I mentioned a few days ago (here) that I had a crazy story accompanying these photos. Well, here’s the long and short of it: (Warning: the historical/fantasy literature geek in me will rise to the surface in this post. If you’re not familiar with the series, you might want to skip the nerdy section to the actual story..)
Four days ago, on our first full day in Kyoto, I took charge of the itinerary and convinced my family to make the trip up Mount Hieizan (比叡山) to Enryakuji (延暦寺). The latter is allegedly “one of the most important monasteries in Japanese history and the headquarters of the Tendai sect of Japanese Buddhism.”
I decided on this place to visit in particular (out of all the temples and palaces in Kyoto) because it strongly resembles one setting in this historical fiction series I’ve loved for years - ‘Tales of the Otori’ (the sequel of which I finished a few months ago, here).
~nerdy part~
After reading a brief history on the place, I was filled with a certainty that Lian Hearn (the author) based the fictional Terayama monastery on Enryakuji. (I tried to check afterwards if my theory was accurate - and there are even more theories where that came from - but nothing explicitly maps out the factual places and people she based her setting and characters on.)
“Enryakuji was founded in 788 by Saicho, the monk who introduced Tendai Buddhism from China into Japan. At its peak, Enryakuji had as many as 3000 subtemples and a powerful army of warrior monks who often engaged in power struggles with other monasteries and political leaders.” (Japan Guide) “The temple complex was razed by Oda Nobunaga in 1571 to quell the rising power of the Tendai’s warrior monks, but it was rebuilt and remains the Tendai headquarters to this day.” (Wikipedia)
So basically, this was why I had to go to this place.
~end of nerdy part~
We took the train from central Kyoto to the end of the JR-Kosei line, Sakomoto Station. Supposedly, from the station it’s only a short walk to the Sakamoto Cable Car, which would take us up the mountain to the temples. However, after following some signs, we found ourselves on the edge of a forest, at the foot of the mountain. Before venturing into the woods, we encountered a Japanese man in semi-hiking gear (does rubber shoes and a training jacket count?). I asked him in broken Japanese and sign language, how we were supposed to get to Enryakuji (actually, the conversation was way more moronic than how I just described it). Nevertheless, he seemed to understand what I was trying to say, and pointed up this rocky trail.
So we started to climb.
Two hours later, we were in the middle of a dense forest, with no sign of civilization whatsoever, with barely even a path to go on (just some rocks on what seemed like a dried-out stream, really), no food, barely any water left in our bags, tired to our bones, and still not a cable car in sight.
Obviously, something had gone wrong along the way.
We had only encountered a couple of rundown signs at this point (in Japanese, of course), and scarily enough, I was almost sure this trail was an ancient and abandoned one, because it was eroded in many points and practically disappeared in others. I don’t think I’ve ever been so lost in all my life (literally) as we were then.
My dad laid our options: hike back down the mountain(s) for 2 hours on a trail that was almost impossible to backtrack, or forge on despite having no idea when or where the path was going to end, if there even was a destination. He decided to backtrack.
Just as we were about to head back, however, the same Japanese guy in hiking attire came running down the path. As soon as he saw us, he shouted (something indiscernible), and motioned us to follow him up.
Oh my God! I thought. We’re saved! It’s just around the corner!
Little did I know that ‘just around the corner’ actually meant 300m or so almost vertically uphill. But everytime any of us wanted to rest, the Japanese stranger whistled and clapped, forcing us to keep moving up. He had appointed himself our official drill sergeant for the day, apparently. We all wanted to kill him at this point, but he was actually able to get us to the top of the mountain and to the back entrance of the temple complex (!). (I said back entrance because we exited through the REAL entrance afterwards, and only then realized that we skipped the ticket counter and thus did not pay the entrance fee to the place..)
Hence, the long winded story behind the shots! :) I hope you weren’t too bored, if you even actually bothered to put up with my verbosity.
Much love,
