Page 16 - Japan 11 Day Sample Itinerary

DAY 08 KYOTO Meals Included: Breakfast At 9:00 AM meet your guide in the lobby of the Kyoto Hotel Okura. Enjoy the day exploring Kyoto. Visit Tenryuji Temple, located in the center of Arashiyama. The temple was built in 1339 and has been ranked first among Kyoto’s ‘Five Great Zen Temples’. The temple is famous for its landscape garden, which unlike the temple buildings has survived in its original form. Continue to the Sagano Bamboo Grove.bamboo tunnel Sagano is located in the northwest of Kyoto and covers an area of 16 acres. Enjoy your walk along the trail to Okochi Sanso, a villa complex built by Japanese movie start, Okochi Denjiro. The bamboo forest is one of the most beautiful spots in Japan. The bamboo is still used to manufacture various products such as baskets, cups, boxes, mats and pieces of art at work shops in the Arashiyama area. Marvel at the gilded brilliance of Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, named for the beautiful gold leaf that adorns it. The garden here is as spectacular as the architecture and setting. Mount Kinugasa serves as a backdrop. The temple was originally built as a villa by the Shogun Yoshimitsu Ashikaga in 1397, but it was turned into a Buddhist temple after his death. Though destroyed by a number of fires, the temple was reconstructed again and again. The latest disaster occurred in 1950, when an apprentice monk set fire to the temple to show his dissatisfaction with society. In 1987 the pavilion walls were completely renovated using 200,000 pieces of gold foil.