Our first stop was Nijo Castle, built in 1603 by the first Tokugawa shogun as his Kyoto home. It is incredibly well preserved, including the intricate carvings and beautiful paintings. We walked around inside the castle, passing through a maze of corridors and peering into a series of large rooms with tatami mats, sliding doors, and secret rooms for samurai bodyguards. One interesting thing about this castle is that there are special clamps placed below the wooden floor boards that scrape against the nails when the floor is walked upon, creating a kind of soft, high-pitched whistling sound. This sone to make it difficult for would-be assassins to sneak around the castle.
The castle grounds were beautiful as well, with carefully pruned trees, rockwork and small lakes. The stone walls and wooden gates were impressive and, standing atop a stone watch tower, we were able to look down upon the castle grounds, the inner and outer walls, and the inner mote. At the risk of sounding redundant, the Nijo Castle was for me one of the highlights of the entire three week trip. More than any other place, wandering the inner halls of this castle have me some sense of time traveling to the time of the shoguns.
Our second big sightseeing visit of the day was to Sanjusanhendo Hall. Notable here: 1,001 statues of Kannon, each with 40 arms. That's 200,000 fingers! There is a single large Kannon in the center of the hall, with 500 life size Kannons arranged on 'bleachers' on either side. The 1,000 smaller statues each have one larger pair of hands clasped in prayer in front and 39 smaller arms sticking out to the sides. With this arrangement, the scene reminded me of the final seconds of a high school basketball game, with all the fans praying the final free throw attempt will be successful. The statues took over 100 years to carve and the effect is stunning.
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