Kyoto photo and food extravaganza

Torii gates at Fushimi Inari

Kyoto brought a welcome switch to low-key tourism. Nap on the 2.5-hour train ride from Tokyo, another short nap in Matsubaya Ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn, booked by Brian) and we were ready to explore the streets of Kyoto.

Hanging out at the ryokan

Though the city contained a few broad boulevards, the majority of the streets were narrow roads and alleys barely big enough for a single car. After meandering for a while, we stumbled upon a small restaurant filled with locals. We were offered the only available table, and sat down to a Korean barbecue of chuck roast, chicken liver and other obscure cuts of meat. All delicious, particularly when accompanied by beer.

On Saturday we set off with an itinerary planned by Brian: morning stop at Fushimi Inari, a major shrine on a Kyoto mountainside; a late-morning trip to Nijo Castle; lunch at Nishiki Market; an afternoon of roaming the city before heading back to the ryokan to prep for a 10-course (give or take a course) Japanese meal at Arashiyama Nishiki. The plan was going swimmingly until we made it to Fushimi Inari, which Brian commented was probably the most photogenic place he’d ever visited. So we spent the entire morning and early afternoon there, filling up our SD cards and depleting the batteries in our cameras.

Fushimi Inari has one main shrine and tons of smaller shrines. Thousands of orange torii gates line the path to the top of the mountain. The shrine draws lots of business people, who donate money in hopes of earning wealth. Nick, the owner at Hakuba Powder Lodging, later told us the place brings in a million dollars a day in donations.

Shrines — large and small — feature stone carvings of two foxes. Inari means “rice,” and the foxes signify some connection to rice; in tour books and subsequent web searches, explanations for the canines ranged from foxes being the messengers of the Shinto goddess of rice to signifying a strong rice harvest. Regardless, between the statues and the torii gates, the entire shrine area made for an impressive trip.

With a large part of our day exhausted by Fushimi Inari, we had time to make a quick walk through Nishiki Market for lunch snacks: grilled oysters, soy milk doughnuts, rice cakes, scallops.

For dinner, Brian led us to Arashiyama Nishiki. A waitress dressed in traditional garb took us into a private room and then brought course after course. Tofu filled with mustard, shashimi, multiple soups, beans, clams, dessert … between Tokyo sushi and Kyoto meals, it was a good trip for eating. Brian gets all the credit for that.

About to start the meal 

This course came in a shelf with drawers

Sunday morning we finally made it to Nijo Castle, where we toured the grounds. We passed through Nishiki Market again for lunch, and then it was back to Kyoto Station for the train and bus voyage back to Hakuba and return to the mountains.

 Walking to Nijo Castle

 Nijo Castle and the surrounding grounds