Philosophizing

Most of last week, I spent my sightseeing time working my way south on the Philosopher's Walk (or Path of Philosophy). Basically, it is a cherry tree lined path that runs alongside a canal and passes several temples and shrines between Ginkaku-ji Temple (the Silver Pavilion) at the north end and Nanzen-ji Temple at the south end. I have heard that the length of the path is roughly 1k from end to end. In the heat, I think it seems a little longer. :)

The path is named Philsopher's Walk or Tetsugaku no Michi in honor of Nishida Kitaro, a philosophy professor from the University of Kyoto who used to walk along this path every day in the early 1900's.

Honen-in, a small Zen buddhist temple on the path, was particularly beautiful. Lots of moss covered everything and the raked sand mounds were very peaceful. Otoyo-jinja, a small Shinto shrine further to the south on the path, has amusing subtemples with statues of mice, foxes, monkeys and other animals. Eikan-do Temple was very proud of its statue of the Amida Buddha. Even though the statue is only about two feet tall, the pose has Buddha looking over his shoulder which is rare and therefore prized.

I don't think I am a philosopher yet, but we shall see what repeated exposure to this beautiful walk does to me over the course of a year. I hear it one of the most awe-inspiring (and free!) locations to admire the cherry blossoms in bloom. So, come March/April, I'm sure we will return often.