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| Snow on Kyoto |
You are a traveller. You are queuing to take a photograph at Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine in Kyoto, Japan. Tens of tourists are lined up outside the very first vermilion coloured gate. It’s one of thousands of gates that loop up to Mt. Inari and back and there is plenty of time to take a photograph, but your companions don’t realise this. The bearded one is fiddling with settings on his camera. The curly haired one is zhuzh-ing her hair for a closeup.
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| Torii at Fushimi Inari-taisha |
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As you walk around the shrine you notice several visitors wearing kimonos. There are a bunch of kimono rental shops around Kyoto. Japanese visitors dress up in richly coloured and intricately fitted kimonos and walk around the old streets and ancient shrines, stumbling awkwardly in wooden clog sandals on the cobbled walkways.
You walk through gate after gate at Fushimi Inari-taisha. Later you learn that these gates are called torii, they mark the entrance to the sacred world. Inari-taisha is the kami of industry (along with foxes, agriculture and rice tea), and the torii are an offering donated by wealthy businesses and business owners. It’s a testament to economic success in Japan.
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| On the Path of Philosophy (Tetsugaku-no-michi) |
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Next you walk along the Path of Philosophy (Tetsugaku-no-michi). It’s a peaceful walk that takes you along a small stream and past several shrines and temples. Plum blossoms line a section of the river. The curly haired one is keeping a close eye on your step-count and it’s well over 10,000 by the time you decide to get lunch.
At Nishiki Market, known as the kitchen of Kyoto, you find that there is nothing edible for your vegetarian companions. They walk around lead-footed on busy streets until 3.00pm. Eventually you find a vegetarian option at a Japanese fast-food chain:
MOS Burger. The burgers are tiny but delicious.
Restored and rejuvenated, you travel to Kiyomizu-dera, a buddhist temple. It overlooks Kyoto, and there are some dramatic views at sunset.
The next day you take a five-hour train journey to Nachikatsuura. Your hostel is
Why Kumano and it has the best sleeping pods you’ve seen yet. They look like an old wooden toy fitted together to create a life sized model of a Japanese pod hostel. The wooden panelling smells like a sawmill, and its sawdust colour is calming.
After the first full nights sleep you’ve had in a week, you take the bus to Nachi-no-Taki (Nachi Falls). Starting the walk from Daimon-zaka, you ascend 734 steps to reach the Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine, and then down to Nachi-no-Taki. This is Japan’s tallest waterfall, and it’s worshipped as a deity in this region.
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| Nachi Falls |
Your companions pay
¥300 each to get up close to it, taking turns to photograph each other with the falls. It’s said that you can increase longevity by drinking water from the dragon’s mouth near the falls. Your bearded companion buys a small dish and drinks the water. It doesn’t make him look younger.
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| At Nachi Falls |
That night you eat a delicious vegetarian ramen at
Rio, one of a few restaurants in this small town. You and your companions sip on Umeshu (plum liqueur) in the hostel. The hostel has no guests, and the owner has left the front door locked, so you treat the building like a huge private hotel room. You curl up in your wooden box and enjoy a quiet night's sleep.
Restaurants not mentioned:
Mimikou,
Gold Soup Udon
Hostels not mentioned:
Tsukimi Hotel
