Day 5: Hump Day

Yesterday was the hump day of my 10-day trip in Japan. the end of the beginning. the real beginning of the end. it always seems that before the hump day of a trip, it seems your trip will never end, and after the days begin to pass in what feels like only a few hours.

Besides being a hump day, yesterday was a travel day, splitting my day in half between Southern Kyoto and Nara. The first half of the day I was still high from the day before but also anxous and rushed to get to Nara by the early afternoon. I visited a temple with some truly lovely maples but I could have easily skipped it and rushed through and on to my next site. After arriving in Nara for the second half of the day I felt truly homsick for Kyoto and my lovely guesthouse in Gion. I was really quite unsettled most of the day, except for my visit to Fushimi Inarii, which completely redeemed my entire day. It had become one of my top sites to visit while in Kyoto and I think the only one I actually had some tiny bit of knowledge about before I left. The Fushimi Inarri consist of 1000s of large orange Tori Gates (indiviudal Tori gates crop up quite a bit in Japan and are featured in lots of famous photos, i:ll put up a picture later on). I have been getting a little better about asking people to take my picture, and today I decided I would try to build up some karma by asking others if they wanted their picture taken. The funny thing that happened was when i stepped through the first gate, a couple from Madrid asked me if they could take my picture for me, so kind! i replied in spanish and we chatted a bit. we couldn:t find the right setting on my camera, so they took several of me with their camera and offered to email them to me. even kinder!

i will note here that much to everyone`s probable disbelief, i have used my spanish every day i have been in japan, except for the day of my arrival. crazy, huh?!?!

So the funny thing about my visit to the Fushimi Inarri shrine is that i only knew that there were a lot of Tori gates, some were arranged in a tunnel (these are smaller and it is like an orange tunnel), so when i got to the end of the tunnel and saw more, i thought oh! more. so i continued up the mountain. and then there were more. and more. i kept trying to look ahead to see when they would end but somehow the way they are arranged up this pine covered mountain, makes it entirely impossible to see when they will end. it seemed around every bend more appeared. they would end and begin again. i almost stopped several times, anxious to move towards Nara but something inside me, urged me to walk thru ALL the gates, and there were probably only a few more anyway.  i surely did not believe they would go ALLthe way to the top of the mountain. i arrived at what i thought was the end after about 30mins, i stayed here awhile and took many many pictures of the small stone shrines. there is no way to describe this sacred place, so i will post a picture later. around the bend i found more gates. the way from here became very steep. i gave myself a pep talk and soldiered up them at what i thought was quite a good pace until a jogger with HUGE calves passed me, JOGGING up this mountain. whoa!

by now i am sweating and huffing and puffing and determined to get to the top because it now seems they go ALL the way to the top. at the top there is a viewing area where people are sitting and looking out at the city. it is a pretty nice view, i guess. looking to the left there were maybe 50 more stairs leading up to what looked like a shrine. i was not interested in these stairs, but pearing up i saw the glimse of a red maple, i decided to go part way to get a better look. then i decided, okay here i go, all the way. what i found here at the top was truly sacred. the most beuatiful maple tree i had ever seen in my whole life, lying under it the colors were green, yellow, orange, red, deep maroon---all at once. i sat here a long while, smiling up at the tree on occasion and had a snack and rested among the moss covered shrines. i did not leave my coins at the shrine as is typical but under my tree, thanking God for this beautiful site that made my hour long accidental hike up the mountain well worth while.

going down took only about 15mins. when i got there i reached for my sunglasses and realized, ooops! i really could use those glasses but i also kind of like thinking of them sitting up there on the top of the mountain by the tree.