Today I set out fairly early at 8 o'clock to the train station. I wanted a break from looking at temples. To the north of Kyoto, in the mountains are the towns of Kurama and Kifune.
Kifune is a small town next to the Kurama river with a shrine dedicated to the deity of water.
Kurama is know for its Onsen (baths from hot springs), its temple which was built in the 700s and contains several buddha statues marked as national treasures, and also the Tengu (long nosed goblins said to live in the wooded mountains).
After an hour of walking I reached the station and bought the Kurama/Kifune Sansaku Ticket for 17 bucks. This got me a round trip on the train, entrance to the mountain trail and temple, and a pass to the outdoor onsen.
The train ride was a pleasant 35min ride out of the main city. This train had heated seats and large sightseeing windows with some seats facing outward for easy viewing. The town was relatively empty when I got there. Other people were clearly there to hike or bike with trekking poles and packs ready. The tourist count was very small and at times I was alone on the mountain path. There were some shops open or sellimg Tengu merchandise like magnets and stuff. I reached the temple after 30 min or so. There was a service of sorts in session so I hung out in the back.
I kept going up the trail as you have to to reach Kifune (unless you go around on a bus). There were signs warning about bears, deer, snakes, and wasps, and there were times where I was making my coin purse jingle or humming a song loudly in traditional bear-keep-away fashion. But, it turns out there were plenty of folk on the trail and I didn't need to so I stopped.
After making it to the trail peak and heading down I made it to Kifune. Its an adorable, sleepy, town that has a lot of eateries along the way. There was some logging but I don't know of they exist outside of tourism. I found the shrine and cleansed myself at the entry. I don't think I've mentioned those but before entering a shrine theres a fountain with ladles. Once you do it once its super easy.
1. Hold ladle in right hand, pour water over left cleaning it.
2. Hold ladle in left hand, pour water over right cleaning it
3. Hold ladle in right hand pour water into cupped left hand
4. Swash water in mouth from your hand and spit out
5. Hold ladle in right hand, clean left hand
Note: dont spit in the fountain. Dont drink from the ladle. Dont swallow the water, its most likely not treated
After that I bought one of the water fortunes that are a speciallty here. Its a piece of paper that you put in the shrine water and your fortune appears. Then you tie it to a...fortune holder? while thinking of your desires and theyll come true. Also the fortune has a QR code to scan so you can read a translated fortune.
After that I headed back to town because I needed food to get back over the mountain. I was lured in to a place by the promise of cheap curry, but they only have it as a dinner item, so I ordered Kyo-Yuba instead. Yuba is soy milk skin, I guess? Not sure if I want to google it, but I ate it. It was a rice bowl with the Yuba that had the consistency of congealing melted cheese. It had green onions, lots of nori to mix in and happily some wasabi. I mixed it a bit and based on the wasabi chunk I encountered I was supposed mix it more. It was porriage like, and the nori made it to salty for my taste. It came with tea, daikon raddish (I think usully served along side greasier food as a fresh apparatif), and miso soup with pickles. This was the first meal there was probably a flavor gap from American taste. I know this because I made another friend there who liked it.
Evelynn from Taiwan struck up a conversation with me. This was her 8th or 9th time to Japan
Her Japanese is pretty good and her English is so-so, but in general we could communicate ok. She really like her dish which looked similar and had the same pickly miso soup. As they say on Iron Chef "This is a very mature flavor...uh...perhaps I will like it more
...when I'm grown up. Ah ha ha"
After friending each other on Line (Asian version of fb mixed with snapchat. Kato and i did this too) I headed back up the mountain. The guy taking tickets looked confused because my temple part of the pass was already removed. I made the universal "going over a hill" gesture with my hand along with an exasperated sigh, and he laughed and let me through. Kurama Onsen was my next stop.
So Onsen can be both naturally occurring or manmade. Kurama's is natural (I believe). First I walked into a building where some other folks went. I put my shoes in a locker and grabbed the key. At the front desk I preaented my ticket and the woman said oh this is for the outdoor onsen. So I headed back out and just up a hill. Same deal but a little smaller. Another quick tutorial, this time on Onsen use:
1. All you need is a towel maybe 100yen
2. Take your shoes off, put them in a locker and keep the key
3. Go into changing room. You can use a locker if you have 100yen as I do. Its like the shopping carts at Aldis, youll get it back. Otherwise, use a basket, and strip neeked and put all but the towel in.
4. Find the shower area, and use it with soap errywhere.
5. Leave towel on a bench or wear it on your head. Dont let it touch the water.
6. Enjoy the onsen.
Things went fine. At step 4 I turn to go to the shower stools and right in front of me walks a fully tatooed Yakuza (mafia). Full dragons and stuff, butt and all down to the ankles. Didn't get a good look at the details cuz naked. There were 2 or 3 more yakuza who joined but I didnt get as "good" of a view. Their tats curled around to their pecs, one of which looked like blue scales. Pretty cool at any rate.
In the Onsen it was crowded-ish but enough room to have a foot or two away from the next person. Two guys next to me were American so I chatted with them for a bit. They were from California and this was their last full day here. There were a couple times where nobody was talking inthe onsen amd it was just quiet for a bit. It was a really pretty area and glad I took the day for it.
On the way back from the train station I stopped at MOS burger. They're close to the guest house, are cheap, and are a distinctly japanese burger chain. The 4 dollar burger was better than my more Japanese lunch, although not great. I think their signature is putting an almost sloppy joe and onion mix on top of each burger. The tomato slice is extra thick, had pickles, and I got one with Jalapenos. Wouldn't get again, but glad I tried it.
I tried to take a before pic but must've missed the button. Picture this but with a mound of nori on top.
I didn't notice until now, but there's something over my shoulder. Tengu perhaps?
I'm assuming that idyllic pic of the town bordering the river is Kifune. Are the fortunes the little pieces of paper tied to the lines on the structure next to the "water shrine"? If not, what is that? Dad showed me pics of Yakuza tattoos - whoa, that had to be impressive! I wonder if the women's side of the onsen is as interesting? (I'm assuming the bathes are segregated - or not?) NOTE: I appreciate the captions under the pics. You realize you are going to get bombarded with questions (from me) when you get home. Just letting you know, now, so you can prepare yourself.
ReplyDeleteYep the structue is where the fortunes are tied.
DeleteThe tat was a suprise bothe just seeing it and because many or even most onsen have a no tatoo rule for the explicit reason of keeping out Yakuza. No problem there I guess. His went from neck to feet. I dont think any curled around front. Guys and girls have separate baths.
Ha! Got in with Firefox. Curse Chrome! Notice that the sign warns against snakes and apparently dangerous worms.
ReplyDelete