NY 2025 D6 Seven Lucky Gods Pilgrimage

Route: 7 Lucky gods Kyoto pilgrimage
Bicycle: 50 km
Total ascent: 357 m
Average Speed: 14.2 km/h
Riding time: 3:30 h
Weather: Sun and clouds, cold, 6 C

A few days ago while reading Japan Times, I saw an article on a New Years pilgrimage to the 7 Lucky gods (Shichi-Fuku-jin), which seems to be a tradition to do in the first week of the new year. The one in Kyoto is specially spread out, so well suited to be done by bicycle. 

These seven gods come from 3 different religions (shintoism, buddhism and taoism) and all seem to be quite fun loving and good natured. One of them, is even a female god. (And yes, I know the collage above only has 6 of them... read the whole blog post to find out why).

I started with the most outlying temple: Manpukuji in Uji. 

Manpukuji is a famous temple in itself, regardless of the Seven Lucky Gods. Famous for it's Chinese style architecture. I had come here in Golden Week a few years ago. But today, I only had eyes for Hotei-son, characterized by his round belly and full sack of presents he received for doing good deeds. 

For such a famous temple, there were few visitors there today. It isn't a real Hatsumode temple, so the locals didn't come and the tourists just all go to the same places. 

The next stop was back in Kyoto right in the middle of the tourist nightmare of Higashiyama: Rokuharamitsuji. This temple actually isn't on the normal tourist route, but today there was not only the pilgrimage to the Seven Lucky Gods ongoing, but also normal Hatsumode and this in an area that is already full of tourists. Most visitors though were Japanese who were buying new lucky charms for this year. There was even a rather long queue to pray before the goddess Benzaiten. So I didn't get a good look of her. 

The funniest of them all, as always, was good old Ebisu, the only originally Japanese of the 7 gods. Always ready for a joke. 

His shrine was close by and while there were also a good number of visitors, things where more relaxed and fun driven. With people trying to through a coin into a basket on the torii. 

BTW, the lanterns and the sentence below to the foreign observer might seem to be nice festive decorations, but actually it is publicity It says "For shopping, go to Takashimaya". 

From there I went over the river to an other mid sized temple, Gyoganji, which is hosting Jurojin a taoist god of old age. 

And on I went to Northern Kyoto to Matsugasaki Daikokuten, where Daikokuten an Indian buddhist god is venerated (and well bathed with cold water). 

The next temple was Sekizan Zenin with what seems to be the wisest of all the gods. At least judging from his enormous brain capacity. 

Here they were also selling small versions of him to be then exposed probably with your wish at the temple. Similar to the cats at Gokokuji in Tokyo (which will be pretty close to my new house). 

The most disappointing of them all was Bishamonten at Toji temple. Simply because he wasn't there. His statue is in the adjacent museum but only on display on some days of the year. Not today apparently. 

Toji temple itself is a very spread out affair and has it's charms... but that wasn't my objective for today so I just snapped a picture of the pagoda from afar and went back to my hotel making an early return and checking on some work emails before now writing this blog post. 

What was interesting in this pilgrimage is that these 7 gods are at 7 very different locations. From major temples such as Toji and Manpukuji to a small neighborhood shrine of Ebisu. Temples right in the center of Kyoto, such as Rokuharamitsu-ji to temples in the forest like Sekizan Zen-in. 

But all places were joined by flags announcing them as one of the Seven pilgrimage locations. 

NY2025 D5 - small mountain roads in the North of Kyoto

Route: Kyoto - Arashiyama - Mizuo - Sugisaka - Kyoto
Bicycle: 76 km
Total ascent: 977 m
Average Speed: 16.4 km/h
Riding time: 4:37 h
Weather: Sun and clouds, cold, 5C

After the somewhat dissatisfying ride yesterday, the tiger temple was great... but the ride afterwards to Ikoma and onwards was just riding through built up area, today I went to the North of Kyoto into what feels like very remote mountains. They aren't actually that remote, but all roads are really small, a few small villages and a lot of up and down. 

