falling words: Autumn & Kurama

Somehow I can't keep track of time here. Technically I know it's November, but it doesn't feel like that. What do you mean it's about one month to Christmas?! Unbelievable. It's the weather, I guess... The autumn foliage has only reached its beautiful peak here, and it's a bit difficult to truly believe that right now home in Finland it's the gloomiest time of the year... rain, sleet, barren trees, leaves turning to mud on the ground... November in Finland is manageable, I think, but it takes some effort. Or, at least it takes candles, good books, warm blankets, tea or hot chocolate, and no need to go out. Some rain is ok, too, gently tapping the window glass, the wet streets glistening in the lamplight, or even sleet and wind, howling behind the said window, but then it is of utmost importance there is no need to go anywhere...

Well. Yes. Back to Japan. Here it's autumn, and a gorgeous autumn, what comes to that. One area that's famous of its autumn colors is Kurama, and I decided I simply have to go to check what ruska is like in Japan. It was quite easy too, for you can go to Kurama by the Eiden railway, which happens to be my local train. (For once it's easy to go somewhere from Shugakuin!!! xD) I made what should have been a perfect plan: I'd take train to Kibune (the previous stop before Kurama), check out the temple there, and then hike to Kurama, admiring the autumn colors on the way. The usual way is to do this hike the other way round, from Kurama to Kibune, but my goal was at the end of it to get to soak at the Kurama onsen. Perfect, right?

Well, it all started fine. Woke up early, caught the train I'd planned (!), arrived to Kibuneguchi. There's a bus service from the station to the town, operating in schedule with the trains, and though it's a very short walk, I figured I'd soon get to walk quite enough and too the bus. Arriving to Kibune I soon spotted the little red bridge from which I knew the hike would begin. Only, something seemed to be off...

Indeed.

I spent a moment swearing at the kami of nature who seem to be conniving against me (first the Jidai matsuri cancelled because of a typhoon, now this - I'd imagine paths don't just collapse and trees don't fall on their own, it takes rain or such to cause that...) In Kurama there was also a photo of the collapsed part.

できません。(◕︿◕)　(できますよ~！)

Oh well. So, after the useless rant against the powers of nature, I climbed up to see the Kifune temple. It is dedicated to kami of water, and there is water gushing pretty much everywhere around. Also, in the Heian times delegations were sent to this place to pray for rain or good weather. In the latter case, a white horse was offered to the shrine, in the case of rain, a black horse.

And then I ended up walking back to the Kibuneguchi station - which wasn't all bad, as it was a lovely road.

At Kurama you could follow the beginning of the hiking path up to the Kurama temple and the Reihoden museum. The starting point:

This Japanese cedar tree is about 800 years old and 53 meters high. (No wonder I couldn't make it fit in my photos.) If you pray to the tree with all your heart, your wish will come true. Remains to be seen.

Zooming in:

Up at Kurama dera:

I wasn't the only one disappointed....

You can ring the bell once to, again, make a wish...

Coming down from the temple I stopped to eat Buddhist vegetarian food at Yoshuji. Loved it (except the soup on the right side that didn't really taste of anything.) I took the first set on the right side of the menu.

And then, to the onsen! This was my first visit ever to a bath like this, and I loved it too. So relaxing, the hot water. At first I thought it's not that hot, really, but after a short moment I was very happy to have the cold wet hand towel to place on my head. A lovely place. Quite small, I think, but then again, I have nothing to compare it to. But that made it just more atmospheric. You couldn't take photos there, of course, but here's a few from the way. It was only a short walk away.