{"id":1133,"date":"2009-02-02T23:54:55","date_gmt":"2009-02-02T14:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-02-02\/1133"},"modified":"2009-02-02T23:54:55","modified_gmt":"2009-02-02T14:54:55","slug":"western-kyoto-mountain-drive-bamboo-nostalgia-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-02-02\/1133","title":{"rendered":"Western-Kyoto Mountain Drive: Bamboo, Nostalgia, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I took a ride out to the mountains in the south-west of Kyoto, where I'd\nnot been before. Here's a summary.<\/span>..<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 4500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBamboo<\/span>\nlots of bamboo\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/3.2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTrash<\/span>\nstriking it rich on a slot machine dumped with lots of other garbage off the side of the road\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I'd headed toward a road that looked like it wound up to the top of a\nmountain<\/span> that should provide a commanding<\/span> vista, but it turns out that the\nroad has been closed to public traffic for the last 10 years. The\nroad-closed gate was a perfect<\/span> spot to dump your trash, apparently, because\nthere was plenty all around. Sigh.<\/p>\n\n

I had another mountain road in mind, but had to dip back into\ncivilization to get to it...<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMore Bamboo<\/span>\n( really, there was a lot<\/i> of bamboo in these mountains )\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 56 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOld Farmstead<\/span>\nnow encircled by suburbia\n<\/div>\n\n

(It was very hazy with flat, dull light, and it was difficult to coax\nany life out of these pictures. This one, in particular, is just dull, but\nit shows an old, really pleasant Japanese farmstead house and storage\nbuilding, so here it is.)<\/p>\n\n

When I came across an area with houses like this, strong feelings of\nnostalgia suddenly washed over me, and I remember<\/span> that I had<\/span> been in this\narea, and on that now-closed road, on my motorcycle in the early 1990s.\nTwice, I think.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

I remember<\/span> that the second time I took<\/span> a friend<\/span> or a date<\/span> or something,\nbut I don't<\/span> remember who. I do remember<\/span> stopping on one of the winding\ncutbacks that offered a nice<\/span> view, and chatted with a driver<\/span> who had also\nstopped. And I remembered<\/span> coming into this area of old-style farmsteads.<\/p>\n\n

I was sort of confused for a while by the strong nostalgia, wondering\nwhat it was that I was<\/span> not quite remembering, until I eventually<\/span> figured out\nthat the memory was simply one of my youth. Fifteen or so years have passed\nsince I last<\/span> drove this mountain road.... the same me and the same road,\nbut so much has changed. Having needed reading glasses for the first time\nlast week probably has left me somewhat nostalgic for my eyesight.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, I headed<\/span> a bit<\/span> further south, then cut into the mountains\non the next road that would take me into them...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 28 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/7.1, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRural Mountain Farming<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHouse on “Reclaimed” Mountainside<\/span>\n( I'm not sure really what the proper phrase is )\n<\/div>\n\n

Somewhere along here I realized that the now-closed road to the top of\nthe mountain was\/is a dead<\/span> end, but my memories were descending from it, so\nI realized<\/span> that the road I was<\/span> on now was the one I was<\/span> on all those years ago.<\/p>\n\n

Nothing at all seemed familiar, though.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDid I Mention<\/span> Bamboo?<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nStone Thingies<\/span>\nThey look sort of like grave markers, but I have<\/span> the feeling that they're more likely related to something Buddhist\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/10, ISO 5600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLotsa' Steps Going Up<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/14, ISO 1100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nNice Views<\/span>\nor, at least, they would be on a less<\/span>-hazy day\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/3.2, ISO 2500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRandom Mountain Waterfall<\/span>\nand mini shrine\/temple tabernacle-like thing\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 2500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nCaged Life-Sized Wooden Demon<\/span>\nUnfortunately, I didn't think to throw beans<\/a> at him\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLots and Lots of Steps<\/span>\nhundreds of meters of steps\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 58 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/10, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMore Views, More Haze<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 1100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSplendid Vista-Enjoying Tea-Sipping Hut<\/span>\nat least it was long ago\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 1600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTemple Building<\/span>\non a flat spot carved into the side of the mountain\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/10, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRain-Gutter Chain Thingy<\/span>\na lower-cost, lower-maintenance version of this<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 560 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLast Rays of the Sun<\/span>\non ceder, I think\n( most of the day, I didn't<\/span> know there was a sun,<\/span> so it was nice to see some )<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

It was getting late and the sun was dipping below the top of the\nmountain (still two hours prior to sunset proper; the mountain is steep)\nand I was<\/span> about to head home, but just before I did,<\/span> I came across<\/span> the\ncutback I had<\/span> remembered stopping at. Nothing else in the mountain seemed\nfamiliar at all, but upon leaving the mountain, the view of the old\nJapanese suburbia again brought nostalgia.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, heading back down...<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 2800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDisturbed Bamboo<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

A large area of bamboo below the road level was like this, as if a\nmassive<\/span> flood of water had wreaked havoc with it some time in the not too\ndistant past. There were a lot<\/span> of streams in these mountains, and the\noccasional dam, so the flash-flood idea seems reasonable.<\/p>\n\n

And then not too far away...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSeries of Dams<\/span>\nThe one in the back is massive, but far enough away to look small\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 28 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/3.2, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nA Touch<\/span> of Sun<\/span>\nand some kind of tall, straight, segmented grass\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 35 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAh, Civilization Again<\/span>\n30 minutes later I was home in downtown Kyoto\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took a ride out to the mountains in the south-west of Kyoto, where I'd not been before. Here's a summary...<\/p>

I'd headed toward a road that looked like it wound up to the top of a mountain that should provide a commanding vista, but it turns out that the road has been closed to public traffic for the last 10 years. The road-closed gate was a perfect spot to dump your trash, apparently, because there was plenty all around. Sigh.<\/p>

I had another mountain road in mind, but had to dip back into civilization to get to it...<\/p>

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