But to get there I first needed to traverse the touristic craziness of Arashiyama. Luckily all the tourists just concentrate in a few blocks around the famous bridge (what is actually so special about that bridge?) and the temples between there and the bamboo forest. But move away only a few blocks... and I stumbled upon a great temple complex: Seiryouji, with only a few visitors. 

After the last temple in Arashiyama a small mountain road starts. It starts relatively easy, but the last few hundred meter are like a wall. But that's where pushing the bike comes in handy. On the equally steep downhill one has this nice view of the Sagano valley. That valley is famous among tourists for a small sightseeing train. 

Only after that downhill the actual uphill starts. Which goes on and on, but at a nice gradient. Mid-way through is the small village of Mizuo apparently famous for it's Yuzu fruits. I have been here nearly 2 years ago... and looking back to that blog post I realize that I took today exactly the same pictures. 

The roads I was riding on, were mainly small or very small roads. Like this one. And just a joy to ride. It must be a great area also to ride when it is hot (or hotter) as it is all pretty much in the shadow of the trees and mountains. Although I wouldn't probably want to ride here when it is really hot, as there isn't an easy "escape" route back to a train station. Also with the villages being so small there is not a single conbini and around New Year all restaurants are closed. I say "all"... as if there were many. In Mizuo it seems there might be one or two and then much later in Hosono there is a ramen shop that does a very tasty boar ramen and deer dumplings. I tried the ramen in an other ride and it was excellent. But today also this shop was closed. 

NY 2025 D4 - Hatsu-Tiger-mode

Route: Yamatoyagi - Chogosonshiji - Mt. Shigi - Ikoma - Yodogawa - Kyoto
Bicycle: 82 km
Train: 60 km
Total Ascent: 811 m
Average Speed: 16.5 km/h
Riding time: 4:59 h
Weather: Very sunny and cold, 5C

As my first visit to a temple of the year, aka Hatsumode, I went to Chogosonshi-ji, the temple of the (paper mache) tiger. A bucket list item. 

This temple is on a crazy steep hill (in some parts it was even hard work to push the bike uphill, other parts are ridable). I had left my bicycle yesterday in the bike parking lot of Yamato-Yagi station. When I returned there the old men who run the bicycle parking lot knew exactly which was my bicycle. Probably not hard to guess when you see someone coming in with full cycling cloths into a parking lot that has only mamacharis. So much so, that they didn't check if I had the receipt. But hey, that's Japan. 

The first part of the ride was on bicycle paths along rivers. There are a lot of small rivers or channels in that area and many have bicycle paths. The surface in some of them is rather rugged... but still totally ridable. And then it went up the hill first through some satellite town and then further up. It was actually kind of the steepest in the town. 

When I made it up it was maybe around 12:30 and there were still free parking lots for cars. Apparently cyclists are not foreseen to make it up the hill... so there wasn't any specially designated bicycle parking lot, so I was allowed to park under a tree in the big parking lot together with a motorbike. 

The temple is a large, sprawling affair. 

Today with many happy visitors with family doing their Hatsumode (first visit of the year to a shrine/temple), buying good luck charms and bringing the ones from last year back to be burned at the shrine. There were some queues for people to pray, but nothing outrageous. 

Behind the temple a path with a lot of stairs and toriis started up to Mt. Shigi. And without thinking too much I walked up there... a LOT of stairs. ... to the view at the top and one more temple. 

Most gods had the same offerings, an orange, a mandarin, a small piece of cake, some sake and a rice cake. Only this one here, got some more healthy offerings as well. 

From there it was through the mountain range mostly downhill... although with some kickers until the mountain road came down the hill and ended up in build up area. From there... well, not such a nice ride. Just riding through build up area. I was able to find relatively small roads... but still not the same as riding through the mountains on small roads. Surprisingly though the national road that I took down towards Yodogawa didn't have that much  traffic. I had feared for the worst and actually made some alternative plans, but ultimately it was just a rather normal road. 

