Shikansen bullet train to Kyoto, true heart of Japan, where we arrived during Gion festival. City of traditions, where people wear kimonos and yukatas, eat fish on the market and go to the temples. Kyoto Tower to the Higashi Honganji temple, Fushimi Inari gates to the Geishas' neighborhood
For those who wonder about japanese tradition, culture and religion, here's few words about this huge temple in Kyoto that might enlighten your curiosity:
This is the mother temple of Shinshu Otani-ha, a branch of Pure Land Buddhism, called Shinshu Hombyo, and generally known as Higashi (east) Honganji to distinguish it from Nishi (west) Honganji. Honganji originates from the time when Kakushin-ni, the youngest daughter of the founder Shinran (1173-1262) built a mausoleum at Higashiyama Otani to enshrine her father's portrait in 1272.
The present temple were rebuilt in 1895, during the Meji period. The Goei-do (the founder's hall) in which the image of Shinran is kept, is one of the largest wooden building in the world.
