Toji Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
We’re currently living in our new upcoming machiya, Toji Machiya, which is located a mere three minutes away from the famous Toji Temple. And of course, I’ve been going to the temple regularly, to try to catch another nice photo of it. The weather has been pretty bad recently with a lot of rain, but today, the sky was blue and I took my camera for another tour.
Toji Temple is not just this beautiful five stories Pagoda, the largest in Japan, that has become a symbol of Kyoto. There is much more to this temple than that. It houses a beautiful collection of statues and paintings that can be seen during special opening. It also hosts one of the most beautiful Japanese garden there is, the Shoshibô garden, that can only be seen during special opening.
While the visit of the compound is free, a fee is required to enter the area next to the Pagoda, around the pond garden. The visit of the other special places also require an entrance fee.
The large statue of Kobo Daishi, the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, is still revered by the people who stop to pay their respect.
And of course, the ground of the Toji Temple is where one of the oldest and largest markets in Japan, Kobo-San, takes place every 21st of the month. Another smaller flea market takes place there on the first Sunday of every month — this is where we found a number of the items we used for the decoration of our machiya. You can see a Blog post about the market Kobo San Market.
