Giouji Temple was also buried in the snow.  Giouji is a tragic love temple that appears in “The Tale of the Heike”, which is classified as a military memorial story, and a famous temple of Kyoto Sagano.  Giou (21 years old), who was chased from Kiyomori’s residence, with his sister Gion (19 years old), his mother Swordsman (45 years old) and Hotoke-gozen (17 years old) who realized “someday I have the same fate”, abandoned the old grudge and spent the rest of their lives.  The large round window in the Thatched waiting room is called the Yoshino window.  It is also called a “rainbow window” because the sunlight that normally shines through the green leaves in the precincts reflects colorful colors on the shoji screens.  Now, I can see the snowy landscape outside from the slightly open shoji, and there is a faint rainbow.

祇王寺も雪に埋もれていました。祇王寺は言わずとも知れた京都嵯峨野の名刹、軍記物語と分類される『平家物語』にも登場する悲恋の尼寺です。清盛の邸を追われた祇王（21歳）が、妹の祇女（19歳）、母の刀自（45歳）、そしてのちに“いつか我が身も同じ運命”と悟った仏御前（17歳）が加わって、旧怨を捨てて四人で念仏三昧の余生を送りました。草庵の控えの間にある大きな丸窓を吉野窓といいます。普段なら境内の緑葉を通って差し込む日差しが、障子に色とりどりの色彩を映し出すことから「虹の窓」とも言います。今は、わずかに開いた障子から外の雪景色が見え、ほんの微かに虹がかかっています。