And then down to the bicycle path along Yodogawa that I road so many  times when staying in Osaka for work and cycling on the weekend to Kyoto or Nara. Uneventful. 

NY2025 D3 Nigatsudo and Kashihara jingu

Route: Kyoto - Nara - Kashihara - Yamatoyagi
Bicycle: 94 km
Train: 60 km
Total Ascent: 483 m
Average Speed: 16.3 km/h
Riding time: 5:46 h
Weather: Cloudy, some very dark clouds, which I managed to run out, cold, 5 C

For the last day of this year, I went to the temple in Nara I like most: Nigatsudo. 

Even nowadays when Nara is so flooded with tourists, around Nigatsudo it is still okay. Yes, there are tourists, but a normal amount, not hordes. And this is so strange. It is so close to Todaiji, just up a bit the hill... but it seems that the majority of tourists only alot half a day to Nara, see Nara park with the deer and Todaiji and then hurry on to Osaka or Kyoto or maybe Uji to see more clogged places, instead of making it up a little bit further the hill to Nigatsudo and its excellent views over the valley. 

I have probably written the same every time I wrote about Nigatsudo, but it is still an obligatory stop for me in Nara. I actually didn't visit any other parts of Nara. Also because a very dark cloud was looming overhead and looked like it might downpour at any moment. 

Originally my plan was to cycle to Nara and back to Kyoto. But I also want to visit a "tiger" temple which is farther away from Kyoto... so instead I decided to continue on, leave the bike in Yamatoyagi and restart from there tomorrow and go to the tiger temple... on the first day of the year of the snake. 

 I already got my commemoration photo of the year of the snake at Kashihara jingu. A day early, but thanks to this before the crowds. The shrine was actively preparing to receive thousands and thousands of worshippers from tomorrow. But today it was still very quiet. 

Overall the ride along the river between Kyoto and Nara is rather boring. Maybe I have done it now one time too many or I am just too much a mountain goat now that I am no longer thrilled by it. Yes, it is easy riding between Kyoto and Kizugawa on a broad cycling road along the river. After Kizugawa the cycling road becomes more complicated, disappears in some places before then returning in smaller edition somewhere after Nara. But Japanese landscape along heavily inhabited rivers simply is boring. The nicest part is the submergible bridge, which however now since a few years is under renovation. 

The rest of the landscape looks something like this. Villages, factories... and always a strong wind. 

At one place however there was a very early (or late... 31st December) blooming cherry tree:

In Kashihara jingu I saw the last sunset of the year... and I will not get up early tomorrow morning to try to see the first sunrise. I did do that I think once back in Barcelona... but it is easier there, as sunrise is much later in winter than in Japan. 

The day ended in an super sento in the Yamato Yagi area. The same I went to in early January this year. The area around the super sento continues to be as ugly as previously (and will never be nice). But today also the super sento was super full. I hadn't expected that so many people thought that it was a great idea to have a last bath on the 31st of December... but apparently I was wrong. Many people, many small children and some of the pools really full. I did relax a bit... but not as much as I would normally do. Also knowing that I needed to cycle in the cold the last ~5 km to the station didn't entice me to stay until late to try to avoid a bit the cold. 

The ride overall was rather boring... and most of the time on the bike I spent thinking about facades and what kind of material I would find acceptable or even nice for the facade of my house. My current conclusion is:

• Natural wood/bamboo would be ideal... but as far as I understand the building regulations in Tokyo this is out of questions due to fire prevention laws
• Mortar (ideally in a warm colour, maybe dark red, or the typical Japanese yellow)
• Maybe corrugated steel if it fits with the house design

But the typical material used for new houses in Japan which is a ceramic cladding that tries to look like stone but doesn't look like stone at all. It just looks like plastic to me (although it is some kind of ceramic)... that material I have yet to see a house that can pull it of. 

At least I know that mortar is possible, albeit more expensive than the ceramic cladding. 

