Monday 3^rd April 2017

Up early to get ahead of the crowds at Arashiyama. Walked along the river and then uphill to the bamboo grove. Brides having photographs taken, women in colourful kimonos everywhere. There are supposed to be monkeys in this area according to the warning signs, but we didn’t see any. Despite the hour, there were hordes of people within the grove, taking photos and lots of selfies.

Next was a drive across town to Fushimi Inari shrine. 

This is the shrine that has seemingly endless arcades of orange tori (shrine gates) spread across the wooden slopes of Mt Inari. Throughout the shrine are stone foxes, considered a messenger of the god of cereals. The key in the fox’s mouth is for the rice granary. The fox is seen as sacred, capable of possessing humans – entering under the fingernails.

Last spot for the day was Kiyomizu-dera, again a very crowded area and we were just thinking about missing it when we found a parking spot. Driving uphill through a thick crowd, someone called out to us. It was Adrian, a former employee. Such a small world. He noticed and was admiring the car when he realised it was us.

We happened upon an event at this temple. Coming down the steep steps first of all was a troupe of conch players, then several uniformed men tapping staffs, then women in orange robes and half masks. Finally a very large dragon came down bucking and weaving. The whole procession made its way down the narrow street. On our way out the dragon was on its way back up to the temple. It roared towards us as we were standing outside waiting for the troupe to pass. 

Parking for this short period was $20 and it was a self service machine. It was all in Japanese and with a little help from a local we managed to feed the machine all the coins we had (it didn’t take notes which is unusual here). The government certainly does not encourage car driving as tolls and parking are very costly.

Dinner was shabu-shabu, where you cook very thin slices of meat in a heated pan at your table.