Ah, another update long overdue. In order to avoid much-too-long posts, I've decided to make three independent updates. This one about the time around New Years eve, one about Hiroshima, and one with some bad news. First, this one about Mt. Hiei, New Years eve, and more visits to temples.
I recently became a member of
Couchsurfing. A guy contacted me through this site, asking if I wanted to do some adventuring around Kyoto. Always willing have company on my many trips around Japan, so we agreed to do a bit of mountaineering. So, on December 30th, I met Juan Jose Diaz Sacco, who turned out to be a very friendly Paraguayan, devout vegetarian, and
Iriomote cat researcher at the University of the Ryukyus, a university in the Okinawa prefecture, the group of islands belonging to Japan, located near Taiwan. The adventures on day 1 was to
Mt. Hiei, a small mountain located a bit northeast of Kyoto. The mountain has, very conveniently, a temple on top - another World Heritage site. The goal was to reach that temple - and the trip to get there was very rewarding!
Wikitravel mentioned two ways of getting to, and up on, the mountain. One of the ways was via a couple of cable cars. We went to the small hamlet at the base of the mountain, the first station of the cable cars. However, the cars weren't running: it was out of season. Very content with the prospect of doing some mountain hiking, we set off, following the path of the cable cars. This was, in reality, just a long set of stairs towards the top of the mountain. Easy peasy lemon squeasy, we quickly scaled the heights.
As we walked towards the top, the rainy weather changed. The temperature dropped as we gained height, and we could see the rain changing to sleet, and finally to proper snow. Seeing the exact point at the mountain, where the temperature at ground level was below 0, so that the snow stayed on the ground, was quite magic.
Juan revealed that it had been around 18 years since he had seen snow last. Seeing snow is not so uncommon for me, but seeing the joy Juan experienced from seeing snow was a quite nice thing.
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| First snow... |
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| SNOW! |
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| Same slope as seen a few pictures earlier, just 10 minutes walk later |
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| Uh, so cold |
Venturing further up the mountain, the weather turned for the worse (or better, if you happen to like snow :)
I'll admit, seeing the snow-covered slopes, and having a great view over what might have been a part of Kyoto, was beautiful.
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| Quite the change in just a few hours |
We finally reached the temple grounds, a pretty sight in itself, the snow just improving the looks.
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| Enryaku-ji |
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| Juan and a small shrine |
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| Enryaku-ji peeks out |
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| Enryaku-ji |
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| A bell tower at Enryaku-ji |
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| First snow-angel in 18 years... |
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| Quite foggy weather |
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| Enryaku-ji |
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| Pristine |
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| Frosty... |
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| What a view! |
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| Second attempt at making a snowman |
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| Watching snow |
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| Juan and I |
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| A view over Kyoto |
After seeing the temples grounds, trying our best to make a snowman, we continued on towards other sights on the mountain.
Finally, we headed back towards Kyoto, not reaching the city until after nightfall. The snow had not yet reached Kyoto, but it did the following day.
Juan and I had agreed to spend New Years eve together, and we met the following day. Also meeting us was Naomi, another Couchsurfer, and also a university employee here in Japan. The adventures of the day was to Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion), later to Urbanguild, to hear some music, and then off to a temple to hear the traditional chiming of the bells.
Snow in Kyoto is not common, last time it snowed here was in 2005. Seeing Kinkaku-ji again, this time covered in snow, was another pretty sight. Enjoy the pictures!
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| The crowd heading to the Kinkaku-ji |
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Kinkaku-ji, the crowd, and snow
(captions for the blind...) |
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| Nice! |
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| The crowd again |
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| Kinkaku-ji |
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| Roof of the golden pavilion |
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| Me, Naomi, Kinkaku-ji, Juan and some stranger |
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| Yet another snowman, though this one is not our creation. |
All the usual activities one needs to do while it's snowing, was done. Snowmen, snowangels, snowball fights. Naomi patiently tolerated the antics of Juan and I, and, of course, helping with the creation of snowmen.
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| Naomi, Juan, a couple of crude snowmen, and I. |
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| An angry samurai |
Later in the day, good food was enjoyed, then we were off to enjoy the bands playing at Urbanguild.
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| The dinner on New Years eve. Juan and Naomi. |
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| Soba noodles - sort of a traditional thing to eat around New Years eve. |
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| Naomi |
At Urbanguild, people were invited to take part in making mochi. It's quite easy: hammer away on a lump of glutinous rice, till it's nice and sticky. It's a very social activity!
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| Making mochi |
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| Naomi in action |
Always a nice experience to visit that place, and this was also the case on New Years eve.
Around 10:30, we went for a walk to a nearby temple: the Chion-in. It's a tradition to ring a bell at a temple. (
Wikipedia has more about the Japanese traditions around New Years eve).
If one seeks out the smaller temples, and wait in line, one can be fortunate to be allowed to ring the bell.
Chion-in was much too crowded to allow people to ring the bell. Instead, a group of monks were tasked with the ringing of the bell. A majestic sight.
108 times the bell is supposed to be rung, once for every sin: I think the bell at Chion-in was rung many more times. Being on the safe side with regards to forgiveness for sins can't hurt, I suppose!
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| Part of Chion-in |
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| An odd sight: a policeman escorted a panda out from the temple grounds. |
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| The crowd and the bell |
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| The giant bell, with the hammer just about to strike it. "gonng!" is imminent. |
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| Munks toiling away. |
I'm used to do some sort of countdown around 12 o'clock - at the turn of the year - but this didn't happen here. After seeing Chion-in, we went on a hurried search for an Izakaya, wanting something to say "cheers" with. We didn't find any, opting instead for a beer from a convenience store. 12 o'clock came and went, with no countdown, nothing! People just went about their usual business. Very different!
Later, we went back to Urbanguild, heard a few more bands playing (including
Tayutau (たゆたう), of which one member had a scary good voice).
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| Taytau |
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| Taytau. Note the unceremonial sign: "New year". |
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| A happy Juan |
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| A final gathering of players from different bands |
The night ended late.
The following day, Juan and I went for a walk of the Philosophers path, a small path in the east part of Kyoto, littered with temples. We saw a few, and ended at Ginkaku-ji, the silver pavilion. My second visit there.
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| Kamo river and Kyoto covered in snow |
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| The aftermath of New Years eve. Such a mess! |
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| Some temple on the Philosophers path |
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| 2011 is the year of the rabbit - snow-rabbits were a common sight. |
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| Juan and I |
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| Detail of a temple |
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| Blue sky and snow-covered temple |
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| Stone garden covered in snow |
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| Some temple |
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| Juan philosophizing on the philosophers path |
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| Cute. |
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| My turn to philosophize |
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| Snowmen in decay |
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| View of a temple (maybe Ginkaku-in?) |
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| Ginkaku-in |
The day ended with me saying goodbye for now to Juan, and seeing him off to Nara - though I was to meet him again on the 9th of January.
The next day I traveled to Hiroshima. More about that in a different post!
