Miss Neko in Kyoto: Kimono, Kyomizu-dera & lovely nature ♥

Hello sweethearts (^-^)v ~♥

Today I'll share my trip to Kyoto with you !
This city is famous for Kimono, Geisha culture (Gion) and it's
many shrines & temples. It's also the former capital of Japan.

Most of you already know that I went to Japan in September 2014. 
Click here for my posts about Tokyo and Osaka. 

After staying in Osaka and Kobe for 5 days I took a train to

visit my dear friend Bea who is living in Kyoto.
She had already been in Japan for 1 year so I missed her insanely much T^T 

But I'm also deeply happy that she can do what she whishes to do,
wich is working in a Kimono rental ~♪

There are no words strong enough to describe how
beautiful Kyoto and it's nature are.

It's one of the most marvellous places on earth for me.
I really treasure Kyoto and just walking through the streets gave me such
an intense and deep feeling of happiness and ease.
I felt really relaxed and at peace.

The weather was perfect, really hot but that's just how I like it.

If I had not been in Kyoto I would feel like
I didn't really see 'Japan' 

and the way I always imagined it to be, growing up.
To me Japan has so many different and exciting
sides to explore ! That's why I love the country and the culture.

There is the old culture & nature and also modern art & fashion.

And all the blended things that evolved inbetween that.

I don't want to miss any of it. 

So let me just show you some of the great and sweet things I've seen.

Today I'll show you the Kyomizu-dera - a famous temple !
You can see it in the red circle on the map.
My friend Bea doesn't live far from it and her workplace is on the road
to the temple so we went there a lot ^-^

Kyoto map 

This road leads to the  Kyomizu-dera 

The temple is in the direction of my back. You have to walk up the street

because it is on the top of a mountain called Otowa-san.

In front of the temple :

Nio-mon Gate at the entrance :

The area of the temple is huge and on it there are many different things.

At the entrance some Chinese tourists came to me and told me they
liked my hair and would like to take a picture with me ^///^

Most people you see walking around in Kimono are tourists who got dressed

by a Kimono rental. Bea and I dressed ourselves of course ;3

I'm in 2 Kimono clubs and practise different ways to wear Kimono

a lot as my dear readers know. 

~♥~

These 2 little girls also wanted a picture *-* Aren't they adorable ^^

My ticket to enter the temple area :

~♥~

In Japan there is not only one religion.
There are several ones coexisting side by side and most people
handle religion very different than it is done in Europe.
First you need to know
there are Shinto Shrines called Jinja and there are buddhist temples.

It depends on the occasion weather you go to a shrine or to a temple !

I love this concept because that emphasizes that the religion is something
that should be helpful and work for you and not the other way round.
That's why there are usually also Shinto shrines on the
area of buddhist temples.

This is the Jishu shrine - a shrine all about love ♥

It is dedicated to Okuninushi who is a god of love and good matches.
There are many of those "love & matchmaking" shrines in Japan.
And because I'm so head over heels in love with my boyfriend Valentin
I wanted to visit as many as possible and prayed for a certain thing
to happen in the future ^-^
Here you can see the Torii (the gate) of the shrine :

~♥~

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The shrines sell lucky charms for many different things.
I got this cute bell to ensure that my heart is always filled with happiness ;)

I always have it with me on my handbag as it reminds me
of the great time I had in Japan each time it jingles ~♪

Their flyer : 

The red things on the bottom right are "Enmusubi Omamori"
which means lucky charms for love.
My boyfriend and I also have ones from another Shrine
which is my favourite one in Kyoto.
But I'll tell you that in my next entry ;)

On top of the mountain ♥

You can see the  Koyasu-no-To Pagoda :

In English it's the "Easy child-birth Pagoda" !
I'm not kidding ;D I must admit I had to laugh a little.
This is a good example of the pragmatism of Japanese religion ;)
It is there to support the people and give them some ease and security.

~♥~

The Kyomizu-dera building:

It's also famous for it's special architecture:

We went there a few times and stayed quite a long time
so we could see the beautiful sunset.

Kyoto is surrounded by mountains so you always see them at the horizon.
It gives everything such a romantic atmosphere.

Here you can also see the Kyoto Tower which is in the center of the city.
I went on top of it as well, I'll show you soon ^^

On the mountain there is also a famous
waterfall called Otowa-no-taki :

~♥~

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Here you can rinse your mouth with water from the waterfall for
 health, longvity and success in studies.

