Today, we went to venues that happened to have strict rules against photography. Take the Kyoto International Manga Museum, where no photos are allowed due to copyright concerns. But they did have a huge assortment of manga, all free to read inside the museum.

Next, we went to Tōfuku-ji, which did not allow photos of the interior of the Zen Buddist temple but luckily allowed photos of the various rock and landscape gardens.

Checkered-pattern was a big theme here, the “walkway to heaven” in the background.

Next, we visited Sanjūsangen-dō. This temple was quite a sight and one of our favorites, though unfortunately they didn’t allow photography. There are over 1000 nearly-identical life-size statues of Guanyin, each statue having dozens of arms. In the center is a large main statue, with 42 arms (though it’s said that each arm represents 25 worlds, thus making it the “1000 Armed Kannon”. Quite impressive, and the temple has a rich history, but you’ll have to visit for yourself. For now, this is the main gate!

Our last unphotographable spot was the Imperial Palace. It’s free to enter, but you need to petition for permission, with a convincing reason for why you should be let into the Imperial Palace, several days in advance. But they definitely let you photograph to your heart’s content outside the main gate, which has nice, seemingly infinite walkways to spend along with a sunset.