Kyoto, April 20th
I had always planned to go to Kyoto or Nara on Monday but actually on Monday morning I was not sure and decided then and there that I would. All this thinking resulted in getting to Kyoto a little late, at 12am, and considering all the temples and shrines have opening hours to 5pm or 6pm, I had to move fast.
From when I read the guidebook Inari Taisha had struck such a chord with me that I knew I could not miss it, even though location-wise it was totally out of my way because all the guidebooks suggest that if you only have one day for Kyoto, you should go to the north-east part where there are the shrines and Gion and so on. But Inari Taisha is in the south-east, which meant going from Kyoto Station to there, then back and from the station to the shrines in the NE.
I never understood Kyoto's transport system :P. As opposed to Osaka where the subway-net gets you to most if not all places you need to go, Kyoto has two subway lines, local railway, JR line(s), buses and who knows what more. Being totally unable to figure those things out, I was determined to walk. Interesting idea as it turned out :D.
So along Kawaramachi-dori and over the Kamo-gawa I went, again in possession of a streetname-less map and not sure if I was going the right way.



The street I actually had to take is the one right behind the rails but of course I went further, since the mouth of the street was very narrow, I was unsure if it was the one on the map (on Japanese maps it always is! now I know this fact). Went down Kuojo-dori (probably), I thought it might have been a shrine but since the maps don't show one there, I think


and ended up at Sennyu-ji which was the wrong shrine :P, I was so certain I had to see Inari Taisha that I turned around immediately and backtracked, keeping the roof of Tofuku-ji as a compass on my left.
And then I walked for a horribly long time, I thought the street would never end and was almost sure I was taking the wrong street and I'd never find Inari Taisha and all this walking was for nothing and I was just wasting precious time. I was ready to turn back when I after a slight corner in the street I saw banners and pennants with a foxes on the housefronts and roof-edges, so I knew I was at the right place, despite all fears.

Inari Taisha has the path under red torii gates that gets put on a lot of photobooks about Japan. First you are in the sanctuary and then get to the gates.
Those gates go up in more or less a straight line to a level area where you can get a view of Kyoto and from there it forms a loop, I assume around the mountain, where there are almost no torii gates but time from time there are mazes of little shrines decorated with miniature torii gates and lots of stone foxes. You won't believe what small mazes they are, there is the path that takes you to all the shrines but from afar it looks like it is impossible to even walk between the mass of those.
I did the whole loop too, walking, walking and walking, it was very calming since there were more people until the level place where the path makes the huge loop, a lot don't even take the loop I think, they stop there and go back. So most of the time I was alone on the part of the path I saw.
Also from time to time the path has an eating-place on the side of it but I was so intent on climbing that I did not eat a bite.
Even the weather that had not been good when I got off the train cleared a little on the mountain, so it was less bleak than it had been that morning.
My mood had not been good that morning either, there was the weather and then I was worrying over the double-cheeseburger-situation (found a nice name for it) and I was not sure I was even on the right streets and I could not still make head or tail out of Kyoto and that day I did feel a little lonely getting probably-lost on my own so on and so on. Therefore I was feeling down until I got to Inari Taisha but the walk/climb on the mountain lifted the spirits a lot.



The last picture is from coming down and taking a new pic at the level part.:)
From the stalls at Inari Taisha I bought a few omiyage for family and friends and two suzu (bells)...felt I was not making enough noise when I walked :P:P.
It had taken a while to take the round around the mountain, it was 4pm and I knew that I could not manage to see a lot more of Kyoto, decided to check out Kiyomizu-dera as the second place in Kyoto. Had to hurry because had I walked, I'd have never made it in time, so took the ?local line to Kyoto Station...because this did not go closer to Kiyomizu and I still did not feel like figuring out the thing to take so I walked again.
That was a long walk again. I think I took the Karasuma-dori then turned to Gojo-dori and from there to Higashioji-dori and finally up the rise to Kiyomizu.
I had to delete a lot of pictures I took that day since they were all so blurry, lots of good ones from Inari got deleted and I left a few unfocussed ones just for memory-reference. Kiyomizu suffered more since I took less photos there being so tired from the long trek there.


And then I began to walk back...I still have no idea how I made it back since I was pretty much dead, I was able to be surprised "oh, did I really come through here before", it was really rough. I had also been so intent on covering the distances and not feeling the brightest so I had not eaten anything during all the time. Then I was so tired I did not have any energy to eat.
Somehow I made it back to the station, somehow...and on to the train and dragged myself to buy something from the FamilyMart at the corner of the street before crashing at the hotel. Ate a little and then reported my trip to my friend, I remember I got very philosophical (when I am tired or feeling down I get like that) about Kyoto and how there were too many gaijin tourists and how I liked Osaka more and so on and so on..:D. I must have sounded very weird and almost ranting, although he said it was interesting to read...I'd say more like boring or creepy :D:D:D.

So now I had only 2 days to go...and I was getting sad that I had to go.