The Gateway

Today I found what I was looking for. I started out my journey going to a place I'd been before. As I started my walk I noticed the giant boat symbol on a hill. I'd been wanting to climb up to that, so I headed in that direction. I waded my way through the concrete jungle to the edge of town, and saw to my delight the giant fire boat on the hillside. I thought to myself,'this will be a good little hike'. I climbed up the very steep hill under the beating heat of the sun. From the top of the hill I could see the vast sprawl of Kyoto. I looked behind me to find yet another path continuing into the forest. This was the gateway I'd been waiting for. As I entered the forest, the sun's heat found itself in the tops of the trees and let me be at last. I began to walk down this trail going to nowhere, leading to nothing, but alas I found the path I needed to walk. I quickly noticed the giant spiders common in the forests around Kyoto and picked up a stick to act as my anti-spiderweb device. I sauntered along at an easy pace for the next 2-3 hours walking deeper into the mountains of Japan. Breathing the beautiful forest air, seeing the sun beams break through the dense trees, the green of life everywhere. I didn't even care where I was going. During that time I came across a shinto shrine of old origins, for pilgrims wandering the forest paths. I stopped to ponder its significance for the people of the hills then moved on. Eventually I came to the end of the trail I had chosen. I came out on top of kyoumi pass and of all things found a vending machine and got something to drink. There were two houses in that area and I found someone to talk to. I asked where I was and he helped to figure out my location using the map I had brought. It was a good chance to practice my Japanese, although he did know some English too. I began my walk down the mountain road back to Kyoto. At the edge of town I bumped into several temples one of them being Koetsuji, the family temple of the famous artisan Koetsu. That was indeed a treat and excellent ending to the hike. Although I still had to walk another hour or so to get home, the hike was officially over at Koetsuji. When I finally arrived home my day was spent, I left in the morning and returned in the evening. A good day indeed.