Ireland day 1322. Monday 12 May 2025- Kyoto 1

Today’s summary	Woke early again and had traditional Japanese breakfast in the ryokan at 7:30 am. Took a couple of metro trains south to the Mt Inari shrines with thousands of vermillion arches. Climbed to the top and back then train to Koto central station to buy Shinkansen tickets for tomorrow (not cheap!). Walked down to the Toji temple to admire the pagodas. Walk and train back to the ryokan then onsen in the evening and traditional Japanese meal for dinner.
Today’s weather	Overcast but dry and very pleasantly warm. Light south westerly wind. Appx 22c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Mt Inari

Commentary

For some reason, jet lag reared its head again this morning and we were both wide awake by 4 am. Mind you, we were in bed before 10pm last night and we felt like we’d slept well, so it was no great hardship. And anyway, it gave us a couple of hours to relax in our very comfortable accommodation, and to enjoy cups of tea in bed.

We had opted to have a traditional Japanese breakfast in our ryokan this morning, so we were downstairs and ready to eat promptly at 7:30 am. It was certainly a very authentic affair, with the majority of the meal being cooked right in front of us, over hot charcoal, by a dedicated chef. Today we enjoyed roasted vegetables, rice, miso soup, beef and roast fish on a stick. It was certainly quite a spectacle.

Once we had finished eating, we gathered our things and headed out to the nearby Marutamachi station to catch the Karasuma line to Kyoto central station and then the Nara line to Inari . On the second journey, we were right at the front of the train and so had a fabulous driver’s eye view of the tracks in front of us.

Once at Inari, we set off on Kyoto’s most renowned hike. It’s a 4.5km round trip to the top of Inari mountain, up a path enclosed pretty much the whole way in brilliant vermillion arches. It’s a spiritual place, with the arches signifying the boundary between the everyday and the sacred. The first arches appeared several hundred years ago, and it’s certainly an impressive sight despite the hordes of tourists (us included!). But it was surprising how quickly the numbers thinned out as we climbed – so the upper stretches were more or less empty in many parts.

We retraced our steps from the top, then caught the train back to Kyoto central station. We needed to buy tickets for a Shinkansen journey we’re making tomorrow (which we duly did – though they were expensive) and also to go up onto the roof of this massive station to inspect the sky garden.

From the station we walked about 20 minutes to visit the Toji temple, which houses the tallest pagoda in in Japan at well over 50m in height. A very spectacular all-wood edifice, now over 400 years old. After we had had a good look at the temple and the ancillary pagodas, we decided it was time to head back to the ryokan to start preparing for the evening’s activities.

So we walked back to the central station again, then caught the green (Karasuma) line north again and pitched up back at our deluxe accommodation at just after 4pm.

We immediately repaired to the lounge, where we availed ourselves of tea, rice crackers, Japanese cakes and most importantly, sake. Altogether a very relaxing end to the afternoon.

Once the snacking situation was complete, we returned to our room, got showers and changed into our pyjamas. But before dinner tonight, we first had a traditional Japanese bathing session booked, in a private onsen in the ryokan. An amazing experience. If you’re not familiar with the Japanese bathing traditions, you can read up about it but basically it involves soaking in a hot bath for a decent stretch of time, and relaxing completely. Fabulous, once you get used to it.

Afterwards, we had an on-site traditional dinner again, which was essentially a repeat of yesterday. Raw meat and vegetables cooked on charcoals in front of us (there’s a sort of miniature barbecue set into the middle of the dining table), lots of rice, soup and raw egg to dip it all in. You just have to take a deep breath and dive in – but when you do it’s delicious!

Anyway, it’s time to stop now. The new experiences, and the mental effort required to get the best out of being in such an alien place, are quite exhausting. So now we need a bit of time to reflect on everything we’ve seen and done, and start getting ready for tomorrow. Wow! What a day!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Breakfast – a barbecued river fish of some sort, on a stick. Very tasty but a high bone-to-meat ratio	The view from the cab! Everything and everybody is so neat and well organised here

Boars and Monkeys. you don’t get too many of those on the Wicklow Hills	Inside the massive central station in Kyoto. The escalators at the far end take you up to a roof-garden. it was light and airy on a day like today, but it can be pretty bleak in the winter

The Toji temple – it’s enormous – and earthquake-proof, too. The contents included a giant buddha (no photography allowed) which was impressive but in need of a good dusting	Welcome refreshments at the end of the day

Classic view at the entrance to the Inari temple complex