The large rusty white sign above says "this is a national treasure; don't play inside" and the small one on the stone lantern says "don't touch" Yoshida shrine complex is full of signs with all manner of these kind of admonishments.... somewhat of a bummer.

So, on my short outing on Sunday morning to explore Mt. Yoshida, where I ended up finding the Yoshida Shrine nestled in the mountain, I had started at an ancillary shrine accessible by a small twisty road toward the south edge of the mountain, desirable as a starting spot due to its compelling attributes of [...]

While Anthony was at his swimming lesson last Sunday morning, I decided to kill the hour by scooting the kilometer over to Mt. Yoshida and poke around.

I "discovered" Mt. Yoshida when Stéphane Barbery (he of my earlier Jidai Matsuri festival photos and the wilting flower posts) introduced me to it back in April. At that time I got to visit only one small part; this time I wanted to visit the major shrine I knew to be there.... somewhere. Mt. Yoshida is a relatively small outcropping in the middle of town – about 35 acres, half the area of [...]

I mentioned yesterday that I had taken a short late-afternoon stroll to photograph some old Machiya houses nearby. They overlook the little river that runs by my place, a short walk downstream.

Here's the first...

This is right across the river from where "Rare Shinto Shrine-Closing Ceremony" was photographed (two years ago to the day, now that I think about it).

I look at the overall design and suspect that they were originally meant for stepping out to enjoy the cool river air, but in looking at their construction, I can't imagine how they could support the weight of a [...]

Returning from an errand today, I liked how the late-afternoon brisk autumn sun was hitting some old cozy (read "dilapidated") Machiya houses near my place, so I grabbed the camera and headed out for a short photo-hunt stroll.

I'll share the pictures of the houses another day; in this post, just a few "mood" pictures from the day, which was sunny and brisk, much nicer than the overcast gloom of yesterday (which was photogenic nevertheless).

The picture above was the last I took of the day, just as I was returning home, of two ladies (likely a girl and her [...]

Having felt cooped up in the house for the last week, we took an impromptu drive into the mountains north of Kyoto yesterday, stopping by a bakery on the way to pick up a snack. Not long after entering the mountains, we stopped off the road to eat at a location that happened to be near the Hakuryuuen Garden, which I posted about in some detail a couple of months ago.

As before, it was closed off with a fence across the entrance, right at the road shoulder....

But if you took care when buses passed, you could walk up [...]