Maruyama Koen (Maruyama Park) is right next to Chion-in and is really a big beautiful park. From here you can easily reach many of the city's most famous temples. Chion-in, Kodai-ji, Kiyomizudera and the Yasaka Shrine are all just minutes away on foot from Maruyama Park.

I felt the atmosphere was mostly joyous. I saw many kids running and playing, people admiring the ponds and flowers and vendors selling snacks. It was incredibly well maintained and was the type of park I would visit often if I lived in Kyoto. There was a lot to see and it was a great place to people watch for sure. But as always I had an aggressive agenda so I did not stay too long as I was headed towards Kodai-ji and Kiyomizudera.

As I was walking towards Kodai-ji I saw a long beautiful stone pathway leading to another temple and could not resist checking it out. I had no idea what the name of the temple was and once inside I did not really see any signs alerting me in English of the name of the place it was only later that I learned it was Otani Sobyo. It actually took a lot of research to find it as there is not a lot of information in English about it and even on Google maps it did not have it's name. This probably explained why I saw no tourists visiting this beautiful Temple.

The long path to Otani Sobyo

Otani Sobyo is a Buddhist temple and mausoleum for Jodo Shinshu Otani Sect monks including the famous Monk Shinran (1173-1262) who was the founder of Shin Buddhism.

Entrance area

There was some very beautiful architecture and the mausoleum was incredible. I was very glad I had the opportunity to visit Otani Sobyo. It was very interesting to compare the atmosphere here vs some of the temples and shrines that are heavily trafficked by tourists. This felt like a place of rest which it is as opposed to an attraction.

Otani Mausoleum

To see more images of Otani Sobyo please visit my set: http://kfrates.zenfolio.com/p411012900

or see more images of Kyoto including Maruyama Park and Otani Sobyo in my complete Kyoto set: http://kfrates.zenfolio.com/p45570337