may 26

Ginkaku-ji - Temple of the Silver Pavillion.  Got the first real sense of what we mean by the non-dialectical design aesthetic in Japan.  This place is unbearably beautiful and ruthlessly controlled - trees hand pruned, leaves swept and piled and removed, absolutely man made, but oddly because of it the place feels almost more natural than if had just been left alone to fall and grow all over itself.  It makes unmanned nature seems messy and downright inelegant, but it does so by controlling the trees and moss so that the natureness of those elements can be allowed to fully express themselves.  Or something.  It was great.

Heian Shrine: