The decision to go to Arashiyama in the same day as going to Fushimi Inari Shrine was an impulse one. I’m not one of those types that makes a full day of things to do on vacation, because it stresses me out. My plan for this trip was to do one thing a day, and do it well. However, it was mid afternoon, and I still had a lot of day to spend. So, back on a train I hopped and to Arashiyama I went.
Arashiyama’s appearance on my bucket list is a random one, prompted merely from a photo. When I was starting up the preceding blog to this one, I needed a header for the site. I looked around, and ended up finding a photo of a path, lined with bamboo and lit in different colours. I thought it looked cool, so I eventually found out the name of the place. The more I looked into Arashiyama, the more I wanted to go. It eventually got high on the bucket list, simply because it was so easy to achieve, once I had the time for it.
Everything that I love about Japan as a nation can be found in the small town of Arashiyama. The buildings are a lovely mix of traditional and modern, the roads are quiet and narrow, and filled with people walking and biking instead of driving. It reminded me a lot of towns like Kamakura, another town in Japan known for it’s history.
Trying to find my way around wasn’t as easy as I would have liked. There were maps at major intersections, but Japanese maps are not known for being helpful. They are sometimes posted upside down, or with north pointing in a way that would seem completely and totally random. So I ended up wandering a little, and asked a few people if they knew where the bamboo path was.
Now, I have surprised myself since returning with my Japanese. Considering I haven’t had to speak it, or use it, in two years, it returned to me fairly quickly. Speaking somehow came first, then listening. However, both the words “bamboo” and “path” are not words I used commonly, even when I lived in Japan. So I ended up pointing at photos until I could find a map that would show me the reading for where I was looking for.
It was a relief to see I wasn’t the only obvious tourist when I got to the foot of the path. Nearly every person who reached the opening in the huge bamboo forest stopped, staring with wonder and slight disbelief, murmuring their words of awe and surprise. Everyone had their cameras out, and people were more than happy to help me get a photo of myself with the bamboo. (Pics or it didn’t happen!)
Walking down the path of bamboo was everything I hoped it would be: peaceful and beautiful. I’d seen bamboo before, of course, but there was something about this forest that was really special. It was well taken care of, and was also a functioning forest. Bamboo grows tremendously fast, and so if the forest isn’t properly cleared, it would literally look like a giant, wooden wall. The locals use the bamboo from the forest to make local goods. I thought of the tee-shirt I had that was partially made of bamboo, and wondered why we don’t utilize this fast growing, incredibly strong plant more than we currently do.
But I digress.
Most people go to Arashiyama for the monkey park, not the bamboo. Unfortunately, I never made it to the monkey park, but I did see other famous stuff! It turns out, Arashiyama is one of the locations mentioned in Genji Monogatari, aka The Tale of Genji. It’s the first novel ever written, and was written by a woman. So as I was wandering down the bamboo path, I came across a few different places, most of them closing, that were mentioned in the novel. One of those places was Nonomiya Shrine, a shrine that some of the women in the novel would stay at for spiritual purification. It was very beautiful, and I could see why they chose to stay there, because I could probably have stayed there too. If they had wifi there.
I felt like I wandered for hours (probably because I did) and I ended up at a famous bridge, Togetsukyo Bridge. Once again, I didn’t even know the big deal about it, because I came to Arashiyama for the bamboo and the rest was just gravy. However, it was gorgeous, so it was well worth the wandering. The river that the bridge crossed had a bit of a dam across it, and kept it running smoothly. Down stream, children were playing in the water and people were relaxing on the rocks by the shore. It was a very idyllic summer scene, and one that I hopefully will remember for a long time.
I wish I could have had more time in Arashiyama, because there was so much more I wanted to see there. However, I was able to cross one more thing off my bucket list. On the list of important things to see here in Japan during my trip, there’s only one left… Can you guess what it is?