More temples in Fukuoka
16:52
In my half day in Fukuoka, I actually crammed in quite a bit of sightseeing, although it didn't seem rushed, and I was impressed with how much I saw. Especially seeing as I was also tempted to just go shopping, but decided instead on the shrines and temples.
After Sumiyoshi Jinja, we stumbled across Rakusuien Garden, a traditional Japanese garden, only about 10 minutes walk from Hakata station. It was lovely and quiet, right in the centre of the city and only 100 yen to enter.
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| Entrance to Rakusuien Gardens |
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| I love Japanese Maple leaves |
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| Koi looking for food |
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| Peaceful |
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| After walking around the garden we got to sit in a tatami room overlooking the gardens |
After the garden, we walked over to the Gion area and went to Shofukuji Temple, and discovered some other temples near that as well. Basically the whole afternoon was filled with temples and shrines.
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| Shofukuji Temple |
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| I loved the detail in the wood building |
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| This was a private area we couldn't enter, but I loved the zen garden |
After Shofukuji, we could see a gorgeous looking red pagoda nearby and followed it to find Tochoji temple. The grounds here were lovely, and it all looked fairly new/well kept. I was really surprised by how close everything was in Fukuoka, making it a really walkable city. Actually it would be the perfect place to rent a bike and ride around because it is all really compact and flat.
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| Tochoji Temple |
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| City skyline over the temple grounds |
The weather was hot and clear. Hard to believe a typhoon was about to hit the next day cancelling all ways out of Fukuoka.
2 comments
This looks like a good place to see some fall colors and avoid the crowds of Kyoto! maybe?
ReplyDeleteYeah, the temples were lovely. I thought the same about the fall colours. Definitely wouldn't be as crowded as Kyoto (I was there for the full bloom of the cherry blossoms and it was insane!). You would get some lovely photos, but it doesn't really compare to Kyoto.....
DeleteI recommend a visit though!