Saturday October 11th
Sadly, our trip in Japan is coming to an end. It’s been almost 2 full weeks, and it’s been a great trip! Today we had a half day in Kyoto before jumping on the Shinkansen (bullet train!) back to Tokyo. We fly home Sunday morning, wrapping up this fabulous trip. But first, we had a little bit of exploring to do in the southeastern part of the city. As we had to be checked out of the hotel by 2:00 pm, we needed an early start to get a few things in.
Our first stop was the Fushimi Inari Taisha, or Torii Gates hike. This is one of the iconic (and free!) activities in Kyoto, a beautiful temple on a mountain, with torii gates running up and down the mountain, connecting a series of shrines. The history of Fushimi Inari Taisha is incredibly deep, tracing its roots all the way back to 711 CE, long before Kyoto even became Japan's capital. The shrine was founded by the powerful Hata clan to enshrine Inari Ōkami, the Shinto deity of rice, agriculture, and prosperity. This was a time when a good harvest was everything, so Inari's significance quickly grew.
We left the hotel close to 6 am with a goal to get there before the hoards of people. It was about a 40 minute train ride and required a connection, but we made it there in pretty good time. And it was already busy. I think we would have needed to be there before dawn to avoid the crowds!
Still, we knew it would just get worse, so we started the hike up the mountain. As we climbed the stairs through the gates, you enter a forest and the atmosphere was pretty magical. Even with all the people. As you continue to climb, there are shrines set into the hill side, along the way.
We managed to find the odd spot here and there where you could take some photos without anyone in them. It was tough, but we managed to find a few. And as we climbed, the people spread out and seemed to drop off.
There was a confluence point about 2/3 the way up the mountain, where the trail split off three different ways. We explored each of the options, with the first heading up past another shrine to a lookout point. As it was pretty grey and overcast, the view wasn’t spectacular.
Our hike up the mountain.
We returned and then took the “loop” trail that looped back around to the same spot, but took you back through the forest, past other shrines and the odd viewpoint. The climb up had been tougher than I had expected and I had completely sweated through my shirt. Justine noted some interesting t-shirts at a little vendor on the mountain, so I bought it so change into once we got to the bottom.
The hike was quite nice, the temples and shrines were amazing, and the crowds not as bad as feared once we got up a bit higher on the mountain. But once we were back down it was time to move on and head off to our next stop. It was getting insane with people at the bottom, and it was barely 9 am.
The fox, or kitsune, holds an extremely prominent and complex place in Japanese culture and folklore, appearing as both a benevolent messenger and a mischievous, sometimes malevolent, trickster. The most significant role of the kitsune is as the messenger of Inari Ōkami, the Shinto deity of rice, prosperity, agriculture, and commerce. Kitsune statues are common features at Inari shrines, often depicted with a key (for the rice granary) or a jewel in their mouths. They are seen as guardians and intercessors, linking the human world to the divine. Because of this connection, the kitsune is often associated with wealth, successful harvests, and business prosperity. Offerings of fried tofu, thought to be the fox's favorite food, are left at shrines.
This ended up being my favorite unintentional photo from the trip. Ghosts in the torii gates.
As we departed, you can get a sense of the sheer number of people.
Out next stop was about a 30 minute train ride away, in a small town (but still part of Kyoto) called Uji. Uji is famous for a couple of things - matcha. Matcha is a finely ground green tea powder made from specially grown and processed tea leaves. People seem to love it, and it originated in Uji. The other is the spectacular Byodo-in Hoodo temple and its iconic Phoenix Hall. It’s so famous its image is used on the 10 yen coin.
One thing Japan is known for are it’s amazing manhole covers.
I finally remembered to snap a photo or two in Uji.
We were still pretty early arriving into Uji, and so most places were not opened. We walked over the famous Uji bridge and enjoyed the views for a bit, before heading into the center of the little town, closer to the temple where we grabbed breakfast at the Starbucks, being the only thing open.
After having some food we headed into the temple grounds. It was busy, but not crazy and the main Hall is utterly spectacular. The Byōdō-in Temple is one of the most significant architectural and cultural treasures of the Heian Period (794-1185), and its centerpiece, the Hōō-dō (Phoenix Hall), is a striking example of Pure Land Buddhist art and architecture.
The temple's origins trace back to 998 CE, when it was built as a countryside villa for the powerful Fujiwara clan. It was converted into a Buddhist temple in 1052 by Fujiwara no Yorimichi. This conversion was highly symbolic, coming at the dawn of the Mappō—the "Latter Days of the Law"—an age in which people believed they could no longer achieve enlightenment through self-effort.
