After leaving Satoru in the middle of the mountain, Kiyomizu-dera came up half-jumping.
Nana Ryujina’s stamina was far out of the realm of ordinary people, so even after arriving at the entrance of Kiyomizu-dera, there was still a lot of energy left.
“Because it’s in the highlands, the air is nice.”
“Yeah. I feel like my head is clear.”
Ryuji responded moderately to my words, leaning against the statue of Haitai near the entrance to the temple.
“Satoru, what are you doing right now?”
“If it’s that guy’s personality, he’d probably just give up and walk upstairs right?”
After saying that with a giggle, Ryuji put her hands in her pants and glanced back.
“I’ve been coming here for a long time.”
“Have you been?”
“Uh, when I was in elementary school. Is this your first time Yooseong?”
“Yeah, what.”
As I shyly scratched the back of my head, Chiaki, who was floating next to Ryuji, looked up at the temple and said:
“It’s a place I’ve been to before.”
“Do you remember?”
“Because it was the last trip I took.”
Ah, ah… .
She, who has a talent for making the atmosphere suddenly bleak, apologized in a hurry as she realized her mistake belatedly.
“I just said it because I missed you, so don’t worry too much about it. Maybe it was because it was the last trip I went on with Ryuji, so I must have been immersed in emotion without realizing it.”
It was an even more inaudible remark, but I asked Ryuji, trying not to show off as much as possible.
“So, what are we going to do now? Should we wait for Satoru to come up, or should we take a look first?”
Ryuji smiled bitterly and waved his hand.
“If we go first, Satoru, you’re going to get really pissed off. It’s better to wait than watch it for three days.”
“but.”
When I left here once more, the scenario was like a video without even looking at it.
Satoru guy, it’s because he’s quite narrow inside.
“Then I’ll text you.”
After I sent Satoru a message that I would wait in front of the prose gate, I followed Ryuji to find a place where I could comfortably lean back.
“It’s crowded here even on weekdays.”
“It’s one of the top five tourist spots in Kyoto, so there’s nothing you can do about it.”
In general, tourists tend to be concentrated on weekends rather than weekdays.
However, the number of tourists visiting Kiyomizu-dera is staggering to the extent that such common sense is meaningless.
Elementary, middle, and high school students who went on a school trip like us, or foreigners of various nationalities.
And it was crowded with people, including the Koreans who came to visit on a regular basis.
From https://noblemtl.com
Mahesh, who was watching the temple on the stairs with his arms crossed next to him, said.
“Oriental temples are very different from those of Egypt. If everything is made of wood, wouldn’t the durability of the temple be too low?”
“Oh, that’s fine. They’re constantly doing repairs. The current building looks like it’s actually been restored several times after it’s been damaged.”
There is a theory that it is the ship of Theseus, derived from the world famous Greek mythology.
This is a theory that started with the question of whether Theseus’ ship, which replaced all parts except for the keel, is the same as the ship it started from during the trip?
In short, even if the original has already disappeared, there is nothing wrong with fulfilling its role as a symbol.
For people who don’t know much, there’s no big difference between the real and the fake.
“Hey, you bad bastards!! Are you really throwing away your jokes!!”
As the three of them exchanged stories and chatted together, as if they had finally arrived, Satoru’s voice was heard in the distance, bursting with a lion’s head.
Still, it came up pretty quickly for that guy.
It seems to have jumped to the middle.
“Are you here?”
When Ryuji waved his hand with a natural expression, Satoru had an expression that seemed to be more king, but as soon as he came before us, the fierce momentum receded.
Although we were very angry, it seems that our physical abilities came to mind later.
I said, patting Satoru’s shoulder like that.
“I said when would you come. Also, if we go up alone, we won’t be bored throughout the school trip.”
“……”
Perhaps he was stabbed, Satoru kept his mouth shut, avoiding his gaze.
“Anyway, we both did something wrong, so let’s stick with it this time. Would you like that side too?”
Saying that, Satoru held out his right hand, and his face appeared as if he was in internal conflict for a moment, but then he reached out his right hand and grabbed it in the same way.
“I’m sorry I left you.”
“It’s okay to know.”
