Walking the Kiso Road: Magome to Tsumago

Monday, 21 May 2018

Last breakfast at the Oyama's apartment and some cleaning up, before leaving for Kyoto Eki to catch the train for  Nagano via Nagoya, and then the bus up into the mountains to Magome, where our walking adventure started.  The Nakadendo Road has been used for thousands of years, and connected Kyoto with Edo (Tokyo) in the Edo Period.  Along the way are some 69 post towns where travelers rested, etc., many of which have been restored with narrow, cobbled streets, dark wooden houses with tiled roofs, small shirnes, old stone artifacts, and of course tourists from all over the world.  The Kiso Road is a particular section through the Kiso valley - the most scenic part.

It was a beautiful, clear day when we arrived at Magome, eager to set off with our packs which now seemed excessively heavy,  Wonderful views of Mt. Ena in the distance,  We did not stop to see the museum, eager to start the walk.  Much of the walking was through shady bcypress or bamboo forests, near noisy streams, or along old cobbled paths.  The first third was a serious uphill trek over the Magmoe-toge pass.  We stopped for lunch a a friendly noodle shop before continuing. Every so often there were bells to ring to ward off bears (none seen by ourselves)!  The hike turned out to be quite strenuous for us, but we did go the distance to Tsumago, arriving at our Ryokan (Daikichi Minshuku) around 5.  We  layed out your own futon, changed into a yukata, enjoyed a much needed soak in a wonderful warm tub make of cypress (took some Advil for aching muscles!) and had a lovely meal of many small dishes including delicious small mushrooms, a smoke trout,  tempura of beautiful vegetables with tea flavored salt, a few roasted crickets, a bit of duck, a little sashimi and a dish of delectable soft tofu eaten with a spoon, which is most but not all of what was on the tray!  All the while we are sitting on the floor in the most ungainly, un-Japanese fashion with our legs stuck out in front of us.  There were other guests from Spain, UK, and Australia.  Bed felt wonderful, hard as the futons are when bones are aching.  We agreed it had been a fine day, and hope to explore Tsumago in the morning.

Lunch time

Along the road

Mt. Ena

"Ring bell hard against bears"

Magome

At the bus stop in Nakatusgawa

Nara with Hisato san and Kuniko san

Sunday, 20 May 2018

A clear and cool day.  We set off for Nara where we were met by Hisato Harada, one of Win's students, the oldest one.  He and his wife have a lovely house and small Japanese garden, and they treated us to a long, leisurely and excellent meal, including one dish of rice, tuna and shrimp, another of boiled eggplant, chicken, leek and sesame, soy, ginger dressing, soup with delicious little clams, among other dishes.  Wish I had the recipes.  We exchanged many stories and pictures of grandchildren.  Their daughter is married to a Peruvian and lives in Peru.  Also spoke Yosuke Tomatsu by phone.  He works with traumatized children in a school near the area of the Tsunami. 
After lunch we drove up into the southern hills of Kyoto to see a very ancient temple, Joruri-ji, built in 1157 by a small lake, containing 9 Buddha statues, lords of the Western Paradise.  A very peaceful end of the day.
By 6 we said good bye and returned to our little apartment, organizing our belongings in order to carry as little as possible on the trek and send the suitcase on to Tokyo.  It has been our good fortune to be in the Oyama's apartment, and we feel we could almost settle into our life again in Kyoto!

Pagoda at Joruri-ji Templer

Hisato san, Win and Kumiko san

Lake at Joruri-Ji

A Day with Akiko

Saturday, 19 May, 2018


After a rainy night, the day is cool and blustery but no wind.  We met Akiko san at Sanjo and she was beyond excited.  She took us to a wonderful soba restaurant for lunch: Honke Owariya (established in 1465!!!) (address: 322 Kurumaya-ho, Nijo Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto).  There we had cold soba with about 8 different add-ins, the soba in layers so each time it could be flavored slightly differently.  Great fun. After lunch we decided a walk in Higashiyama would be the best way to catch up so we ended up in the gardens of Chion-in Temple, which for some reason I had never visited.  As always, calm and beautiful, and very bright spring green.  We had a good long walk along the paths, away from the large tourist crowds.  Akiko is working hard both as a teacher and a clinician, and seems to like her work.  She is also preparing Chopin for a piano recital! Then on to a sweet shop for some tea and coffee, and a trip to the department store for some wine.  We know she was sad for us to go and of course we hope she will visit us one day.  We had dinner with the Oyamas in their apt as Kaya was still under the weather but much improved.  They catered a lovely bento box meal, but we know they were exhausted.  We wish we could have spoken or played more with Satoki but language is denintely more of a barrier than it was when he was little.


We send love to everyone.

Akiko san and Win

Garden at Chion-in Temple

Soba noodle lunch

A Day in Arashiyama with the Oyama's

Friday, 18 May 2018

We set out in the morning with Yasu sensei and Mayo san for Arashiyama.  They were quite exhausted due to Kaya's being sick all night with Noro virus.  She was able to stay with her grandmother, so in spite of all these goings on, we spent the entire day on an outing with the Oyama's.  Weather exceedingly hot and muggy!  Arriving at Arashiyama, we rented bikes, but between my wobbly and insecure riding and the crowds of people and cars, soon parked them and walked through the beautiful green-grey bamboo forest with a light rain of tan bamboo leaves.  On to the  mountain home and garden of Denjiro Okochi, one of the most famous silent film actors in Japan.  A handsome man, his persona was fierce, with a huge fake scare across his right eye and cheek.  The home is a beautiful and peaceful retreat with lovely gardens and a tea house where we enjoyed matcha and a sweet,  It was our second visit here, and it always seems especially enjoyable to see a familiar place anew.  We listened to the gong from the temple across the river (Daihikaku Senkoji) and walked along the Oi River, watching the boats and then finding a quiet place for lunch.  Zaru Soba (cold soba) tasted delicious.  Following this we took a short boat ride, availing ourselves of the snacks being sold on the river . (beer, squid, mochi, etc).  Finally we walked back to the bike parking place, and set off, myself with a little more confidence.   Ended up at the Seiryo-ji Temple, a Buddhist temple from the 5th cen. with a famous Buddha that was found to have silk internal organs inside.
Biked back, passing Basho's cottage.  Then back to home.  We found the lovely little restaurant (Chocana) recommended by Mayo and had an excellent meal, even though there was no menu in English.  Every course was artfully served, including salad, soup, appetizer and excellent roast beef with black sesame sauce.  A good way to end the day. 

Oi River

Boat on the OI River

Oyama sensei and Mayo san

Okochi

Seiryo-ji Temple

A Reunion with Nami sensei

Thursday, 17 May 2018

A hot day in Kyoto.  We met Nami sensei (our Japanese language teacher from our long stay) for an outing together,  She is in her 6th year of getting a PhD in some aspect of educational philosophy and has 3 more years to go.  In the meantime she teaches classes in pedagogy etc at several universities.  Interesting to discuss with her the issues of conflict and learning independent thinking in the context of Japanese education which stresses teacher neutrality. Anyway, we had a wonderful day even if we were ashamed to have forgotten most of our Japanese lessons.

We started out for Uji (the tea producing area by the Uji River), admired the sculpture of Murakami Shikibu (author of Tale of Gengi), and walked up to the magnificent imperial house Byodiin, dating to the 11th century and gloriously restored.  Of course, unlike our first visit, we had to share the place with about a million school kids on their outing.  But it was as alway magnificently graceful and stately as it overlooked the pond.  The golden phoenixes on the roof keep and eye on all the goings on.  Inside the highlight are the wonderful, fluid, expressive statues of musicians and dancers, which we remembered from our first journey.  After we had a nice lunch with noodles, rice with tea and miso, etc,  Then on to see another shrine, and get some iced chai before riding back to Kyoto,  Win was exhausted and went home to nap, and Nami and I went to the National Museum to see an exhibit of Iko no Taiga, an Edo era artist of great acclaim.  His work filled all three floors, a bit overwhelming but wonderful to see.  Apparently he was a child prodigy in calligraphy before he became an artistt.
We continued walking to the ...shrine, and finally met up with Win, walked some more to an Okinawan restaurant in the vicinity of Kyoto University for a great meal, of which the crunchy, beady seaweed was particularly memorable.  With the very last strength my legs had to give, we made our way back home.  We had a wonderful time and agreed that Nami and Val should definitely meet up some day!

Ike no Taiga

Lady Murakami Shikibu

Byodoin

W&B by the Uji River

A slow homecoming

Wednesday 16 May 2018

Somewhat fitful sleep, but awoke to a very warm summer-like day (high 80's).  Set out for Nishiki Market, the surest way to feel you are in Japan immediately.  Always the strange pickles, glazed octopi on sticks looking like bizarre lollipops, spices, tea, noodles, and of course "dog's cookies."  If we had had more energy we would have feasted on take out food, but fatigue set in early, so we found a (so-so) place for lunch.  I did a little more walking to my favorite canvas store (Shinzaburo Hanpu) while Win rested in a shady place near the Kamo gawa.  Then back for a rest, out to dinner (couldn't find the Italian restaurant recommended by Mayo so ended up at another so-so neighborhood place).  Probably too tired to care.

Sea Urchins for sale

Win with his favorite cucumber on a stick

Gion

Return to Japan at last

Monday and Tuesday May 14&15, 2018

At last we have come back to Japan, after a 3 year hiatus.  Our journey from Boston on JAL nonstop to Tokyo was less painful that usual, owing to having bulkhead seats and being served plenty of hot green tea and sochu.  We transferred to a domestic flight to Osaka and were met by our old friend Oyama sensei, who brought us to his lovely apartment where we are staying.Wed is a day for relaxing and doing some errands related to our coming Trek on the Kiso Road.  Attached is a photo from a dirty plane window at dusk of Fuji San to put us in the mood.

Sending love