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Heian Jingu

Listed under Temples in Kyoto, Japan.

Heian Jingu, which imitates Kyoto's Imperial Palace, just on a smaller scale, has one of the largest toji gates in Japan. Heian Jingu was built in 1895 to celebrate 1,100 years since the founding of Kyoto; a shrine to the memory of Emperor Kammu who had the shrine built, and is now also a place to commemorate the life of the Emperor who commissioned it, Emperor Komei, who became the last Emperor of Kyoto. The green roofed, vermilion shrine's most important event, the Jidai Matsuri, is a festival procession which runs between both the palace and the shrine. It's free to visit the shrine, and it's still used by people as their local church, but you have to pay to look around the gardens and buildings are the shrine's rear. The gardens are especially lovely.

Written by Eric Hallum.

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Heian Shrine

Next up was the Heian Shrine located in the eastern part of the town. It’s a memorial built by the people of Kyoto after the Emperor moved the capital to Tokyo in an attempt to bring him back. This site is dedicated to the first and the last emperors of Japan. In Shinto, as our tour guide explained us, anything can be the focus of your worship, here it’s the soul or the mind of these two emperors. It is said to be an exact replica of the old Imperial Palace at half the original size. If you visit this shrine, you have to take a walk in the impressive gardens behind the shrine. They are very beautiful and as usual very well maintained.

Review posted 26th August 2009 by Akshay Mulkutkar.

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