So, for our second day in Kyoto, we took the train to Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社).
So, first of all, we went to perhaps one of the most well-known sights in Japan, and that is the Fushimi Inari Taisha, which features hundreds of torii gates on your way up the mountain.
As you walk up the mountain, the gates get smaller and smaller. Also, an interesting thing that I noticed throughout my trip was how there were two fox spirits guarding many of the gates. I’m sure there must be some legends and folklore for them.
Walking into the long line of gates.
As you can see, the walk up was quite crowded.
The crowd has left, so it became a lot more peaceful and relaxing to walk.
One side without any Kanji.
And one side with Kanji. From what I’ve heard, these names are names of people who have donated money to the place, and so their name was painted on the gates leading to the top and all the way down again.
View from outside the gates.
Since we didn’t have that much time, we turned around right at this spot.
Arashiyama
For the rest of the day, we took the train back to Kyoto Station and took the bus to Arashiyama, which is an area on the outskirts of Kyoto.
We were originally going to come here to see the bamboo forest, which our friend recommended. However, while I was pointing at the right direction, my parents insisted to go the other way. I clearly read the sign that said “bamboo grove,” but no one listened so we got lost. Still, what a way to get lost during a vacation. In trips, sometimes things don’t go as planned. Instead, you discover something you never knew until you get lost.
Walking over the bridge (which is called Togetsukyo Bridge) to the other side (other direction). After my trip, I did some research on this place and it seems that this river is where they hold the lantern festival yearly, where they light up lanterns at night and let the flow down the river. I have seen a video of it on the internet, and it was beautiful. Really wished to have seen it.
Walking up a path up a mountain and along a river.
Nice views of the river. There were many people rowing boats on it.
A photo of me walking and a silly picture of my mom and sister.
Continue walking…
More river sights.
Looking back.
Walking a bit further up…
We’re here. Sorry for the sudden transition.
Plip plop.
Entering the resting area.
A view of the room.
All four of us just relaxing.
View from the top of the hill.
We stopped at a stall nearby for some drinks to relax by the riverbank.
You can see they used the mountain spring water to cool the drinks.
Relaxing in the shade by the river while drinking cold drinks in the summer. Syiok!
Afterwards, we went the other direction and found the Arashiyama bamboo grove. While it was spectacular in its own right, it was a little underwhelming considering where we’ve been to.
More pictures of the forest of endless bamboo.
There was even a rickshaw puller. I knew these had existed many years ago, but I never thought I would see on in reality. It still seems like some people still pull the rickshaws for tourists. I think that this must be a tough job, considering the guy was quite muscular and looked a bit tired.
Walking around the calm Japanese countryside. Even though this is just the outskirts of Kyoto, it still seems like the countryside.
The shot reminds me and my sister of 5 Centimetres Per Second, except without sakura.
Finally, while I did try to go to one final tourist sight, which was the Jinkakuji (金閣寺), I learned the hard way that most temples in Japan close at 5 o’clock. My second day in Kyoto was a great one. While I didn’t managed to go to all of the places I planned, I found a new place that made my trip more memorable. Sometimes in life, you really will find surprises like this when you stray from your original path. I learned that many things in life really don’t go as you wanted it to go, and in return you get something different. Perhaps that something is better than what you imagined, or perhaps it would turn out really bad. Regardless, accept the unexpected and make the best of it. Anyway, I’ve been rambling on for some time now and I’m happy that I have finally finished writing my posts on Kyoto. These two have been in the works for some time and I’m glad that it has concluded. So, next time, I’m going to write about the final two places I went to in the Kansai region, so look forward to that.
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