A Rainy Sunday Afternoon in Arashiyama

The Arashiyama Yodofu pilgrimage

There's a corner of Kyoto I'd never been to but wanted to see--Arashiyama. So after the pickling, I took a few trains out West, intending to start a walking tour at Tenryuji Temple near the Keifuku Arashiyama station.

Sitting on the train, in the rain, I was leafing through Lonely Planet when the nice Japanese couple next to me struck up a conversation. He was a 60ish white haired and bearded, wearing a brown Jacket and brown chords. He offered any help I might need. So I asked for a restaurant recommendation among the three close to the station that are described in LP. It turns out that Arashiyama is known best for Yodofu dishes and Shojin Ryori (veg. temple food.) So I decided on the train that I had to have dinner there. The wife picked for me the place she likes best.

Arashiyama is cute. A small forested mountain rises westward from the train station area. I'm still a few weeks too early for the fall colors--everything's still green. Or mainly so. And the rain combined with it being about 3:30 was going to make for some lousy photography conditions. Here's what I came up with.

I missed the Tenryuji Temple by one and ended up here amongst some nice moss. In the picture below, there was a sign next to the road that said "No Tripod" in English. It was dark so I just rested the camera on top of the sign :P