Day 15: Mt Kurama and Kōdaiji temple

October 31, 2023

This morning I moved out of my hostel dorm into a private room for the night. It's really nice to have some space and quiet after spending a week in hostels. Hostels are a really great way to make friends while traveling, and I've met a lot of cool people who I've enjoyed hanging out with, but as someone who derives peace from solitude, it was a bit exhausting.

I started my day with a working breakfast of hummus toast topped in zucchini, prosciutto, and parm, which was delicious. I've found that Japan isn't super big on raw vegetables, and I've been missing the greens a bit so it was nice to have some veggies.

I decided it was time to get out of the cities and the crowds so I decided to go for a hike at Mount Kurama, about an hour away by train from Kyoto. It was a beautiful train ride through the fall foliage.

At the end of the train you are greeted by Tengu, the master of Kurama (a statue with a very large nose). Tengu is a legendary creature in the Shinto belief. It is said to shed light on heaven and earth, and is disruptive of demons and war.

I took a cable car to nearly the top of the mountain where the Kurama-dera temple is located. According to Shinto belief, 6 million years ago Mao-son (the great king of the conquerors of evil and the spirit of the earth) descended upon Mt. Kurama from Venus to save mankind. It has protected all living things on earth since.

On the other side of the mountain I found a really delicious restaurant, where I sat overlooking the river. I got a tofu meal, where they put a pot on my table with a candle under it, after 10 minutes the candle went out and my tofu was done cooking. They brought me rice, fish, a savory dipping sauce, and a bunch of really delicious things that I cannot even begin to recognize, as well as a dessert of mango, pear, lycee, with some sort of pear jelly. It was so nice and the staff were so kind and lovely.

I continued walking back to the train station enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way.

By the time I got back to town the sun was barely beginning to set, so I decided to make my way towards the temples, making my way back towards my hostel.

I wandered through the tight winding streets enjoying the parks and temples and architecture along the way and finally made it to Kodaiji-Temple. In the fall it is lit up at night and it was so gorgeous. Jodaiji is a Zen Buddhust temple founded in 1605by Kita no Mondokoro in memory of her dead husband. It was really magical to see the red and golden leaves of the maples lit and reflected in the ponds at night, and wander through the bamboo forest sparking with twinkle lights and hearing the crickets sing, there was also a beautiful light show projected on some weeping willows and a temple and it was set to music and really beautiful.