NY2025 D2 Up to the heart of Kyoto

Route: Kyoto heart route in Northern Kyoto plus mountainous road behind Kurama
Bicycle: 74 km
Total Ascent: 1240 m
Average Speed: 15.7 km/h
Riding Time: 4:44:44 h (o yeah...)
Weather: Sun and clouds and even a few snow flakes, cold, 5 C

For my second day here, I repeated but prolonged a ride I had done nearly a year ago: https://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2023/12/d2-kyomi-pass-kifune-and-ohara.html 

But this time instead of sightseeing in Kifune I went up to Kurama and further up until national road #477. One of the smallest National Roads out there I guess. A small mountain road connecting Ohara with I don't know what. There is nothing essentially... Ohara to Kurama there is a more logical road further down the mountains and behind Kurama there doesnt seem to be anything except mountains and forests. Thus there were also only very few cars. Part of that National Road was so steep that cycling up wasn't in question (for me) and even on the downhill there were some parts that were scarily steep. 

The first part of the ride was essentially a copy paste, but with a better exit road from central Kyoto to the beginning of the climb. That climb behind Kinkakuji seems to be a staple for Kyoto road cyclists. On top of Kyomi pass there were two small groups waiting for each other. Even on this cold day in the middle of the winter... when most cyclists remain home. 

The other part I copied from that earlier ride was the lunch stop, in a wagyu restaurant, with very severe rules: no smartphones while eating, no loud conversation, no children, no single people by car, no take away ordering in the restaurant (only by phone), no perfume,... the list goes on. The restaurant is plastered with all their rules both on the outside but also on the inside. And frankly it takes away a bit of the enjoyment of the good meal. Where ever you look, there is some rule on the wall that forbids something. 

From there instead of Kifune, I went through Kurama, a place where I have been a few years back by local train and enjoyed the onsen there. It was closed during (or due to) Covid, but seems to be open again... although today it seemed closed... and anyway, it was at the bottom of the ascent, so not for me today.  

Overall it feels colder this year than last... although this snow picture is a bit of an exaggeration. Yes, there were some snow flakes behind Kurama in the mountains flying through the air, and yes, between Momoi pass and Maegahata pass on the side of the road there was snow as well as in the small mountain village of Momoi. But it was totally safe to ride and not that cold as the picture might make you think. Well... cold... but still survivable with the cycling winter clothes I use. 

The area looks like fun to explore. Maybe stay in Ohara and cycle from there on the various small mountain roads. But not in winter... in winter I prefer down in Kyoto in my U-Bell hotel (where I am now for the third or fourth time) with the hot sento waiting for my tired and cold body once off the bike. 

NY 2025 D1 - The return of the pickles

Route: Kyoto - Ohara and beyond and back
Bicycle: 60 km
Total Ascent: 662 m
Average Speed: 17.8 km/h
Riding time: 3:22 h
Weather: generally sunny, a few snow flakes, cold (but okay) 5 C

For this first day of my long New Years holidays, I had a slow start. The first time sleeping without a alarm bell in what feels like an eternity. I have been busy looking for a plot of land where to build a house, and otherwise on weekends I am generally out there somewhere with my bicycle. As I was today... but today at least I had no specific plan, didn't need to catch a train and thus had a sleep in. Then I put the bike together (which was in a rinko bag with both wheels removed, as that makes the bike considerably smaller so better to transport in an already very full Shinkansen) and then started at noon. 

While I was having my slow start I decided to on my target for today: pickles

There is a pickles factory cum restaurant at the entrance to Ohara. Ohara being a place where aparatenly a lot of vegetables are being grown 

I had been here a few years ago on an other ride and really liked the fresh pickles (I am normally not a big fan of Japanese pickled vegetables, but these were so fresh and varied), that I wanted to come again. I had tried one time... but it was too far in my route and I was hungry earlier, so today I made it the goal. 

When I first was at the restaurant, riding uphill, it was about 13:00. But as I had started only at noon, I still wanted to ride a bit more. So I continued up, a little bit down and up again all the way to a tunnel from where then it would be a long down hill to Takashima on lake Biwa. I just passed through the tunnel, looked at the snow on the other side and then road back down to Ohara and my lunch.

Riding up there it even did snow a little bit. Just floating snow flakes in the wind. Nothing that would actually stick. 

I remember this road up to the tunnel as quite challenging... but not so today. Very enjoyable instead. 

D3 perfect autumn scenes on small roads

Route: Saku Uminokuchi - Tatsuoka castle - Shimonita - Takasaki
Bicycle: 103 km
Train: 104 km
Total ascent: 1046 m
Average speed: 18.4 km/h
Riding time: 5:35 h
Weather: Clouds and some sun

When preparing for this ride I had seen a trip on Japan Guide in this area, where the writer visited the remains of a castle and a shrine in Saku. So I decided to ride down that way. From there I had also multiple options. Easiest would have been to just continue further downhill and take the Shinkansen either in Ueda or in Karuizawa... but the more interesting (and more challenging option) was to ride through the mountains to Takasaki... and that's what I did. 

But first to the castle... or well, the little bits that remain. Frankly from the ground it is not very impressive. Apparently there is a view point above in the hills... but although I tried, it wasn't accessible by road bike. Too much gravel on a steep road, so I gave up on it. What would be visible from there is the form: a five pronged star. One of only two castles in Japan with this form, the other one being in Hakodate in Hokkaido. 

However the koyo at the shrine in the same village was in full swing. Apart from this it was a normal temple (or shrine?), but with pagoda and all.

From there it was up through the mountains. Already until here I had managed to cycle on very private roads, but the road up here between Usuda and Shimonita was again one of these small mountain roads where one wonders why they have been constructed. But I am not complaining. Thanks to the Japanese tax payer (myself included), we have these small roads that connect minuscule villages through the mountains. And once there is a road it will get maintained. 

While yesterday on Yatsugadake koyo was way beyond peak... well, essentially all the leaves were gone, here in the lower elevations of this mountain range, koyo was at its best. Up on the pass a picture of a bike ...

With this impressive mountain range in the background. It must be somewhere between Takasaki and Karuizawa. I had also seen it in the distance when I went to Bessho onsen earlier this year. Definitely doesn't look apt for cycling. Probably not even for hiking. But for climbing. 

From there it was a very long downhill. Not only the downhill from the pass, but further down, as Saku on the Nagano side of the mountain is much higher than Takasaki and Shimonita on the Gunma side. Mostly  through very remote mountain forests. Only further down small villages came into view. 

Even quite close to Takasaki station (I think at about 7 km) this was the panorama: 

Definitely an other area of Japan to explore more. I will probably consider the same ryokan again, for it's good price, rotenburo and vicinity to a conbini. Next time a bit earlier in the season to see koyo on Yatsugadake... or maybe spring. 

So much to explore. But today's ride was already a treat with those small roads, no traffic (and no bears) and koyo. 

D2 Yatsugadake View Road

Route: up to Märchen Straße and down again
Bicycle: 41 km
Total ascent: 1064 m
Average speed: 11.9 km/h
Riding time: 3:28 h
Weather: sunny, 15 C

For today I went further up the mountain. In principle to two spots famous for their koyo… only that I was way too late for this. The birch trees, which seem to be the most abundant trees on Yaktsugadake already had lost all their leafs and a few maple trees were mostly barren as well with a few remaining red leafs.

The view , however, from the highest point of my ride, at about 1700 m, was fantastic. Higher than several of the mountains around it, but there was actually a road that was going further up.

Riding up in shorts and short sleeves was the perfect thing to do on the way down I put on my warm leg covers, the arm covers, a cap, a scarf and an additional long sleeved cycling underlayer. 

I could have probably ridden further up , but I prioritized a visit to an onsen halfway down the mountain that I had seen on Google maps, as well as on the way up. An onsen, which was besides a modern art museum, which I didn’t visit and which was standing there, a little bit like a foreign object in this nice landscape. 