The Phoenix Hall, completed in 1053, was expressly designed to be a three-dimensional, physical recreation of Amida's Pure Land paradise. Its beauty and tranquil setting on a pond, which reflects the structure perfectly, were intended to visually reassure aristocrats of their place in the afterlife. The hall is celebrated for being one of the only original wooden structures from the Heian period to have survived centuries of wars and fires.
Its iconic nickname, the Phoenix Hall, comes from its architectural layout—with its central structure, side corridors, and rear corridor resembling a mythological bird with spreading wings and a tail—and the two gilded bronze phoenix statues (Hōō) that adorn its roof. Its cultural importance is cemented by its depiction on the reverse side of the Japanese 10-yen coin, making it one of the most familiar ancient buildings to the Japanese people. The temple and its gardens are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We wandered around for a bit enjoying the views and taking it all in.
There were a few other notable structures including an amazing bell, which we checked out. And then, amazingly enough, Justine agreed to go into the museum on site! It was small, but they had some amazing exhibits. There was another stunning bell, some very cool maps/drawings of the site from the 1700s and some very beautiful old book and scrolls from around the same time. They also had a reproduction of the inside of part of the Phoenix Hall, so you could get an appreciation for how ornate the inside is. And then finally they had these amazing small Sculptures that would have come from the site, that were super significant. It was all pretty great and Justine admitted that it was worth checking out. Sadly, no photos were allowed, so there’s not much to share in this section.
After exiting the museum we exited the Temple grounds and walked along the river for a bit. We crossed the ornate bridge onto Tō-no-shima Island, where there is a stone pagoda that was pretty cool. We also saw a set of cages with cormorants in them. They still do some cormorant fishing in this area, which is pretty wild.
Crossing the bridge back onto the mainland, we were stopped by a very cute Scout Troop (both girls and boys). They were interviewing tourists, and want to ask us some questions. It was some of the usual - where were we from - but they also had a big sheet with different types of Japanese food, and they wanted to know what we had tried. It seems we’re more adventurous than most, as we added a few new check marks to some dishes that no one else had eaten. They were especially excited that we had eaten shabu shabu, which Justine had eaten just last night! They were all quite cute and they gave us a little gift (some origami) for answering their questions. It was fun.
From there we headed back into the little town center. I wanted to buy some matcha, and Justine wanted a hot matcha to compare, and a matcha soft serve ice cream. It wasn’t my thing but she enjoyed it!
Our walk around Uji.
Fro there it was a walk back to the train station, then back to the hotel to have a shower, get packed up and checked out, and then off to Kyoto Central Station to catch the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.
We took a taxi over to the train station - with all the luggage it would have been a hassle any other way - and so we were dropped off right out front. Not knowing the process, we had given ourselves lots of time - too much in fact. As the train was at 4:01, our train wasn’t even on the board for a platform assignment. So we wandered the station for a bit, found an Irish pub and had a drink while we waited.
Eventually it was time to go, and so we headed back into the throng. We easily found our way to the gate, and waited for our train to arrive. We were still a bit early, getting to the platform at 3:45. There were still two Shinkansen trains going to Tokyo before ours left! Kind of crazy - these are big trains, apparently carrying around 1,300 people. It’s hard to imagine that many people going back and forth constantly.
The boarding process was pretty easy. We were worried about baggage storage with our big suitcases, but it worked out fine. We found our seats and settled in the ride. These trains reach speeds of 285 km/h and it’s amazing to watch the countryside zip past so fast. The whole trip takes about 2 1/2 hours, and for about the first hour and a half we just watched the scenery go by. But then it got dark, and we sat back and watched the lights fly by. It was a fun trip - I do love travelling by train, especially fast trains!
The Shinkansen pulled into our old stomping ground of Tokyo Station. We decided that we were going to have dinner, so we put our big bags into lockers for a couple of hours. Otherwise we would never have been able to get into a restaurant.
We decide to go back to Ramen Street, and have some last noodles. We ended up at the same restaurant (it had the shortest line and we knew we liked it), and we had another fabulous meal. After dinner we walked back to the little owl brewery and had a last drink.
From there, we made our way down to the Narita Express train for the hour plus ride out to our hotel near the airport. Our timing was perfect as we came up, the shuttle to the hotel was there and about to take off. We got to the hotel, which was nothing to talk about, and immediately crashed.
Daily Step Count: 21,156