Hiking in Kyoto

If you aren't familiar with the Kyoto trail, check out this site. A beautiful hike that winds in and out of the city, the Kyoto trail is a must for any outdoors-loving tourist. Here are a few shots from our recent trip on the second segment of the hike.

Yuzu jam for sale at a house along the Kyoto trail. 

Tofukuji -a fabulous temple, set back in the suburbs near Fushimi. An excellent addition to any Kyoto trip. The subway/train will take you right to the temple's door. 

Hiking West of Arashiyama

On a recent trip west of Arashiyama, we ended up on an unintentional day hike. From what we read online, if you got off the train west of Arashiyama, you could walk back along the river on a nice, quiet walk. What the websites don't tell you, is that this "nice walk" is actually a 5-6 mile hike. Thankfully the trail is also a road, so it's well paved and does not require any extra gear.

To get to to the "trail head" take the Tozai line train west, past Arashiyama out to the hozukyo train station. Leave the train and take the stairs underneath the tracks, exit the "train station" (I won't ruin for you why that's in quotes). Walk through the parking lot to the road, and you will have hit the trail. To follow the path we took, turn right and start walking. Stay on the main road and you will not get lost.

If you are looking for a great lunch spot to picnic, turn left instead of right, walk about 40 feet and you will see a little paved path leading down. One of the rafting groups uses this as their place to exit the river, so it usually has a couple people hanging out and swimming in the river.

Towards the end of the hike, you will end up in the outskirts of Arashiyama. The small town has an antique shop with lots of cool little items, a sakery with great sake, and lots of cool traditional style houses/roofs.

here are a few photos of the hike:

Towards the end of the hike, you will come across a small town. There are several popular temples around the town, as well as some cool art and historical things to see.

Hiking to Enryakuji

We recently decided to hike to Enryakuji in preparation to hike Mr. Fuji. We had read online that a nice, quick trail it would be pretty easy. Although a beautiful hike that at the end was well worth it, if you are not Japanese or an experienced hiker this trail will kick you butt in the summer's heat.

Although there are several routes to hike, we hiked frrom the Lake Biwa side. Similar to the Kyoto side, you will walk a short distance through town, and then walk up into the trail head. The trail head is a little confusing so be sure to look for the big set of stairs, this is your hike marker.

Tips for Enryakuji:

• The "trail" is all but non-existent, you will really feel like you are lost in the woods for the first 45 minutes. 
• The trail looks like a washed out riverbed 
• Many people take the tram up, leaving the trail pretty isolated (we hiked at 12pm and ran across maybe 4-5 other people/families)
• We would recommend hiking up and then tramming down, parts of the hike were difficult going up and seemed a little dicey to try and travel down. 
• Bring your camera, there are several great look outs, and some really cool things to see on the trail

Once at Enryakuji be sure to check out every building. Each one has something that makes it unique. In the large building dedicated to world peace you can walk up to the wooden wall where the Buddha is behind (there are no signs saying this is ok, but it is. Just be respectful of tour groups and people meditating/praying). From this "wall" you will be able to peek into where the buddhists sit, write, and meditate. You can also enter into a pagoda, which we have never seen anywhere else (at least not yet). 

Here are some photos of our hike and of Enryakuji: 

what we guessed to be a small cemetery 

Really old stone statues (possibly headstones?) with the characters barely visible

A small temple/shrine just south of the Enrakuji Temple Complex. There was no one else around, so it had this really amazing, yet eery feel to it. 

Someone had left their shoes

Many of the buildings had protective dogs outside

Tram station -really worth taking if you are not up for a good hike, or if you only want to hike one way. 

Hornet Sighting, Nightmares Do Come True

The mythical Japanese Hornet has been sighted. On our recent weekend adventure to Kurama and Kibune, the large beast was spotted on the lower portion of the trail. It looked tenacious and fierce, proud of its notorious reputation. I'm almost certain that it smelled the fear emanating out of my body (or maybe that was just the sweat from the 90+ degree heat). Either way, he gave us a dance that clearly said "stay away" and we obliged. One thing we've learned, don't mess with the Juju in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. This guy was left well enough alone.

Update: We've come across these hornets on other hikes. They appear to live in the woodland hills around Kyoto.  No stings yet, but we'll post on the damage if it occurs.