Sunday, May 29, 2011

The Nightingale Floor & the Silver Temple

The day after the wedding, Tania & I took Marc's parents & a couple of other guests from the wedding on a tour of some of the temples around Kyoto.

The highlight was the Njo-jo castle: home of the famous Nightingale floor. This type of floor was designed to make a chirping sound when walked upon. The squeaking floors were used as a security device, assuring that no-one could sneak through the corridors of the castle undetected.

After the Njo-Jo castle, it was off to the Ginkakuji Temple. This temple is known as "the Temple of the Silver Pavilion". The building was meant to have a silver-foil overlay, much in the same vain as the Kinkakuji (Golden) Temple but for various reasons, this part of the design was never completed. The complex has some amazing gardens that you can wander through.






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