Day 8 - Thursday April 27, 2017 -
Today’s itinerary – Northern Higashiyama, including the Path of Philosophy.
Northern Higashiyama Off-the-Beaten Track – Half Day Itinerary
Murin-an Villa: Start by taking the Tozai Subway Line to Keage Station and walk down the hill past the International Community House. You’ll see a koban (police box) on the corner – turn left here down the hill. Just before Hyotei Restaurant, take a right down a narrow lane. You’ll find the entrance to Murin-An Villa on your right. The garden at this former private villa is quiet and superb.
Konchi-in Temple: Leave Murin-An and retrace your steps to the koban and cross the two main streets in front of you, heading toward Nanzen-ji Temple and the mountains. Just before the main gate of Nanzen-ji, you’ll see some steps up to the right, leading to a smaller gate. Walk through this and a few more steps will bring you to Konchi-in Temple, which has a superb garden.
Tenju-an Temple: Exit Konchi-in and make your way back to the main street and turn right and walk through the gate into Nanzen-ji. Walk up the hill past the public bathroom. When you are roughly even with the towering San-Mon Gate, look to your right and you will see the entrance to Tenju-an Temple. This subtemple has a fine garden that is usually ignored by both Japanese and foreign tourists (to their loss).
Honen-in Temple: Leave Tenju-an and cut across the main grounds of Nanzen-ji and exit via the north side. Follow the road around, past a high school and Eikan-do Temple and you’ll soon get to a turning with a sign for the Path of Philosophy (Tetsugaku-no-Michi). Follow the Path of Philosophy north for about 15 or 20 minutes and as you approach the north end of the path, you’ll see a sign pointing up the hill for Honen-in Temple. Follow it to get to Honen-in (take a left at the top of the hill and you’ll soon come to the entrance). Enjoy this wonderful quiet temple.
After we’d been to Honen-in, we went back to the Path of Philosophy and walked up to the end of the Path, before catching a bus back to Kyoto Station. Upstairs to the 10th floor for some ramen noodles for lunch and then back to the hotel to do some laundry.
After finishing the laundry, inertia set in and we didn’t make it out to dinner and, when we got peckish, ended up eating our breakfast supplies. Will have to do something different for breakfast in the morning.