Osaka
Our last day in Japan, my husband and I spent in Kyoto. Having left our backpacks in a locker at the train station, we walked to Nijo Castle, the shogun’s residence.
The shogun was the military ruler of Japan; he was more powerful than the Emperor himself. Naturally, he lived in a richly decorated palace. Today, the rooms are empty; no furniture or household objects are on display. Visitors can see beautiful wall and ceiling decorations; most of them are replicas of the originals.
Ninomaru Palace consists of five connected separate buildings that were designed to stress the social differences. Outer rooms were for receiving low-ranking visitors and high-ranking visitors were shown into more intimate inner chambers. The shogun always sat on a raised platform to be more intimidating.
One of the Palace’s features is so called nightingale floors. They squeak when people stepped on them. Some sources say it was a security measure against intruders, others that the squeaking was not intentional.
As is the case with many temples and palaces in Japan, no photos were allowed inside which is a pity. The human brain is unable to retain images of everything that we see. Without photos, my visit to Nijo Castle will become a distant memory and eventually, I will not remember what was in it.
From Nijo Castle we went to Gion where we hoped to catch a glimpse of geisha. We did not see any but enjoyed the walk anyway. This old district is famous for its traditional architecture. The streets are lined with tea houses and gift shops.
From Gion, we returned to the train station walking along the Kamogawa River. Its name means “duck river”. There were, in fact, lots of ducks and egrets feeding in the middle of the metropolis. I liked that the riverbanks remain natural slopes with paths for pedestrians.
That was the end of our 5-day stay in the fascinating Japan. We traveled by train from Kyoto to the airport in Osaka. Next was a flight from Osaka to the Cebu, Philippines via Manila.