I really need luck for my upcoming Japanese exams so
I also wanted to try it ^^

~♥~

We walked around the area a long time.
But it felt like it was just too short. I wish I could
have sat under a tree the whole day and just enjoy nature.
There is nothing more calming than nature for me.
I find true bliss in it. But I also wanted to explore everything there was.

When I walked around with Bea some Chinese tourists (again ?! ;D)
asked me if I could say "Hi" on their holiday video ^^

They were really nice ^^

This was another charm for luck. If you could lift it up
something good would happen to you...but I must admit I don't
exactly remember what this was about =D
I could barely lift the smaller one.

Wishes from many people written on 絵馬 Ema (wooden plaques) :

What can I say ? I think the photo speaks for itself.
I could just sit there for hours ~♥

In Japan Hello Kitty is very often used to 

portray famous traits of certain cities and areas.
So of course there is also a Maiko Kitty-chan ! 

Normally I don't really like Hello Kitty as the things you can get
of her in Germany are mostly quite plain and uncreative...

And there are so many Characters who are way cuter (like Fant ♥) 

but I love the HK versions for Japanese areas *_*

I bought a Hello Kitty folder there, here are some scans of it for you :

The writing on the left says "Hello Kitty" and on the bottom right "Kyoto".
Hello Kitty's map of Japan:

Like I said I visited my friend Bea and stayed at her place.
I was super happy to finally see her again.
This made everything even more awesome \(^-^)/
She welcomed me really lovely.
She's just soo nice T^T ♥ Thanks so much again :3 

She found this cute Sailor Moon for me *-*
And an Hello Kitty Cocktail with "sakura flavour" and 0% alcohol ^.^
It's super pretty ♥

Her room is traditional with tatami mats and a futon.
It was a great experience for me. It looked so pretty !
Here you can see the sunlight coming in through the Shoji (paper window).
♥ Fant ♥

By the way this is one of my own Yukata ♥
Bea found it in their store and thought I would like it ~

They also sell Kimono.
It's so Hime & Liz Lisa fashion like. I love big rose patterns
and the fabric even has glitter on it !

Of course we also went a lot to the Kimono rental where Bea works.
It's called TekuTeku Kyoto 

The rental is located on the road to the Kyomizu-dera.

It's only 3 minutes away from the temple.
Bea still helped them out and dressed some customers etc. while I

was browsing through all of their beautiful Kimono and Yukata.
Sometimes we even stayed until the shop closed and I also helped a little
to tidy up. To me this is really a dream workplace *-*
I can see why Bea loves it so much ♪
One time I could even go inside their storage wich was full of
antique Kimono which they also sell. This experience was really
special to me and I'll treasure it forever.
Everyone there was really friendly \(^-^)/
Here' s a photo I took with the shop's manager (left) and some
of the staff girls. Bea is on the very right ♪

Their Kimono display in front of the rental :

These are Yukata, summer Kimono made from cotton :

On the blue sign in the top left corner you can see their store sign
which says TekuTeku Kyoto. I also bought some things there, not
a whole set but small things I need for the Kimono sets I already own.
Just to bring in some variation. I got 2 Haori for example ♥
Haori are "jackets" you wear above the Kimono.
You can see them hanging on the clothes rail in the photo :

Now I don't really have any space left in my small appartment for
all my Kimono things >_< Especially for the Obi.
 I got some new ones thanks to Bea which are pink or white
and they all have beautiful sparkling fabric ♥
 On our way to the temple Bea also recognized some women
wearing the Kimono from their rental, like these ones :

Their Obi "knot" is called Taiko musubi which is one of the standard
ways to wear the Obi. This knot fits to all kinds of Kimono
(except for Furisode) and can be worn by women all ages 

to almost any occasion.

That's why it's very common.
Here's a more subtle and elegant outfit of mine :
The Obi is pastel rainbow colored and sparkles in the light.

This is right in front of the Kimono rental.

And just in case somebody stumbled on my blog and is seeing this now
whithout knowing what those symbols are. Let me make one thing clear.
These symbols on the vases are NOT associated with Hitler (Hitlerkreuze).
They are called Swatika and are a
buddhist symbol that represents eternity :

~♥~

On the temple area we also saw these awesome construction site fences *o*
Aren't they cute ?! ♥♥♥

This is rather common in Japan there are also construction ducks ^^

A snapshot on the way to Kyomizu-dera :

These are some photos I took on our way back home from the temple :

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View over Kyoto : 

That's it for today ♥
I hope you enjoyed it ~♪
I'm already really excited for the next post !
I'll start creating it right away.
See you next time (^-^)v Bye bye ♫