The ryokan was delightful. I will miss it much. Our host even helped us forward our luggage to the hotel.
We ate at a little coffee shop, called Madea, and I had a breakfast sandwich. It was yummy, but super messy—I ended up eating the second half with a knife and fork.
We had a lazy morning and hopped on the bus and train to Kurama, a delightful mountain town north of Kyoto. The mountains are so steep here! I had to pick up a few daitengu (dai = great, tengu = bird man yokai) souvenirs. We came to visit Soujou-bou, the tengu king after all. (Here’s a statue of him.)
Kurama is a lovely small town at the foot of the mountain with the same name. Every shop on the street sold tengu souvenirs.
Riding the mountain tram rather than walk up 20 minutes of stairs was the right choice! I got winded just ascending the steps we did! Here’s the entrance at the base of the mountain.
And the tram.
Then we followed the u-shaped trail around the mountain to get to the temple.
View from the main building.
At the main temple, we met a delightful gentleman who has visited the US several times. He makes the pilgrimage here every year and felt the triangle spot in front of the temple was a spot of power.
The bell tower. We didn’t stay long, because there were bees on the path.
The big bell. I was tempted to ring it, but resisted.
We enjoyed the hike. Though I was a little sad I didn’t get a stamp there in my book.
These are a few silly tanuki (raccoon dog) statues in front of a restaurant.
And here is a picture of a famous print of Soujou-bou training Minamoto no Yoshitsune (one of the most famous samurai).
(end 3/1 part 1)