Our final stop for the day’s temple tour was Tenryuji, a World Heritage site dating back to 1339. Most of the buildings on the site are, however, much more recent (Meiji-era) due to the destruction associated with internal conflicts over the years.
Fire may have destroyed the buildings several times over, but the landscape garden, supposed to be one of the oldest of its kind, dates back to the temple’s founding abbot, who designed the layout.
We took our time walking around the garden, stopping for a rest at the bamboo grove near the North Entrance, and strolling back through the cherry-blossom.
By this stage, however, we were reasonably templed-out so it was a case of back to the station, retrieve the luggage and it was Ho! for the night’s accommodation, which turned out to be an economy double room with an economy-sized bathtub to match.
Right at the time when a lengthy soak in a warm bath would have been wonderfully restorative.
