Kyoto | Japanese Countryside Travel Notes

2025-06-302025-06-30

This is Little Kyoto, Taketa Old Town

taketa9 earthen wall of samrai residence

Taketa City is famous for the ruins of Oka Castle, a castle built on top of a cliff. It is the motif of the song “Kojo no Tsuki” (Moon over the Ruins of the Castle) composed by the musician Rentaro Taki, but I’ve already been there so I’ll pass this time. I took a walk around the old town, which I hadn’t been able to see last time. It’s a town with a sense of history like Kyoto. I was surprised to see a bronze statue of Lieutenant Hirose, who carried out the Port Arthur blockade operation during the Russo-Japanese War. I didn’t know he was from here. After the operation, the Japanese Navy, led by Commander Togo Heihachi, faced off against the Russian Baltic Fleet, which was said to be the most powerful fleet in the world at the time.

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taketa9 earthen wall of samrai residence

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taketa3 decoration with trowel

taketa5 tamachi street

taketa6 fom shrine

taketa14 straw under the plaster

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taketa21 taki rentaro tunnel

taketa22 house in the childhood

In one corner of the samurai residence is the Hidden Christian Cave Chapel, giving the area a sense of its rich history.

taketa11 christian cave chapel

taketa10 christian cave chapel

Finally, we had a special lunch (reservation needed in advance) at Okura Shimizuyu, a café that was once a bathhouse. Apparently, his parents own a vegetable shop next door, so they served us a variety of vegetable dishes. I couldn’t finish it all. They even served us matcha green tea.

taketa25 ohkura simizu public bath in the past

taketa26 restaurant now

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taketa28 restaurant managed bu vegitable shop

taketa30 lunch

taketa29 lunch

taketa32 remnants of public bath from upper floor

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taketa33 dessert

taketa35 fukujyuenn distilled spirits factory and shop

Our final stop was a barley shochu brewery in town, where we had the opportunity to try a variety of shochu while the proprietress was busy on her way to Tokyo to attend a wedding.

climbing18 mitsumata mountain from kutsukake mountain — Go back to itinerary

2025-05-11

Japanese hotel that makes you feel like you’re in a Kyoto garden

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yakakutei6 sakurajima

I have rarely stayed in such a luxurious inn, Yakakutei. I would definitely recommend this place to foreign visitors who are taking advantage of the weak yen. The garden, surrounded by a cloister and covered with shrubs and moss, is beautifully maintained. A gazebo for viewing the garden faces the courtyard, but it is carved into a lower level than the courtyard, so that the moss garden can be viewed at eye level.

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yakakutei garden5 see from one step down

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The rock bath hot spring is also located on a vast site, with rocks arranged like a garden, and the hot water is filled to the brim. Of particular note is the ingenious and creative menu for dinner. The plates on which the dishes are served are also excellent. Unusually, the appetizers (similar to an assorted antipasto in Italian cuisine) that usually precede the main dish are served last. Perhaps this is to avoid eating the appetizer too slowly and being too full by the time the main dish is served? The waiter was a man dressed as a butler in a crested hakama, which reminded me a bit of a male version of a maid cafe in Akihabara, and that was the only thing that felt a bit strange.

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yakakutei18 apetit after main dish deliberately

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yakakutei32 breakfast

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yakakutei35 al dente of local brand rice

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Detour

If you climb the outer rim of the caldera behind the inn, you will soon arrive at Kagoshima Airport, but before checking in, it is worth stopping by Kareigawa Station, with its nostalgic wooden station building, Inukai Falls carved into the cliff, and Shiohitashi Onsen, where Sakamoto Ryoma and his wife, Oryo, were invited by the Satsuma clan to heal the wounds he received when he was nearly assassinated in Kyoto, and where he stopped on his honeymoon.

hiatariyama hotspring1 inumaki

hiatariyama hotspring2 Saigo stayed

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kareigawa station3 inside

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2024-10-13

National Treasure Temples in Harima region that can be enjoyed better than Kyoto

ichijoji (1)steep stairs — ichijoji; steep stairs start

The three-storied pagoda is a national treasure. The hanging scrolls with portraits of Prince Shotoku Taishi and Founder of Tendai sect Saicho in the treasure hall are also national treasures. However, advance reservations are required for the latter. After paying the entrance fee at the foot of the temple mountain, I made my way up the more than 400 stone steps to the main hall where tickets to the treasure hall are sold, keeping an eye on the three-storied pagoda on my left but caring about the reservation time at the treasure hall. Then, I paid the ticket to the treasure hall to the monk at the main hall, and he told me that the treasure hall was down the stone steps and next to the entrance! Why aren’t they sold at the entrance? Seeing the disappointed look on my face, the monk told me that I could take my time to see the main hall and then visit the treasure hall on my way home. I’m thankful for that, but I’m starting to wonder why.

ichijoji (3)main hall — ichijoji; still stone steps to main hall

From the main hall, you can look down on the three-storied pagoda standing dignified in the middle of a dense mountain, and the gentle breeze is refreshing.

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ichijoji (4)pagoda national tresure

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On the side wall of the main hall, I found large letters that looked like they had been scrawled in ink. They are nice letters, but the content doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the temple. Later, when I stopped by Jodoji Temple (see next post) and saw almost the same on display, I realized that it was a doodle made by someone who had visited the temple at the time. Although it’s common in any era, it’s still a bold doodle.

ichijoji (8)ancient graffiti

ichijoji (9)inside of main hall

ichijoji (7)corridor of main hall

Well, I took my time touring the main hall and the three-storied pagoda, and finally stopped at the treasure hall on my way back, but it didn’t have a particularly strict entrance, and I was told that I could come in freely, which made me feel strange. There were various Buddhist statues from that time, and at the very back there were portraits of Shotoku Taishi and Saicho, but they were so sharp that I wondered, and when I read the description, it turned out to be an exquisite reproduction. Real national treasures are stored in museums, right? If that’s the case, what’s the point of requiring advance reservations, and of not selling tickets until you’re on top of the mountain?

It’s a temple full of questions, but at least it’s better than the crowded and uncomfortable temples in Kyoto.

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