visited this March.
And well, the North Garden at Entokuin Temple, too, which we saw a little while ago.

I found the name of Kobori Enshu in the Internet sites of scenic places and gardens in Japan.
He does not seem to be only a garden designer. A certain website "Koto-bank" says like this.

- - - - -
Taking the opportunity to stray off the subject, one more side street.
I would like to ascribe this slow work to the jazz sounding from the radio NHK-FM. I swiched it off and my work got much slower feeling I fell into the dark.
Now I have decided to listen to classical music on the LP player.

I have more than 500 LPs besides CDs on the shelf.
Lively or noisy music is too much. So, Johann Sebastian Bach came out to me first. And finally I selected his "Six Suites for Solo Cello BWV 1007-1012" (Archiv, 3 LPs) played by Pierre Fournier.
I am sure I bought it at the record store in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry near the Tokyo Branch office of our Daido Steel Co. around 40 years ago. The LPs are like a new one which proves I have ever listened to them only a couple of times.

I put the side A of the 1st LP on the player and the gentle sound begins.
It is far from harsh on my ears, and more than that, it may be helpful to my work.
Not knowing, 2 hours have passed when the 6th suite ended. It is 4:00 pm. I have totally forgotten about the travelogue.

However, this album seems to be matched well with the temples and shrines in Kyoto now proceeding in my work. All of the suites are not assertive, but rather have a modest sound. They could not interrupt the work.
Listening to them and looking at the pictures taken at Kodaiji Temple, the chic views of the garden created by Kobori Enshu, Kangetsudo Hall, Kaizando Hall, ..., all of them seem to be comfortable with this BGM.
Nene's devotion to her life and faith rather than her love to Hideyoshi. In such a world of fantasy, I decided to proceed the travelogue listening to Bach.

Johann S Bach	Pierre Fournier
from the pamphlet of the LP album.

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Actually the sound of this LP album is echoing during my reading of the Japanese edition of this travelogue.
Now just before the start of reading this English edition, I happened to find another MD album of the same music on the same shelf.
It is really Johann S. Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, BWV 1007-1012. This album is played by Yo-Yo ma.

from the pamphlet of the MD album

So, the BGM during my reading here is this album.

From Kodaiji Temple through Yasaka Shrine again to the north for a while, we were already at Chionin Temple.
On the way we had soba-noodle lunch at a restaurant next to the theater of Yoshimoto-Shinkigeki. So, there were many colored papers of famous actors and actresses put on the side walls.

The San-mon Gate in the picture was built in Genna 5 (1619), which is now the largest wooden structure in Japan.
Passing through the gate and then going up the steep stone steps called Otoko-zaka, we entered into the precincts finally.

Chion (知恩) in the Japanese letter means "know a favor". The beginning of this temple is said to be when Genchi, an apprentice of Priest Honen, built the Mieido temple at Honen's house once stood after his master's death. So, the name of the temple is "Mieido Hall" (御影堂, Thinking-of-the-Master Hall), or not?

Mieido Hall was under repair, so we walked on the corridor from the abbot's chamber there partly. This corridor is one of the Seven Wonders of Chionin Temple. Truly while we were walking along it, the sounds like the song of a bush wabler were echoed by each step.

Another one of the Seven Wonders is "Nuke-suzume Folding Screen". "Nuke-suzume" means that the sparrows drawn in the folding screen were too good to stay here. So, they flew away.
The rakugo of the same name played by Kokontei Shinsho came out to me, though the stage and the contents are totally different.

Chionin Temple, Other Pictures

We bought a box of sushi, a canned beer and some others at a convenience store. The dinner was in the room after shower watching TV.
I went to bed at 7:00 and fell into sleep listening to rakugo in the iPod.