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Fushimi Inari shrine

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 19:06:28 -0600

Shrine located n Fushimi-ku, Japan. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines. Merchants and manufactures worship Inari for wealth. Donated torii (orange gates) lining foopaths are part of the scenic view. Foxes, regarded as the messengers, are found in Inari shrines. This was definitively one my favorite spots to visit. I think that we walked nearly 4 km inside this orange torii. Shrine is easily accessible from Kyo

Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto, Japan

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 18:48:15 -0600

Golden Pavilion Temple was originally build in 1397 to serve as a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. It was his son who converted the building into a Zen temple. The Golden Pavilion is a three story building. The top two stories of the pavilion are covered with pure gold leaf. The pavilion functions as a shariden, housing relics of teh Buddha (Buddha’s ashes). In 1950, the pavilion was burned down by a monk, who them attempted suicide on the hill behind the building. He survived,

Ryoan-ji famous garden

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 18:40:18 -0600

The temple of the Peaceful Dragon is a Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto, Japan. The temple is one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To many, the temple’s name is synonymous with the temple’s famous dry landscape rock garden, thought to have been build in the late 1400s. The garden consists of raked gravel and fifteen moss-covered boulders, which are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle only fourteen of the boulders are visible. I

Sakura

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 18:24:24 -0600

Sakura is the Japanese name for cherry trees and their blossoms. Sakura is indigenous to many Asian states including: Japan, China, India and Korea. Japan has a wide variety of sakura. In Japan, cherry trees were planted and cultivated for their beauty, for the adornment of the grounds of the nobility of Kyoto, at least as early as 794. Every year the Japanese Meteorological Agency and the public track the sakura zensen (cherry blossom front) as it moves northward up the archipelago with the a

Moon house

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:59:38 -0700

Moon House is a little known 13th century Anasazi ruin in southeast Utah. Moon house makes an interesting visit because it is so well preserved. The original timbers are in place in several rooms. There are actually several houses around, and the ruins are named after an interior of the largest room - there is a full moon visible on its walls. Ruins are hard to find - from the road 261 turn on the Snow Flat Spring Cave road (237) and drive about 8 miles to the trailhead.