Hiraizumi and Geibikei Gorge

It had been a long time since we went on a trip with ITT, so we decided to take advantage of the May trip to Hiraizumi and Geibikei Gorge.

From Japan-Guide:
"During the Heian Period, the Fujiwara were the most powerful clan in Japan. In 1105, Hiraizumi was chosen as the seat of the "Northern branch" of the Fujiwara family. The city steadily grew in cultural sophistication and political power, so that it even came to rival Kyoto, the national capital.

"In 1189, however, Hiraizumi was razed by Minamoto Yoritomo, the man who would soon after become Japan's first shogun. Yoritomo was looking for his brother and rival Yoshitsune, who was being given refuge by the local Fujiwara leader. The city never recovered its former prominence, but it still features some of the Tohoku Region's most precious historic and cultural properties." 

Today the most famous site in Hiraizumi is the Buddhist Temple, Chusonji. Chusonji is home to the Golden Hall (Kinjikido), which dates back to the Fujiwara Clan and the Heian period. The main resource of the Hiraizumi area was it's gold mines. Because of this gold was used heavily in decoration. The Golden Hall is a temple shrine completely leafed in gold, and is beautiful. It has been moved from its original building into a more recently build hall in order to protect it from the elements. Unfortunately pictures aren't allowed, but can be found on the official Chusonji website.

Current home of the Kinjikido

 This building formerly housed the Kinjikido

We had a great time visiting the many shrines and halls present at Chusonji. The grounds are beautiful and serene. I also enjoyed collecting many new stamps in my book. My favorite was the stamp for the Kinjikido:

Kinjikido stamp on the left, Chusonji stamp on the right

After leaving Chusonji, we visited Geibikei Gorge. We were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the gorge while relaxing on a boat. The kids were able to feed the fish in the river as we rode. It's always hard to capture in pictures how amazing some of these locations are. Geibikei Gorge is absolutely beautiful, and much better viewed in person.

 Our boat navigator

 Looking for fish

If you can throw money into this shrine box from the boat, it is supposed to be good luck

 We were able to get out and walk around at a few locations. The Wisteria was in bloom and it was beautiful. Pictures don't do it justice.

Both locations on this trip were beautiful and well worth visiting. It was nice, as always to visit with ITT as we didn't have to worry about driving. Out ITT guide also translated for us on the tour of the gorge.