Honen-In and The Philosopher`s Path

After Ginkaku-Ji, i decided to take some time and walk down part of the "Philosopher`s Path" (Tetsugaku-No-Michi), on which i was delighted to find that the sakura (cherry blossoms) were still blooming. Kyoto is a bit cooler than Osaka due to being situated among the low mountains, part of what made it a suitable capital back in Heian Paeriod. Mountain cheery blossoms are callen Yama-zakura and tend to be a different species, offering larger bunches of blossoms instead of more evenly spaced, individual blooms. Of course, i am told that there are over three hundred different species of sakura, so what do i know? Along the Philosopher`s Path i stopped at Honen-In, another temple i had wanted to visit for some time. Unfortunately they were just finishing up with a funeral ceremony, so the temple was not open to the public. The abbot was kind enough to invite me to look around the grounds, though, which i did. Honen-In, like Ginkaku-Ji, has some very unique sand garden formations. And there were turtles in the pond! Ii plan to go back with Ulala sometime this summer. I know that i am a couple weeks behind in my blogging. I still have to post pictures from our trip to Shizuoka and Kanagawa which we took on Golden week. But since i have no day off this week it may have to wait a little longer. For now, please enjoy these pictures of the Philosopher`s Path and Honen-In: