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I took a ride out to the mountains in the south-west of Kyoto, where I'd not been before. Here's a summary...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/5, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bamboo
lots of bamboo

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/3200 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Trash
striking it rich on a slot machine dumped with lots of other garbage off the side of the road

I'd headed toward a road that looked like it wound up to the top of a mountain that should provide a commanding vista, but it turns out that the road has been closed to public traffic for the last 10 years. The road-closed gate was a perfect spot to dump your trash, apparently, because there was plenty all around. Sigh.

I had another mountain road in mind, but had to dip back into civilization to get to it...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Bamboo
( really, there was a lot of bamboo in these mountains )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Old Farmstead
now encircled by suburbia

(It was very hazy with flat, dull light, and it was difficult to coax any life out of these pictures. This one, in particular, is just dull, but it shows an old, really pleasant Japanese farmstead house and storage building, so here it is.)

When I came across an area with houses like this, strong feelings of nostalgia suddenly washed over me, and I remember that I had been in this area, and on that now-closed road, on my motorcycle in the early 1990s. Twice, I think.

I remember that the second time I took a friend or a date or something, but I don't remember who. I do remember stopping on one of the winding cutbacks that offered a nice view, and chatted with a driver who had also stopped. And I remembered coming into this area of old-style farmsteads.

I was sort of confused for a while by the strong nostalgia, wondering what it was that I was not quite remembering, until I eventually figured out that the memory was simply one of my youth. Fifteen or so years have passed since I last drove this mountain road.... the same me and the same road, but so much has changed. Having needed reading glasses for the first time last week probably has left me somewhat nostalgic for my eyesight.

Anyway, I headed a bit further south, then cut into the mountains on the next road that would take me into them...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — ¹/2500 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rural Mountain Farming

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
House on “Reclaimed” Mountainside
( I'm not sure really what the proper phrase is )

Somewhere along here I realized that the now-closed road to the top of the mountain was/is a dead end, but my memories were descending from it, so I realized that the road I was on now was the one I was on all those years ago.

Nothing at all seemed familiar, though.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Did I Mention Bamboo?

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stone Thingies
They look sort of like grave markers, but I have the feeling that they're more likely related to something Buddhist

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 26 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/10, ISO 5600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lotsa' Steps Going Up

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/14, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nice Views
or, at least, they would be on a less-hazy day

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/3.2, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Random Mountain Waterfall
and mini shrine/temple tabernacle-like thing

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Caged Life-Sized Wooden Demon
Unfortunately, I didn't think to throw beans at him

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/4, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lots and Lots of Steps
hundreds of meters of steps

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/10, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Views, More Haze

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Splendid Vista-Enjoying Tea-Sipping Hut
at least it was long ago

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 26 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/8, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Temple Building
on a flat spot carved into the side of the mountain

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/10, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rain-Gutter Chain Thingy
a lower-cost, lower-maintenance version of this

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Last Rays of the Sun
on ceder, I think
( most of the day, I didn't know there was a sun, so it was nice to see some )

It was getting late and the sun was dipping below the top of the mountain (still two hours prior to sunset proper; the mountain is steep) and I was about to head home, but just before I did, I came across the cutback I had remembered stopping at. Nothing else in the mountain seemed familiar at all, but upon leaving the mountain, the view of the old Japanese suburbia again brought nostalgia.

Anyway, heading back down...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Disturbed Bamboo

A large area of bamboo below the road level was like this, as if a massive flood of water had wreaked havoc with it some time in the not too distant past. There were a lot of streams in these mountains, and the occasional dam, so the flash-flood idea seems reasonable.

And then not too far away...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Series of Dams
The one in the back is massive, but far enough away to look small

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Touch of Sun
and some kind of tall, straight, segmented grass

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ah, Civilization Again
30 minutes later I was home in downtown Kyoto