The Hills Are Alive

I went for a run today just north of my house with the intention of finding a temple I had once been to before. I stopped at a map that showed all of the temples of the area, and since I couldn't remember the name, I just picked the first one and headed in that direction. Soon I came upon the gate to Kurodani Temple. Not the one I was searching for, but looking at the temple guide map, I noticed that this temple had an Oku no In (a hall in the back, literally). For some reason, I am particularly drawn to temples that have Oku no In. So I went to find it. I climbed up some stairs to the Main Hall, I climbed up some more stairs to the Fudomyo Hall, and then I started hiking on a mountain trail. Up I went through lovely trees, random Buddhist statues, and big old stones, until I got to the top of the mountain. And there was the Oku no In.

I decided not to take the same way back down, so I went the other direction, and had myself a nice two hour hike along the ridge of the Eastern mountains of Kyoto. During that time, I learned all sorts of interesting things:

1. The mountains used to be volcanic. many, many, many years ago.
2. A famous man made a road on the mountain, and there's a monument to him in the forest.
3. There used to be a beautiful river flowing down from the mountain. It was called Shirakawa (White River) because in the spring the flowers along side of it would bloom all white. This is where the name of the street comes from. Sadly, the river is now a trickle. I walked in it.
4. There's a mini Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage at Kurodani Temple.
5. The trail to Mt. Hiei starts in the mountains behind my house. It's only a three hour hike. It takes that long to get there on the train!
6. Spontaneous hiking is great. I'm gonna do it again this week.