Archive for the 'Temples and Shrines' Category

Posts about various temples and shrines

Konpira: Checking Out One of the Most Difficult Climbs in Japan

I recently heard about a very hard climb -- over 3km/2mi at an average of almost 16% -- not too far away. Many cyclists could not climb for 50m at 15%, much less do it for 3,000m. It's just ridiculously steep. This climb sounded to rival one the most difficult climbs in Japan, Kuragari West, which clocks in at 2.3km/1.7mi @ 17.3%.

Of course, I had to go check it out. It was quite the adventure.

The start of the climb was about 30km north of Kyoto, along the shore of Lake Biwa. To save energy for the hard climb, [...]


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The Quiet, Lovely Kotokuji Temple in Shiga

I made a few outings to photograph the fall colors in and around Kyoto this year. On the way to our first main destination, we made an impromptu stop at this little-known, out-of-the-way Kotokuji Temple. It turns out that the maple have only just started to turn, but it's still a quiet, lovely place to visit.

I'd discovered this temple a couple of years ago while on a bike ride to explore the general area, a couple of hours away by bicycle from my home in Kyoto. The 1km-long driveway to the temple is notable for its steepness; the average [...]


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A Few Autumn Photos From Last Year

Considering that my last blog post was more than five months ago, I guess it's safe to say that for the most part I'm taking a break from blogging. But having recently came across photos from a last-year outing to temples in Shiga, Japan, I thought I'd post a few.


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My Second-Longest Ride: 304km Adventure with Gorm

I haven't done a whole lot of riding since last fall, and in particular over the last month or so have been beset on and off by a persistent throat infection, so I probably bit off more than I could chew with a 300km ride with Gorm, but while he's in town I want to take the opportunity for such epic adventures.

The ostensible goal of the ride was to visit a mountain area of Gifu Prefecture known as "Machu Picchu of Gifu", due to a view of it that calls to mind the famous Machu Picchu of Peru.

(I [...]


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Temple Overlooking a Frosty Kyoto

Last night we a short but intense snow flurry that dropped about 2" of snow in 15 minutes, leaving the mountains this morning with a nice frosting.

The building seen above is at Shogunzuka, covered in "Inside the “New” Temple Building at Shogunzuka Overlooking Kyoto" and, more widely, a bit earlier in "New Views of Kyoto from Shogunzuka’s New Observation Deck".

A bit farther north, hikers were enjoying the clearing on Mt. Daimonji:

The clearing is where the fires are lit during the Daimonji Festival each August, as covered in "Daimonji: Kyoto’s Least-Photogenic Festival", and in its photographic rebuttal "Daimonji [...]


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