Day 2: Southern Kyoto

After a quick breakfast at the same buffet close to the apartment, we rented bicycles again despite a rainy forecast. Martin successfully got us to Toji, a massive temple in southern Kyoto. We (Martin) had read that there was occasionally a flea market on the temple grounds on Sundays, and were pleased to find it when we arrived.

At Toji

The wares being sold ranged from bizarre to mundane, including dolls' heads, kimonos, and thousands of china bowls and plates.

Wares 

We were able to find a few gifts for family and friends, resorting to playing charades with vendors in order to bridge the language gap. 

Pleased with our purchases, we packed our findings into our backpacks and headed for Fushimi Inari, the most famous Shinto shrine in Kyoto. The ride from Toji to Fushimi Inari was very beautiful, as we navigated the narrow roads of tourist-free residential Kyoto. The only complaint was a bridge whose bike path was extremely narrow, requiring Jedi-focus to not fall over and into the river below. Remember this bridge, it is going to make a reappearance.

Buying sushi en route to Fushimi Inari

Once we arrived at Fushimi Inari, we dropped our bicycles off at the bicycle parking lot and sat down on a bench to eat the sushi we'd purchased along the way. Right in front of us was a massive orange torii, in front of which tourists posed for pictures. We felt it start to lightly rain, and paused for a moment to contemplate whether we were really going to hike the 2km up the mountain in the rain. We decided yes, that we hadn't come all the way to Kyoto to wimp out, and took our umbrellas out. (Note: upon reading this, Martin said that he would like to clarify that he always intended to climb the mountain, and that any hesitation was happening only in my head).

The entrance to Fushimi Inari

As is turns out, the rain only added to the experience of climbing mount Inari, up steep steps and through torii as we made our way through the mossy green forest. 

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Fushimi Inari is a Shinto shrine. Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan, in which people worship spirits known as kami. We kept seeing statues of foxes in various mildly threatening poses, and learned that the fox is one of the most venerated spirits in Shinto, able to possess people by entering through their fingernails. 

With the fox kami

The climb rapidly became exhausting, as evidenced by the lessening number of fellow tourists trekking alongside us. Finally, after about an hour and a half of climbing, we made it to the top. Then, as if on cue, the deluge started. The rain was coming down hard and we quickly stopped taking pictures and started making sure our cameras stayed dry. 

We started heading down the mountain and naturally came to a cross roads--two paths seemed to head down the mountain. Martin selected the most interesting one, which had elevated gravel to allow a wheelchair to be pushed up the mountain. 

Wheelchair path

We followed this path down for a while only to find ourselves completely alone. Again, as if on cue, the rain seemed to double in intensity. We immediately stopped and put on ponchos that we still had from Hayim and Esther's wedding in Houston and made sure our clothes were covered. I insisted we turn back, and Martin (recalling a certain hike in which he had led friends astray in Israel) agreed. 

Lost!

Once we found the correct path, we were surprised to see a girl in a full kimono outfit (socks and wooden sandals) climbing Fushimi Inari in the rain. We tried to come up with a reason why she might have done that, and later asked Ryoko, but she was just as surprised as we were.

We finally emerged from Fushimi Inari, completely soaked, only to have to deal with the problem of our rental bicycles, which were currently sitting in the bicycle parking lot being battered by the rain. With only two hours remaining to return the bikes and the sky showing no sign of clearing any time soon, we decided to bike back to the rental store. It was at this point that I decided to abandon all hopes of keeping my hair dry and allowed it to become something like a wet mop on top of my head, which Martin pulled back into a wet mop bun before we mounted our bikes. 

About to bike in the rain

I prefer not to think about what we looked like biking back to the rental store, with our giant yellow and white ponchos draped over our backpacks, making us look like giant, dripping hunchbacks on tiny bicycles swerving between umbrellas on the streets of Kyoto. The worst decision of all was crossing that narrow bridge in this getup, silently praying to whatever Shinto kami guarded this bridge to please let us make it over alive. 

But, all's well that ends well! We made it back to the store despite the violent downpour, totally exhausted. Martin passed out at 7 pm and would not be woken up.