Tourist Tick-off…: Kyoto Part 2 [25×09]

Tourist Tick-off…: Kyoto Part 2 [25×09]

♫ Title Music ♫ I’m continuing my exploration of Kyoto by 
exploring some of the biggest of the tourist sights in the area from Bamboo Forests to the Gion 
district of the city, including going beyond where the tourists stop, such as slogging all the way to 
the top of a mountain, through a 1000 torii gates. ♫ Title Music ♫ Located to the west of central 
Kyoto is the district of Arashiyama, the area is home to Japanese macaque monkeys 
and the Moon Crossing Bridge or Togetsukyo, which has crossed the Katsura River 
here since at least the 9th century. However, its most famous attraction, and 
the one that draws thousands of tourists out of the centre of Kyoto 
to here is the Bamboo Forest. This is a natural bamboo forest consisting 
mostly of moso bamboo set around several paths that wind their way through the dense 
foliage of trunks and wispy leaves at the top. The arrow straight trunks shooting metres 
up into the sky topped with foliage that gently moves backwards and forwards in 
the breeze has been identified by the Japanese Ministry of the environment 
as part of the soundscape of Japan. In total the bamboo forest occupies 
an area of 16 Square Kilometres, though most tourists only see a small 
fraction of this wandering through the carefully laid out paths, all attempting to 
capture that perfect photo, which – unless you’re willing to be here at dawn – is going 
to include several hundred other tourists. Whilst the almost perfect tunnels of Bamboo do 
make for a spectacular photo, it’s an equally awe-inspiring sight to look up towards the canopy 
as the bamboo bends to meet it’s counterpart from the opposite side of the path, and those views 
don’t include the vast tourist numbers around you. A lot of the tourists visiting are 
on a quick stop, a walk up the path, turn round head back either to the tour 
coach or back on the JR train into Kyoto, but there is much more to see in the area. Just a short walk from the edge of the Bamboo 
forest, and a quick hike up through the town park you reach a viewpoint that looks down 
into the Rankyo Gorge of the Katsura River. At this point the river is relatively 
fast flowing, but it’s still navigable for small boats heading to the buildings 
nestled close to the river’s edge, and the temple located high 
above them on the hillside. Technically the Katsura river doesn’t start until 
you’re past the Moon Crossing Bridge closer to the centre of Arashiyama, when the Hozu the river that 
was running through the gorge and Oi rivers join, though most maps call the Hozu the 
Katsura much further back upstream. With any river in a tourist location there’s 
bound to be a boat tour and Arashiyama is no different with a number of options from the 
sedate to the adrenaline filled available. Small Yakatabune or Japanese House Boats 
ply their trade along a short section of the river entering into the bottom end of 
the gorge whilst larger boats start much further up the Hozu river and travel through the 
whitewater rapids between Kameoka and Arashiyama, in both cases the boats are directed 
and, when the water flow isn’t assisting, powered by punting, though on a significantly 
less sedate style than a puny Oxbridge punt. I opted to take a ride on the Yakatabune, on a 30 minute round trip into the mouth 
of the gorge and then back to town. ♫ Music ♫ The Japanese House Boats are just that – a 
boat with a roof, you take your shoes off as you board and then sit on cushions 
on tatami mats in the main part of the boat whilst your captain slowly punts you up 
stream, picking their path past their fellow house boat captains as well as the slightly less 
predictable tourists in rowboats and pedalos. ♫ Music ♫ Japanese traders, not one to miss an opportunity, 
even allow you the chance to pick up something to snack on from the kiosk boat that sails up 
to meet you as you make your way upstream. ♫ Music ♫ The most dramatic part of the tour is as the 
boat enters the start of the gorge and then makes a turn round a large rock in the middle of 
the river to start heading back downstream again. Sometimes you even get very 
very close to the rock. [SOUND OF BOAT SCRAPING ROCK] From Arashiyama it’s back into the centre of Kyoto 
and then out towards the Southwest to the suburb of Fushimi to visit perhaps the most photographed 
part of the city at the Fushimi Inari Shrine. The Fushimi Inari-taisha is the head shrine 
of the Kami Inari, Kami being the deities, divinities, spirits, mythological, 
spiritual or natural phenomena that are venerated in Shintoism and Inari being 
the Kami of Foxes, fertility, rice, tea, sake, agriculture and industry as well as 
general prosperity and worldly success. It’s one of the principal kami of Shintoism, 
so naturally this is a popular site. But perhaps it’s most famous for the Torii gates, or more importantly the number of vermillion 
(or red-orange) painted Torii gates that line the path up the Inari Mountain 
which the temple sits at the base of. A Torii is a traditional Japanese gate, most 
commonly found at the entrance to a shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition 
from the regular world into the sacred, it’s also believed that Kami 
travel through the gates. As Merchants worship Inari as the 
patron of business they are keen to display their intent and many 
businesses have donated torii gates to the complex, with the names of the 
business written on the back of the gates. Given how popular this is its unsurprising 
that the number of gates across the whole of the shrine complex to the top of the 
mountain and back down is around 10,000. At the base of the shrine 
complex around 1,000 gates have been placed together in serried 
rank creating a tunnel like effect. This area, the Senbon Torii or Thousand 
Torii Gates, is once again popular with the Instagram crowd and another place 
where you need to be up long before dawn if capturing 1,000 torii gates without a 
similar number of tourists in shot is your aim. The main block of gates takes 
you up to the Okusha a place of worship where there are Omokaru 
stone and fox prayer pictures. At this point many tourists take the route 
back through the adjacent tunnel of torii gates and back towards the main shrine, but many 
continue the walk through the next set of torii gates which take you to a rest area where you 
can make a decision. Here most tourists take the quick route back to the main shrine, but 
from here on you can also start the climb up Mount Inari towards the summit and past the 15 
or so smaller shrines and temples on the way up. From here on as you climb the numbers 
start to drop off quite dramatically either from not wanting to do the 
climb, or from the two hours required to complete the full circuit being too 
much for a lot of people’s itineraries, so from here on it’s a much fairer 
split between tourists and devotees. The first steep climb up a flight 
of stone steps takes you to the Kumataka Shrine located by the Shin-ike Pond. Then it’s another climb up through the continuing 
serried ranks of Torii gates to the point where there’s a last chance to return back to the main 
shrine via a path that runs around the edge of the complex, or you can commit and press 
on towards the summit. The route back to the main shrine is also the path you take on 
your way back down as you exit the mountain. Just before the halfway point up the 
mountain you reach a small observation platform where you can stop to 
catch your breath and take in the views over towards the city 
before you continue the climb. Shortly after here you reach the crossroads where 
the path splits into a circular route allowing you to go either clockwise or anticlockwise round 
the path to the summit and then return here. There are also views from here, and 
this is the point where most tourists stop before returning as the path up to 
through and down from the summit is under tree cover the whole way, so there are 
no further views over the city to be had. From here on it’s another 20 
minutes or so to the summit, though with the rapidly dwindling number 
of other people around it’s also the most tranquil and beautiful part of the route 
as you pass through multiple shrine sites dotted along the path, all the while still 
walking under the thousands of torii gates. ♫ Music ♫ Such as the Ganrikisha Shrine 
with it’s Fox fountain. ♫ Music ♫ Or the large complex at the Chojasha shrine ♫ Music ♫ But always climbing ♫ Music ♫ And always surrounded by torii 
gates, even high up the mountain ♫ Music ♫ And several false summits ♫ Music ♫ Before finally reaching the Kamisha shrine 
located at the summit of the mountain. Though what comes up must come down and 
from here it’s another 20 minutes back to the Crossroads and from there 
40 more down to the main shrine. From Fushimi it’s back into the centre of Kyoto 
and over to one of it’s most famous districts – Gion, famous for being one of the most exclusive 
and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan. And infamous for being the site of some 
of the worst overtourism and poor tourist behaviour on the planet with plenty 
of images and videos of packed streets and tourists trying to photograph 
the geisha’s against their will. It’s gotten so bad that many of the 
streets are now either off-limits to non-residents or there are significant 
– ¥10,000 fines (about £50, €60, $70 in May 2025) just for taking 
photos down certain closed streets. The area originated as an entertainment district 
around the 15th century around the Yasaka Shrine, built to accommodate the needs of 
travellers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become 
the exclusive geisha district that it is today, and is still home 
to a significant number of Geishas. Geishas are female Japanese performing artists 
and entertainers trained in traditional Japanese performing arts styles such as dance, music 
and signing. Their distinct appearance is characterised by a long kimono, traditional 
hairstyles and almost white oshiori make-up. The district has been declared a national 
historical preservation district and the city has undertaken a number of 
restorative projects to enhance the beauty and historical authenticity of 
the area, including relocating overhead utilities underground, so the vista 
looks close to how it would have done, with the wooden houses gently rolling down 
the slopes of the hills, centuries ago. ♫ Title Music ♫ Next time, I hit the temples 
of Kyoto, exploring the golden The gigantic And the gardens ♫ Title Music ♫

