Yesterday's post about the views from Shogun-zuka (将軍塚) overlooking Kyoto reminded me of when I was last there, with Anthony and some friends, KFC and Verena. Anthony didn't really care about the view, but he did find a butterfly....

Later, KFC took a picture of the butterfly himself. That photo didn't make the cut to his web gallery, but a shot of me taking the pictures above did.

Lately, it seems we're on the receiving end of gifts of upscale edibles. On the heals of yesterday's matsutake mushrooms, today we enjoyed the cantaloupe we received from Nils' mom when I visited her house in Miyagawa-cho the other day.

(At least I think the English translation is "cantaloupe." It has green flesh like a muskmelon, but a webbed outer rind like a cantaloupe.)

Fumie has a knack for pleasing presentations (such as these strawberries), and she didn't disappoint, preparing it nicely, adding a few strawberries for color, and some cookies around the plate for balance. Anthony had the idea [...]

A friend of ours is a professional chef of the highest order (such that we can't possibly afford to eat at his restaurant), and today he unexpectedly gave us an amazing gift: two huge matsutake mushrooms.

Unlike the wild (and possibly poisonous) mushrooms we saw the other day, matsutake mushrooms are a rare delicacy, perhaps along the line of truffles in the west. Normally, they're tiny little stubs like those shown at right, which would take a good dozen just to cover the bottom of the basket we received.

Yet, even those little stubs are about $50 each, so [...]

Adding to yesterday's post about our trip to the fire pits on Mt. Daimonji, here are a few more of Anthony and Kana-chan.

As I mentioned yesterday, the view felt much closer than from the summit. Oddly, being lower/closer made the feeling of height more impressive.

Some were inspired to flight...

The lower-right "leg" of the "大" (as seen when facing the mountain) is very, very long -- about 140m of very narrow, tiny, steep steps -- so the view from near its top, just below the center of the character, is impressive.

Once back in the outer-edges of the [...]

Continuing with the ongoing set of posts on last fall's Mt. Daimonji hike, after having lunch at the top of the mountain, we headed down a bit to the Daimonji hidoko, the Daimonji fire pits.

The word "Daimonji" -- 大文字 -- literally means "big character," both in the lower-case opposite sense of "upper-case," and in the sense of "the Chinese character that conveys the meaning 'big'."

"Daimonji" is also the name of the mountain in Eastern Kyoto that has a big 150-meter-wide daimonji, 大, on it.

"Daimonji" is also the name of the festival held every year in August, in [...]