The next morning Becky had plans to meet up with Neil (British/Welsh guy from training,) who was in Kyoto with some of his school's teachers and students for the day so Elspeth and I hopped on a bus and went to Fushimi Inari Shrine. Fushimi Inari is one of the most photographed shrines in Kyoto but I don't think that many people visit it. It is the shrine with the hundreds of red torii (gates), which was featured in Memoirs of a Geisha. We got to the shrine and there were some people but nothing I would call a crowd. We started climbing up the steps through the red torii, slowly winding our way up the mountainside. It is a beautiful and calming shrine and it is now one of my favourite places in Kyoto.
As we got higher up the mountain, we noticed the number of tourists decreased significantly. It was so unbearably hot and humid. We were drenched and it felt like it was taking us forever to climb the hundreds of steps. After about an hour we stopped for some shaved ice dessert and to rest our feet. We climbed for about 2 hours and then decided that we couldn't go any further (the path is 4km long). We said we'd come back in the autumn or winter and climb the whole way up.
We came down the mountain a back route and found lots of little shrines along the way. We stopped at a pottery shop to look (and cool down in the air conditioning). Elspeth commented on the heat and the owner of the store exclaimed 'it up and spoke' in Japanese! Haha. She then asked Elspeth if I was her translator (we get this a lot...they know I look somewhat Asian...so they assume I speak Japanese...when really its the tall, brown haired american who is fluent). They had a friendly conversation and the lady explained how her young daughter painted some of the pottery. It was beautiful work and we both looked around. Elspeth got an incense dish with a cat painted on it and I got a tea cup with cherry blossoms on it. They were both really nice souveniers of the day and one of a kind.
We headed back to the hotel to cool off, then headed back out to find a vintage kimono shop I had heard of. We wandered the back streets of Kyoto again and actually found the store. It was cool to check out the beautiful kimono at pretty reasonable prices (although I have inherited my mother's knack of picking out the most expensive objects in a store). We emerged back into the downtown area of Kyoto and spent an hour looking at the department stores where we were harassed by a pottery student who tried to teach me Japanese and tried to figure out the latest Japanese fashions.
We took the bus back to Kyoto Station, which is a huge, modern building. I think it's beautiful (although many in Kyoto would not agree with me). You can take these escalators higher and higher until you are at the top of the station and can see out across Kyoto. It was a nice way to end the day.
1 comment:
Because it can't be said enough, I just wanted to say that your pictures are fabulous and really add to the experience all of us back here in the Western World get when reading your brog.
The shrine with the red gates looks so cool! I actually remember it vaguely from Memoirs... However, I must ask: Did you learn nothing from the Ice Caves (which, I still have not forgiven Fil for!)? Although, thanks to all of our strange calculations prior to that trip, I now know it takes me approximately 20 minutes to walk one mile. Anyway, that must have been one heck of a climb, if you were doing it for 3 hours and I applaud your tenacity. I'm sure before you return you'll have conquered it (along with the rest of Japan)!
Miss you tons but it looks like you're having a tremendous time and having many wonderful adventures. I'm horribly jealous of Elspeth, but I'm glad you have a travel buddy to share all of these experiences with! :)
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