Today I planned my timing much better. I checked when I took the pictures yesterday at the station which seem to be a good time to start riding back from the Osen the last eight back to my accommodation, so I could get down before it got too dark. But that still allowed me to see the sunset over Yatsugadake while lying in the hot waters of the rotenburo. 

So while I didn’t see the call you, I was aiming for, I still had a perfect day outside on this mountain. And I’m already planning my next visit to this area. Maybe in May when the days are longer and the nature should be green.

While my hotel is simple, it has several convenient points for me:

• Cheap cheap at about ¥7000 per night.
• Very close to a convenience store.
• Bookable without breakfast and dinner.
• With a small and simple onsen, but including a rotenburo.
• And close to a train station, in case I don’t want to cycle up here, or I want to leave from here by train. I don’t think the train runs at high frequency, but it’s still run several times a day so should be reasonably usable.
• And as a traditional ryokan has your name out on the street announcing to everyone your presence... so much for privacy... 

What was surprising that I saw only one other cyclist in the entire day. And it was brilliant weather, perfect for riding and also the roads had not too much traffic and those wonderful views. There were a lot of motorcycle riders and also cars… not too many, but only one other cyclist.

D1 up To the highest railway of Japan

Route: Kofu - Saku Uminokuchi
Bicycle: 63 km
Train: 127 km
Total ascent: 1422 m
Average speed: 12 km/h
riding time: 5:11 h
Weather: sunny , no clouds, great visibility but getting cooler, 18 C

An other long weekend and off I go. When I organize this weekend, again, I organize two different possibilities. One option staying in Izu Peninsula and the other to come to a place Between Yamanashi and Nagano prefecture Just on the foothills of Yatsugadake, One of the large mountains in the Japanese Alps. When the time grew closer the weather forecast for both parts on Saturday with terrible, so I canceled both and then rebooked only a few days ago for Sunday to Tuesday instead of Saturday to Monday in Nagano prefecture. Yesterday instead, I went with friends from Meetup to a hello Kitty exhibition in Ueno. Which was more fun than what I had expected.

Today I started my right from Kofu station, and from there it was practically uphill for the next 50 to 55 km. Down in the valley, I didn’t really find a good quiet road, but surprisingly up into the mountain. I had a very nice village Road not too small not too big simply perfect. And with nice views both of Fuji and Yatsugadake as well as the Northern Alps.

Fuji was really extremely well visible the entire day. At least from where I was. In a line cycling chat room I’m in a person who went to Hakone, which is much closer to Fuji did not have so much luck. Fuji was covered by clouds from that side.

And turn around, and there are more mountains, in this case, the famous Yatsugadake, which my father climbed many years ago when he came to Japan at relatively regular intervals for tours and then had some hiking trips on his free days.

But the koyo season hasn’t started yet and this picture was taken probably at around a little bit over 1000 m of elevation, but still mostly the trees are green. We will see you tomorrow if in the higher elevations there will be more colorful.

On my way to the highest point of the Japanese railway network, I happen on a very small road through a forest with this very nice stream flowing through.

And here I was at the remarkable place of the highest railway tracks in Japan. I came here two years ago in summer with some people from Meetup that had organized a weekend trip by train and we took a special astronomical observation themed train. Only that on the day we went it was cloudy and no stars visible. Very different from today. Where I could see nice stars from the rotenburo in my simple ryokan. 

Not too far from this point, there is a radio observatory. Which I visited with the last sun rays of the day.

The next train station is also astronomical themed and has the stations in its ceiling. 

Was the sun gone,  it became quickly very cold, but I had all my stuff on the bike so I could dress up warmer which was sufficient to keep me warm enough while riding. 

I had not planned the time and / or route too well For the last 10 km. On paper, it looked good , flat and then downhill to the hotel but in reality it got very quickly very dark and I was on the winding downhill road in pitch darkness with deers coming out of the  wood right and left. But slowly and surely, and without encountering, any bear or other more fear inspiring creatures, I made it to the village of my ryokan, Which also features a conbini where I bought my dinner and breakfast.