cocopunk

This morning I walked all the way from where I was staying in the Nakagyō ward to Kiyomizu-dera, the temple up in the hills that is another quintessential Kyoto view. Not a huge distance, but the hill was indeed a hill and took some effort. And at 8:45 the temple was already starting to get busy. But it was, of course, beautiful.

By the time I left, entire buses of school kids were pouring out in a nearby parking lot.

After visiting Kiyomizu-dera I walked back down the hill to the river and took a train a few stops north to the river delta. I didn’t know exactly what was up there, but knew there was some sort of park to the north with temples. (It was Tadasu no Mori, ‘forest of correction’ or something like that).

One historic shrine, Shimogamo, is known for its paper fortunes that you dip into a brook, revealing the hidden writing on the paper.

Another shrine on the grounds, apparently called Kawai Shrine, had something to do with beauty. (Kawaii literally means cute; I’m not sure if that’s the real name.) Women buy small wooden paddles in the shape of a mirror and draw their ideal selves on them to pray for beauty. And when you look into the shrine there is, of course, a mirror looking back at you. You were ideal all along!

I went back to the delta and rested for a bit on the riverside. It’s a popular but not crowded spot to have a sit, eat a snack, read a book or what have you. Kyoto National Garden (Kyōto-gyoen) wasn’t too far so I headed over to see what it was and ended up touring the imperial palace. Not a must-see, really; it’s big and empty and quiet and historically significant.

By now I was starving and searched for a ramen shop but when I got there, there was a sign on the door and a queue of college kids waiting, as it was across the street from a school. Being averse to lines and ambiguous signs on doors that I couldn’t read, I nixed that plan and went back, of course, to the river, where I ate some humble onigiri before heading in the direction of home base.

It was only 2:45pm when I got back to the hotel but, thank god, the cleaners had already been through. Not that I needed new towels but I have a mortifying fear of interrupting them while they’re changing sheets or whatever. By mortifying, I mean it would be slightly awkward.

For dinner, a double wagyu cheeseburger at a place in the Gion neighborhood. Probably the most expensive thing I ate on the trip, at like twenty dollars. I had one burger last time I was in the country, in Kamakura, and it felt like a good tradition.

After dinner I walked around the shopping streets and the famous Nishiki market—mainly food stalls, many of which had already shuttered for the day—and also walked through Pontocho, a little alleyway aside a canal full of shops and restaurants.

14 miles today, 38,926 steps.

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April 23

Took it pretty easy today, with only one destination: Fushimi Inari-taisha, the shrine with thousands of iconic torii gates.

I had originally planned on heading to the Arashiyama area to see the bamboo forest but wasn’t sure what else to do over there, and hadn’t planned on visiting Fushimi Inari specifically because it’s one of the most notoriously crowded tourists sights. But it was pretty early in the morning so why not. Plus it was a rainy day. So I got a train (Keihan line) from the Gion stop and rode south maybe fifteen minutes to the Fushimi-Inari stop. (Which, note, is different from Inari station, which serves JR trains on the Nara line. But either way you could walk from the station.)

At 8:30 it was a little busy but tame. I actually never saw tourists behaving badly this entire trip, or absurd crowds, probably because I went everywhere before 9. Kyoto, and Japan in general, has an ongoing problem with tourists clamoring to get the shot they saw on social media, or recording videos in Shibuya crossing, or otherwise making an ass of themselves at holy sites to make a tiktok. But evidently that happens after 9 because I was lucky enough not to run into all that.

The path through the torii gates quite literally goes up a small mountain, and once you walk a couple hundred feet there was enough breathing room to take your requisite selfies beneath the bright red orange gates.

It is literally a hike. I went about two thirds up the mountain, I think, and by that point was out of breath from the endless staircases and decided to wander around some of the side paths. It was, as everything was here, beautiful, and I was completely alone for many segments of the trail. One path led to a small waterfall amid a secluded, mossy alcove of shrines with hundreds of small torii gates. My camera lens was getting wet and I didn’t get any good photos, but it was a sight. The rain added a mysterious atmosphere of its own.

Rather than figure out the trains from there to Arashiyama, and rather than climb another mountain, I just went home to rest and dry off. (This time I remembered to put up the ‘no need to clean the room’ sign so as to be left alone. No towel interlopers.)

Then, looking for some trinkets to bring home, I found a very fancy stationary store with the airs of an austere museum or luxury brand — it was called Kyukyodo—and bought some notebooks and a wooden mechanical pencil that looks like a normal pencil. They also sold Donald Duck-themed incense.

Around four I found a ramen shop with a ticket machine (albeit another touchscreen) and it was very, very good. Their specialty was soy sauce ramen and after walking up that mountain earlier in the day I needed the salt. That might have been the tastiest meal of the trip (and it was something like 8 bucks).

Tomorrow I would slingshot back to Tokyo. Maybe I would shop for more toy trains.

8 miles today, 22,209 steps.