We wet to Kifune Shrine and Kuruma-dera which were popular places for the court people to go for religous studies.
Kifune Shrine
We then went down to Kyoto main city and searched out where the inner palace grounds of the Heian-kyo and found the markers of where the the gentlewomen of Empress Teishi lived during the writing of The Pillow Book.
We then found Sennyu-ji where it is said that Sei Shonagon retired and a monument in her name with one of her poems on one of the stones.
Since studying (with my family and students) the Pillow Book I have been intriuged to see some of the places where the book originally happened.
We ended off our evening at Fushimi Inari Shrine. The crowd level was 10 times less then when I went there 3 years ago and I was able to enjoy it much more. :)
If you`re interested in studying this book-- The Pillow Book -- in English . Check out my book club class.
Kindly,
StephanieRiann