What happens in San Ju San stays in San Ju San

Although many of the temples in Kyoto allow you to take pictures, San Ju San does not inside the main building (pictured below). This very special temple houses 1001 buddhas, 1 giant sitting Buddha and 1000 standing deities. The statues are well over 700 years old, and made of wood covered in gold flake. Due to their age, and popularity, the temple asks that you not take photos (and if they think you have will ask to check your camera upon leaving), we think as a way to protect them from flashes of light (the room is kept quite dim).

As we couldn't take photos inside, and I highly recommend NOT Googling the temple, just figure out a way to get your bum to Japan instead. Although I (Meg) do believe that Google is a great way to "travel" for free, the greatness of this hall is really diminished by Google.  Here are a few photos of the temple's grounds.

We happened to go on a really rainy day. You can see in the photos of the clouds it was setting up to be one heck of a storm. We managed to just make it to the temple before the downpour started. As we walked into the temple, the rain began its intense cloudburst.

On our way back from San Ju San we went a couple blocks north to a shrine, Toyokuni. Unfortunately the camera was dying so we only got a few shots in.