Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 22 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/3.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Inspecting the Map
while hiking around the “Eastern Mountains” area of Kyoto, Japan

Well, I fall further behind. I had been planning to post the answer to the What am I? quiz from the other day (none of the guesses so far are even close), but Fumie has been quite sick, so I wanted to get Anthony out of the house so that she could rest. I'd been wanting to try some nearby hiking trails, and I ended up with enough photos to fill at least five different blog posts.

We started out after lunch with the grueling seven-minute drive up to Shogunzuka. (We hit a few red lights, so it took longer than usual :-))

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
a really, really, really
Hazy Day in Kyoto
from the lookout at Shogunzuka

It often seems to be hazy when I come up here, although it's on my list to try to come up after a typhoon passes through, because the air is quite clear after that as it was once when I came up here last year.

Other posts from up here include this and this.

We had some excitement as we watched a helicopter take off from the helipad near the parking lot (posted about here), and he headed into the trails that lead down the mountain....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Trailhead

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lots and Lots of Ferns

I quickly learned that the mountain is covered in ferns of pretty much every type imaginable. Ferns can be quite photogenic, but the lack of light under the mountain treecover can make photography a challenge. I got some okay fern shots during a short hike last summer, but couldn't even replicate them this time.

Anthony, of course, doesn't care; ferns, like anything in the path, is subject to pokiture.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — ¹/60 sec, f/4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fern, I Poke Thee

Every once in a while, a clearing let you know just how tall the trees really were...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tall Trees

It's difficult to make a photo that really shows the majesty of tall trees. I've tried plenty of times; this tall bamboo desktop background came out nicely, and so perhaps did one of the photos on this fall-colors post. The one at the end of this post less so. I'll keep plugging at it.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pleasant Rest Area
in the middle of nowhere

I really shouldn't say “middle of nowhere” because as the crow flys, we're just about exactly one mile from my place (with several major temples in between). That's the beauty of having mountains so close... you can “get away” with very little effort.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Canopy

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/40 sec, f/4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Trail Closed
A fork that, luckily, we weren't planning to take

We saw a number of tiny little frogs, including this guy, who wasn't much bigger than my thumbnail...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/40 sec, f/3.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/30 sec, f/4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Whoyoulookinat?

It was all Anthony could do to not poke him. I try to let him be as free as possible, but harassing wildlife (like I did when I was a kid) is over the line.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/45 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tiny Little Bridge

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rear Entrance
“Gate Opens at 6am, closes at 5:30pm”
“No Smoking, Eating, or Drinking”

The set of trails that we took wound down the mountain for half an hour toward a back entrance to a sorta' famous spot. We come around the corner and were greeted with...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
First View of Civilization
in the last half hour

Our day continued, and in the end we hiked over 7km. My knees have a hard time of it when we go down (surprisingly, going up is no problem), but we took it slow and it was fun. There are still plenty of trails yet to try, all within a mile or so of home.

Continued here...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/1500 sec, f/3.2, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Buddhist Priest Prays
for Fumie's Grandmother

Fumie's Grandmother, Kine Imai, passed away at the end of April. This past weekend was the second part of the funeral, the kotsuiri – 骨入 – the “placing of the bones”.

A month or so ago, as part of the main funeral, the body was cremated such that there were still some rather large chunks of bone remaining. A typical Japanese (Buddhist) funeral includes a ceremony where family members use chopsticks to pluck certain bone fragments with symbolic meaning from the ashes, placing them into a small pot (as shown here), and we all did this, including five-year-old Anthony. It's a remarkably calming event, solidly and purposefully demarcating the boundary between earthly life and death, providing a strong measure of finality and “closure” to the family.

These bone fragments are kept in a small ceremonial pot for a month or so, allowing the deceased time to make the long and difficult trip to Heaven.

Then, its time for what amounts to burial, the placing of these small bone fragments under a family gravestone.

