Kobe & Kyoto, Japan

We arrived in Kobe early Friday morning and quickly got on board our bus for our first ten hour tour. Our bus ride went from Kobe to the ancient capital of Kyoto.


Our first stop was to the Kinkaku-ji temple originally built in 1397 as a retirement dwelling for Shogun Yoshimitsu. He loved the temple so much that he gave up his Shogun position to become a monk. He gave his Shogun position to his nine year old son. Because his son was so young, the father really got to do both. The elaborate gold foil covering gives it an appropriate name of the "Golden Pavilion".


We had lunch at a hotel.



Next we went to the Nijo Castle. This castle was built in 1603 for another Shogun when he came to Kyoto. It had "nightingale" floors. The floors look like regular floors until someone stepped on them. The floors were designed to squeak to warn the inhabitants of intruders. The softer someone stepped the louder the noise. If you stepped hard, they could just hear your footsteps.


We walked around the surrounding gardens. We finished up our visit to Kyoto with a stop at the Handicraft Center for some souvenir shopping.

Just a little bit of history that I want to remember.....

During the rein of the Shogunates in Japan, there could only be one Shogun at a time.
His position is the head of the military. He gained his status from either defeating the last Shogun or by receiving it from his father who was retiring from being the Shogun. He had more power than the emperor and ran the affairs of the whole country. The emperor was in charge of the spirituality of the people.