We are on a city trip to Kyoto. This is a personal story of our city trip in Japan. This day starts again with getting up early, walking through thousands of Torii gates and avoiding busy tourist streets. We explore the rest of the idyllic streets in Kyoto, filled with tourists and countless temples.
This city trip in Japan is all about morning rituals. We got up early again with even more energy than the day before. Today’s plan includes a visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This Shinto shrine is known for its thousands of red torii gates. Of course we are not the first visitors and we soon all walk under the torii gates. There are several hiking trails that lead to the top of the mountain, where you have a beautiful view of Kyoto. While most tourists walk in a long line, we choose our own path. We regularly take a side path, past tombs and burning candles, to the quieter part of the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Located in a beautiful area, we soon walk alone on a forest path towards the top of the mountain.
“A torii is a traditional red Japanese gate that is often found at a Shinto Shrine. It symbolizes the transition from the ordinary world to the world of the saints”
Cats on the top of Fushimi Inari Shrine
During this walk it is immediately noticeable that many wild cats live on this mountain and around the shrine. Some look better than others, but it is known that they actually live here and are cared for by the staff. Although I have tried to find out where these cats come from and why they live here, I am none the wiser. In Japan, cats symbolise prosperity, and their presence at the shrine signifies good luck.
Finally we reach the top of Mount Inari and enjoy a beautiful view of Kyoto. We have planned the whole morning for this visit and the walk, and it is early afternoon when we continue to Sannenzaka. But before we continue on foot I try a Japanese snack. It’s a kind of flattened rice cake with all sorts of things in between. Nice to try once, but not repeatable for me.
The streets of Higashiyama are among Kyoto’s most visited attractions. The cobbled streets with stone steps lead up to Kiyomuzudera Temple, so I mentally prepared myself for the crowds. But it’s totally worth it. These are truly authentic streets, each with a traditional house that houses a shop or a restaurant. There are also numerous shops where you can immerse yourself in Japanese culture for a day and dress up as a Geisha. I’ll skip this experiment for now, but who knows, I might do it again. You can also do it as a couple and then stroll through the city together in wooden slippers.
Busy streets of Kyoto
Together with the rest of the crowd we slowly stroll up towards the orange-colored Kiyomizu-dera Niomon temple. The color contrast of the brown, somewhat gloomy-looking Japanese houses with the colorful shrine is fantastically beautiful!
You can visit almost all temples and shrines in Japan for free. You have to pay something for one of them, as well as for the Kiyomizu-dera temple. You can visit a small part of the temple for free, but if you want to go further, you have to pay a ticket. This is enough for now. I must honestly admit that I have probably seen too many temples at this point and I am not afraid of missing one. It is all very beautiful and really special that such things were built in those times, but it all comes down to the same thing. And believe me, you will find a temple or shrine on every street corner.
The Kiyomizu-dera Temple, the Kodaiji Temple and the Yasaka Jinjia Temple tower beautifully above the colorful trees. We rest in the autumn sun at the Kiyomizu temple. After which we descend further through the old streets with characteristic wooden houses.
By the end of the day we are tired from strolling through this historic city and all the impressions. We eat delicious soba noodles at a small restaurant called Takehana and then end our day with a visit to the onsen in our hotel.
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