I've been in Kyoto for nearly a week, enjoying the beauty of this ancient city and time with my brother P and my sister-in-law C. Because P has been helping me use Picasa to organize my trip photos, I decided to do some photoblogging today.

The following photos show you what you'd see if you decided to take a trip to Mt. Kurama, as I did a few days ago. It's a magical place! Some believe that it is the home of Mao-Sen, a powerful spirit who came to Earth millions of years ago to help all living things. Deep within the peaceful forests of the mountain, that thought doesn't seem so impossible.

To get to Mt. Kurama, you need to take a train to Kurama Station, up in the mountains north of Kyoto. The trip takes about half an hour. Once you take a few steps uphill from the station, you meet one of the mountain's guardians, shown below.


Above that guardian, a stone stairway leads up the mountain.


You follow the stairway up the mountain, passing many small shrines where you can pay your respects to the resident deities of the mountain.

Here and there, a dragon spits spring water into a bowl, so you can rinse your hands and drink.


You pass the Chu-Mon Gate, guarded by giant cedars. This spot makes me think of how the set for the Lord of the Rings movie might have looked, had it been constructed by nature-loving Buddhists.

Here and there, as you climb, lamps light your way, because it's dark under the tall trees.

You keep climbing up the stone stairway through the thick forest.

Finally, you reach the main temple, not far from the top of the mountain (this view is from above the temple).

If you arrive on a certain June day, as I did, then you can see the annual Takekiri Ceremony. According to legend, about a thousand years ago, a monk was attacked by two enormous serpents, but managed to subdue them. Each year, groups of monks reenact this legend by competing in cutting up big bamboo poles, which represent the serpents. Here, priests arrive at the temple to open the ceremony.

Here, the two four-monk teams face off in the temple.

Monks from the two teams take turns trying to sever each bamboo pole with the fewest cuts. Their swords are sharp--I was glad not to be one of the team members holding up the pole.

I was impressed by the swordsmanship, but wasn't sure who won in the end. Never mind, though, the ceremonies finished with enough daylight remaining to walk to the mountaintop, first passing along this part of the trail that runs across thickly interwoven tree roots.


A bit further along is a shrine to Mao-Sen, which I think marks the mountaintop. It's possible to continue down the other side of the mountain to make a loop trip back to Kurama Station, but darkness was beginning to fall, so I returned the way I came.