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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm cropped — ¹/800 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Grinding It Out
Running stairs at the Tanukitanisan Fudouin Temple, Kyoto Japan
狸谷山不動院 (京都市)

The guy in the photo above was finishing his 8th trip from the bottom, a round trip that takes about 8 minutes. He told me that he intended to do ten round trips, but said it in a way that implied that he knew he'd never make it.

I was in north-east Kyoto this morning to pick up a cake for Fumie's dad's birthday, at a shop that sells a Japanified green-tea tiramisu. Scouting the location on Google Maps I noticed that the road it was on wound up into the mountains, ending at a temple, so I popped over on my scooter to check it out.

Past some parking lots at the end of the road was the temple...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tanukitanisan Fudouin Temple
狸谷山不動院

“Tanukitanisan” means “Tanuki valley mountain”, with tanuki being a kind of animal between a raccoon and a dog. Tanuki have an odd place in Japanese culture, about which you can read an earful in the “Tanuki” Wikipedia entry (and slightly less delicately, in this Alice Gordenker “What the Heck is That?” Japan Times column). You can see a lot of ugly tanuki statues — there are no other kind of tanuki statue — around the base of the monument above.

But something told me that this temple was most importantly related to sports. I gathered this from the large group of high-school baseball players milling about in full uniform, and from this set of monuments between the main temple-name monument and the entrance stairs...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/6.3, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sports Monuments

The big gravestone-looking monument with a tiger engraving commemorates the Hanshin Tigers baseball team's league championship in 2003, while the pillar next to it is a memorial monument for Yoshio Yoshida, one of their famous players in the 50s and 60s, and later a (relatively) successful team manager. Despite the “memorial” nature of the memorial, Mr. Yoshida is still alive and well.

Anyway, I started up the long winding path...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/6.3, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Main Entrance Gate

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/6.3, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking Back Down
lots of gates and an athlete running stairs

With the row of orange gates I thought it might be a smaller version of the Fushimi Inari Shrine, but the gates covered only a short distance of the entire (long) path. There were a lot of athletes going back and forth, running stairs, who I'm sure wished the entire path were shorter.

But it wasn't short... it kept going. At one point there was a larger-than-life statue of a Buddhist Monk standing for alms...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/6.3, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Standing in Silent Disinterest
as a monk is trained to do

It's wearing a hat (as seen held by a real monk in this photo) and is covered by little mini-sandal talismans. All the athletes running stairs, along with the footwear nature of the talismans left by individuals for good luck, makes me think this statue is supposed to be good luck for running-related sports, but that's just a guess. The athletes running stairs ran right by without pausing.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mid-Way Plateau

The path was lined with short stone pillars as prayers for some inscribed wish. Most that I noticed were for household safety, many listing both a husband and wife making the wish...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Prayers For Family Safety

I really liked these, both for the thought, and for their looks (all the more because of the beautiful veneer of lichen).

Eventually the stairs disgorged you at a large courtyard, with a building towering over to the left, and more stairs off in the distance...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/2500 sec, f/1.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Final Flight
Tiny in the distance, guy in white shirt and blue pants takes the final flight of steps

This photo was taken at the base of a bunch of pillars supporting the main temple building far above, at the level of a courtyard where larger events are evidently held.

Here's a photo looking down at the courtyard from above...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/16, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Courtyard From Above
with remnants of some kind of fire festival staining the dirt

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/16, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Main Temple Building
as two boys race for the final flight

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/16, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Happy To Be Done

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/7.1, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Offering Placards
at the main temple building

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/7.1, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Baseball Team Streams Up

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/7.1, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ailment Placards
specific areas of pain are marked

I'm guessing that these wooden placards will go up in smoke during a rite in the courtyard, along the same lines as seen in my “Intense Burn” post a few years ago.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

I didn't have much time before having to pick Anthony up from swimming class, but on the way down I decided to document all the flights of stairs....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking Down the Final Flight

Descend those stairs, then cross the courtyard, and you're at the top of...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.2, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Couple More Flights Down To “The Plateau”

Descend those flights, cross the plateau, and you're at the top of...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Surprise! More Steps!

Descend the long flight, then a few shallow steps, and you're at another flight overlooking....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.2, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Flight Overlooking the Monk
being attended to by a non-athlete, treating it with respectful devotion

Descend past the monk, then down some more stairs to where the path bends...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.2, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Getting Twisty Toward the End

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.2, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Past The Area of Gates

.. and finally to the lowest flight:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
End of the Road
literally, this is where Kyoto's Manjuin Street ends

Looking at the temple's web site (warning: flash, circa 1998) I don't notice anything about athletics. The temple is apparently famous for car dealers, and for people to get talismans for their cars. Odd. But much about Kyoto is. 🙂