I’m continuing my exploration of Kyoto by visiting some of the top tourist sights that the city has to offer from a Bamboo forest to a sacred mountain.

Gion

Arashiyama: Bamboo Forest
Arashiyama: Park
Arashiyama: Yakata-Bune (https://arashiyama-yakatabune.com)
Fushimi: Fushimi Inari Temple (https://inari.jp)
Fushimi: Senbon Torii (https://inari.jp)

Another Kyoto – http://www.kyototourism.org

Part 1 [Kyoto] – https://youtu.be/TzYUileediQ
Part 2 [Kyoto] – https://youtu.be/KuP7dG6Xnp4
Part 3 [Kyoto] – https://youtu.be/JBOYklsCTS4
Part 4 [Tokyo] – https://youtu.be/Uw9JP3R_zrk
Part 5 [Tokyo] – https://youtu.be/-YhcPwIDFy8
Full Long form video – https://youtu.be/-xDvLazMEOA

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Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:39 Arishiyama: Bamboo Forest
2:46 Arishyama: Rankyo Gorge Viewpoint
3:21 Arishiyama: Kastura River
4:24 Arishiyama: Yakatabune
7:15 Fushimi: Fushimi Inari Shrine
7:50 Fushimi: Senbon Torii
15:37 Gion
17:43 Next Time
17:59 Outro

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