One Day Trip to Arashiyama |
The other day, my friend living in Tokyo came to Osaka on business.
She was free on Saturday (Nov. 20th), so we decided to go to Arashiyama
and Sagano (west part of Kyoto) to see beautiful autumn leaves. |
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We went to Arashiyama by Hankyu train from Osaka. (It takes about 45 minutes from Osaka).
After a few minutes walk from Hankyu Arashiyama station, a beautiful river called “Katsura River” can be seen.
In October, big typhoons hit this area and the river flooded, but it is OK now. |
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| We walked about 5 minutes from Katsura River and arrived at a beautiful temple named “Tenryuji”. |
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We could see beautiful scarlet Japanese maple leaves in the precinct of
the temple.
My friend and I took a lot of photos!!!!! Look! |
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After we enjoyed seeing autumn leaves at Tenryuji, we were a little hungry!!
But I wanted to take my friend to a nice restaurant located at Sagano area (15 to 20 minutes from Tenryuji), so we decided to continue walking.
In order to fill our stomach for the moment, we bought whippy ice cream!!
It looks delicious, isn’t it?? |
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Coffee ice cream??
No!! It’s “Hojicha” ice cream.
Hojicha is roasted tea.
It was delicious. Try it! |
On the way from Arashiyama to Sagano, we found many nice shops.
Many shops sell lovely “Japanesque” things. |
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Look!
We found a lot of tanuki (raccoon dogs) and fukuro (owls) displayed in front of a shop!!
They were lovely!!
Both tanuki and fukuro are considered to be good luck charms in Japan.
They are good for souvenir. |
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| We enjoyed shopping and strolling. |
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We arrived at Nisonin Temple.
We decided to enter the temple (entrance fee 500yen), because this temple
is also famous for beautiful autumn leaves.
This temple was originally built in the 9th century.
It was destroyed during a big battle called “Onin no ran” in the end
of the 15th century but rebuilt 30 years after the war ended. |
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| The main gate was moved from Fushimi castle to the present site in the
17th century by a rich merchant. |
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Finally arrived at my favorite restaurant!! We were hungry!!!
This is “Yudofu” (boiled tofu) restaurant.
Tofu is low in calorie and high in protein, so highly recommended for health-conscious
people. |
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After we enjoyed delicious lunch, we went back to Hankyu Arashiyama station.
On the way back to the station, we found a small shrine.
This shrine is known as “matchmaking” shrine, because a god of love is enshrined.
That’s why there were so many young women!!!!! |
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In the evening, we went to the center part of Kyoto to see “light up” service at some temples and shrines.
We strolled around Gion Area and arrived at Yasaka shrine.
Many lanterns (called Chochin in Japanese) are lighted there.
They were creating fantastic atmosphere. |
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It was Saturday night, so there were so many people everywhere!!!
We wanted to visit Kodaiji temple, because I really wanted to show the
temple to my friend.
However, the temple was very very very crowded (there was a long line in
front of the temple).
So we gave up and visited “Entokuin”.
It is located near Kodaiji temple and this is my favorite place, too.
Entokuin is a house where a famous woman named “Nene” was living.
She was a wife of very famous Shogun “Toyotomi Hideyoshi”. |
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We enjoyed autumn leaves very much!!!
My friend was really happy, because it was first time for her to visit
Kyoto in autumn. |
| November 20, 2004 |
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