Monday Friday 20 October 2023

Kyoto

As you will see from the above headline, I planned to produce this blog on Monday--but as usual I have fallen behind. I have been very busy sightseeing and eating, which leaves little time for blogging. So before I can get to today (Friday), my 76-year-old memory must travel back to 

Monday Morning

I awake to another beautiful day and a nice buffet breakfast in the hotel. This morning I will be joining the only organized tour of this part of my trip: “Kyoto Sagano Bamboo Grove & Arashiyama Walking Tour." This tour provides much more than its title suggests and it is led by a charming young Japanese woman, Donna, who speaks impeccable English.

However, things don't start out auspiciously. It is a 20-minute walk from my hotel to the south side of Kyoto Station. But you just can't walk from the north to the south sides of the station; you must go up several escalators, then through a number of long concourses (that cross over the tracks), then down another escalator to the exit--getting lost several times. At 8am I am also fighting local crowds moving in all directions. 

North Side of Kyoto's New Train Station

I make it out of the station and see the building across the street that my instructions show is the tour meeting place at 8:30. And although I walk around the long block twice, I cannot find a door that is open before 10am. Finally, with hardly a moment to spare, a helpful local points me toward some downward stairs in the corner of the building that take me to the waiting tour group just in time.

Then it's another long trek through an underground portion of the station that leads to the local JR train that will take us to our destination ten minutes later, Saga-Arashiyama.

Donna Counts Tourist Heads (left), Prior to Arrival in Arashiyama (right)

We walk through the central portion of Arashiyama, an outlying part of Kyoto that is popular with families and tourists. We make a brief stop at a small Shinto shrine . . .

. . . before we finally arrive at the newer of two bamboo groves. These groves provide scenic background for many Japanese films and appear in a multitude of adds and commercials--usually without the crowds. In spite of them, it is a place of natural beauty that could exist only in Japan.

This newer grove was opened after Covid, so there would be less crowding in the original grove. It is interesting to compare the older and newer growths in each part. The photos below show the newer growth:

 

Our Tour Guide, Donna, Strikes a Pose

Prior to reaching the older grove, we stop at a large Buddhist temple compound. At most of the temples and shrines the gardens are the primary draw for tourists. However, at this temple there were just too many steep steps for me to risk the climb (this will occur at several other temples as well). I can still enjoy the grounds.

Beautiful Moss Gardens

We are now ready to enter the older bamboo grove, with denser growth:

The next part of the tour takes us through another temple with both a water garden and stone garden, as we head to the river for a 45-minute boat ride that completes the tour. The garden views are the most important aspect of this temple.

We enjoy a relaxing ride on the river as the elderly gentleman pushes, pulls and steers the vessel with one long pole.

The tour ends back at the train station where we arrived. I decide to take a slower walk back on my own and enjoy a quiet ride on the train. In the Isetan Department Store, right next to Kyoto Station, I enjoy a fine lunch at a special tempura restaurant.

And that's the end of Monday. The next blog will, I hope, get me through Tuesday, but now I head out for some last views of Kyoto before the short train ride to Osaka.