First, we all went to a small temple in Kyoto near where Grandma lived for 50+ years, for a short ceremony that involved a lot of chanting...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 23 mm — ¹/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
inside a small
Temple Near Grandma's House

The Buddhist priest kneels on the pillow seen in the lower left of the picture above, and chants while occasionally using the instruments arrayed around him. To his left is a large metal pot that sings a beautiful, rich, deep tone when struck with a soft mallet. To his right is a smaller metal “drum” with a harder wooden mallet that makes a pure, piercing, high-pitched metal tone.

At his upper right is an orange wooden mokugyo, which Wikipedia calls a wooden fish. It's a hollow wooden instrument (made from a single piece of wood) that makes exactly the “bonk” sound one might expect from a hollow wooden block. (Keep this in mind... we'll see more about mokugyo in a later post.)

These nice-sounding instruments combined with the monk's excellent voice to make a pleasing, somewhat mesmerizing chant. In the center of the picture above is a small red box holding incense; behind and slightly above it is the white box holding the pot of bones. Further behind is the temple's statue of (I assume) Buddha. It dates from the 1600s.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 40 mm — ¹/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Incense Burner

Part of the ceremony involves each family member placing three pinches of incense from the compartment on the right onto a hot coal in the compartment on the left. We did the same thing during one of the funeral ceremonies in April, again here, and a third time during another ceremony later in the day.

Each family member then used chopsticks to move the bone fragments from the pot to a small cloth pouch, and we all went to the grave site a few miles away.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/9, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

I'd always thought that Japanese “gravestones” were just monuments that didn't actually mark a grave, but it turns out that the small pouch of bones is placed into a cavity underneath....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/9, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
access stone moved aside,
Preparing to Place the Bones

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/9, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Praying for the Repose of the Soul of Kine Imai
as Fumie and her folks look on

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 45 mm — ¹/1500 sec, f/4, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Daughter Prays for Her Mother

The wording on the stone says “Imai Family Grave” (“Imai” being the family name). Fumie's grandfather's bones are also under there.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

Portrait-Mode Vertical Desktop-Background Versions
1050×1680  ·  1200×1920  ·  1600×2560     

After that, we all went out for a nice lunch. Fumie's brother lives two hours away, and Fumie's dad is usually on business in Malaysia, so it was nice to be all together.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.8, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
What am I?

Here's a hint: a correct answer names something practical, not ornamental.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 135 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Little Boys Run
It's just something they do

Continuing with my series about my five-day camping trip with Anthony, I pick up the story after the rain and wind (and eventual hotel) of Day 5...

Day 6 was glorious, both in terms of weather and mood (a warm futon and a hot bath have a way of helping the latter). After a lazy morning, we caravaned back toward Kyoto, stopping after about an hour at Amanohashidate (天橋立), a thin, 3.3km long natural land bridge pinching off several square miles of a bay in northern Kyoto Prefecture, off the Sea of Japan. It reminds me vaguely of San Diego's silver strand.

The land bridge is covered with pine trees and beach, with the thicker parts – at about 200 feet wide – offering grassy picnic areas...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos

Beach covers the edges on both sides pretty much the whole way...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos

A channel has been created at the southern end of the “land bridge” to allow boats into the pinched off area. We didn't realize it on the way in, but on the way out we saw that the man-made bridge over the channel rotates about its center, to allow larger boats through...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Spinning Bridge

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Small Boats Need Not Wait
as the bridge rotates back into position

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 105 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not Your Everyday View
well, unless you live near this bridge

After lunch and some play, we returned home to Kyoto.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 250 — full exif
perspective corrected

We're finally getting our money's worth out of this kid. 🙂

Trying to get him to put away a toy he's just finished playing with is like pulling teeth, but for some reason, he enjoys cleaning the veranda. I dunno. It may have something to do with being able to freely splash water around....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 40 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 250 — full exif
Put Some Muscle Into It, Kid!

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 — full exif
Attention to Detail

I don't know where this is going, but we're sure going to milk it for all it's worth....