To not lose a single word until the end, this guy is great too.
I thought so and smiled.
***
The three of us reunited at the entrance to the Sanmon Gate and started to see Kiyomizu-dera Temple in earnest.
When you think of Kiyomizu-dera, the first place that comes to mind is the stage in the main hall.
The spacious terrace overlooking the mountain view was originally a place for dances and performances dedicated to the Bodhisattva Guanyin, but it was always open to general tourists like this.
“Wow, that’s high.”
As it is a traditional temple, it seems that no special safety device has been made except for the original railing, so the scenery of Kyoto city looking down from the stage was both beautiful and dizzy.
“There is a famous legend about Kiyomizu-dera’s ‘stage’. If you survive after falling off the railing here, your wish will come true.”
“What kind of legend is that? And what if you die?”
“I heard that if you die, you will get paid cleanly again? So, it was said that this place was once one of the famous suicide spots.”
“That’s bloody.”
To risk my life for something I don’t know whether or not it will work, I wouldn’t have even dared to do it.
After watching the stage with the others, I drank three streams of water that came down from Ottowa Falls.
According to the guide’s explanation, the three streams of water each symbolize health, love, and learning.
However, the water didn’t taste bad.
It felt like drinking water from a local mineral spring.
As with most tourist destinations, there was nothing more to do after looking around all the places worth visiting, so we decided to go down again at the bottom of the mountain.
It was because the remaining time was quite tight to stop by a souvenir shop on the way back.
***
Our next destination after stopping at Kiyomizu-dera was Heian Jingu Shrine.
It took about 10 minutes by bus to arrive, and unlike its grandeur, it was actually built only about 100 years ago.
So, although the historical value is small, the splendor and scale of the building is as good as any other cultural assets, so it was worth seeing.
After looking around the garden in moderation and picking omikuji for fun, we headed straight to the next destination, the Golden Pavilion.
I think it’s because we’re moving too quickly because of the time, but most of the tourist spots in Kyoto close at 4 or 5 in the afternoon, so we had no choice but to do it.
“Wow, it’s flashing.”
Golden Pavilion.
The original name is Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺), but because of the gold leaf decoration on the exterior of the building, the nickname “Kinkaku-ji Temple” is more famous as a cultural property.
It was built as a villa by Yoshimitsu Ashikaga, the third shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, but it is said that it became a temple after his death.
“You know what? This one was burnt down once, and it was restored in 1950, but they said that it was painted over with gold.”
Listening to it, it felt a bit artificial.
I thought it was fine for a building built in the past, but there must be a secret story behind it.
After visiting the Golden Pavilion, we continued to visit the Silver Pavilion, which can be called a set menu.
Unlike the Golden Pavilion, where the entire building was really painted with gold, the Silver Pavilion was just an ordinary temple.
However, unlike the Gold Pavilion, which is a one-tool gold leaf, it was the Silver Pavilion that had more places to visit.
After seeing the Golden Pavilion and the Silver Pavilion like that, it was already past 5 PM, so we got on the bus again and went back to the dorm.
“Come on! Then it’s free time until dinner! I know it’s an exciting school trip, but you should always be careful about safety accidents!”
“”yes~””
“Then disband!”
The students rush into the inn with an order to disband from their homeroom teacher, Matsuda.
They all looked very happy, probably because they could finally relieve the fatigue they had accumulated from walking all day.
“Are you all going to go back to your room and rest?”
To the question of the class leader who was nothing more than the representative of the party, we all nodded our heads.
“Then we’ll see you at the restaurant in a little while.”
After making that decision, we dispersed on the first floor of the inn.
When I returned to the room with my weary body, a blanket lying on the floor came into my sight, unlike before.
In my mind, I wanted to dive into that soft blanket and get a good night’s sleep.
“Are you going to take a shower?”
As soon as I entered the room, it was Satoru’s question that stuck to the floor like a piece of gum.
“Uh. It’s embarrassing to just be like this.”
“Then I’ll cover you when you come.”
“…You buy it yourself. Man.”
“Aww!”
Having said that, I lightly stepped on Satoru’s side and headed to the shower to simply wash up.