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. 

D4 into the mountains between Sakurai and Nara

Route: Sakurai - Uda - Nunume dam - Nara - Tenri - Sakurai
Bicycle: 104 km
Total Ascent: 1,486 m
Average speed: 16.1 km/h
Riding time: 6:27 h
Weather: Sunny but fresh

For what turned out to be the last day of cycling, I again took inspiration from the route book of the area, but this time, wanted to head over the mountains to Nara. And while on D3 I learned that I didn't need to worry about the "big" national roads, today I learned, that it depends. Surprisingly there was a road recommended in the route book, which had more traffic that I would have liked. So much indeed, that after lunch I gave up (on that route) and instead searched for an alternative on komoot... and surprise, surprise, there was a very quiet alternative closeby. 

To start however I first needed air for my wheels, which was a bit of a search as the air pumps at the bicycle parking lot at the train station weren't fitting for my valves and the bicycle shop I had seen on google maps turned out to be so old school, that the last bicycle they repaired was probably a Penny-farthing. So finally I needed to go to a shopping mall with a modern bicycle shop to get my air. 

From there I went up into the hills behind Sakurai on a similar route as a few days ago, avoiding the more heavy  traffic on the road to Hasedera. And then crossed over at Ueda towards the mountains behind Nara. 

However that route, T1 on the map, had quite some traffic. Not totally terrible, but being in such a rural area with the options to other roads it seemed really strange that the suggested bicycle path was on this road. When I got fed up, I had lunch close to the highway in a small restaurant, and then replanned my ride, still in the same direction, but searching for much smaller roads. And I found them immediately. Some even so small that there will be hardly any car or other traffic at all. 

I planned in a ride to a dam ...

... and then from there it was down to Nara. Still on very small roads. So small that when I entered in this small village I was greeted by a gang of monkeys. 

As Nara grew closer, traffic became more heavy, but I guess that cannot really be avoided. Inside Nara, however traffic (of cars) is well controlled. 

I didn't take a picture of all the tourists, but it is always surprising (in Nara and many other tourist hotspots in Japan) how few the tourists venture away from the "must see" spots. Around the Todaiji there were MASSES of tourists, but already a few meters behind not that many... and ride a little bit further: None. Specially after a day in the mountains with such small villages that are going to disappear due to depopulation pretty soon, and so much nature, the masses of tourists came as a shock to the system. I didn't linger and Nara and took a route at the bottom of the hills back towards Sakurai. 

On the way however I came through Tenri, a strange settlement with a huge temple and even bigger, outright enormous, "hotels". I say "hotels", because they aren't hotels where you can book a room, but rather accomodations for pilgrims. I am not even sure if the word "temple" is correct, because this is one of those new religions in Japan. It isn't shinto and it isn't buddhist either. 

I had come through this place by chance a few years ago on my brompton already and back then saw it in action. With masses of people waiting, well organized in the courtyard. But today it was late in the afternoon and I was virtually alone. 

Tenri is probably one of the few cities named after a religion. 

Tomorrow and Sunday the weather forecast is so bad here, that I decided to go back to Tokyo a day early and then ride in Tokyo area instead on Sunday. 

D3 - Over the mountains (twice) to Yoshino

Route: Sakurai - Higashi Yoshino - Yoshino - Gojo - Asuka - Tanzan - Sakurai
Bicycle: 107 km
Total ascent: 1423 m
Average speed: 17.9 km/h
Riding time: 5:57 h
Weather: Cloudy but no rain, ~12 C

I had taken PTO today to do some more riding around Sakurai. On my first ride here in the region I came upon signs of recommended cycling routes on the road. So looked it up, and found a few more around here which I combined into today's ride, plus a few changes made through komoot. Mainly to avoid "big" streets... turned out, I shouldn't have worried about "big" streets. Even the national roads here in this region have little traffic. There is simply not that many places to go to. Very rural, very mountainous and very depopulated. 

Sakurai is right at the bottom of many hills. I took the one up to Tanzan shrine (but didn't go all the way up to the shrine - yet), instead turned left into a short tunnel and then a long uphill section through a small village forgotten by the world. They do have a small tunnel to get to them and a huge tunnel to leave them, both pretty new... and very empty. Lucky for us cyclists.

From there it was a long but pleasant downhill, along the inevitable dam (there are just so many in Japan, is that normal?).

This route was part of the suggested routes from Nara province... but when planning yesterday in komoot I choose even smaller streets, which would really not have been necessary... but wasn't bad either. Riding onwards to my destination of the day, a shrine that came up on Google maps. For me I would say it was a normal shrine as I have seen many... 

... but clearly I was missing the significance of this shrine as there were people visiting it in deep prayer at each section of the shrine, including this waterfall located beyond a small bridge. The shrine stands at the confluence of 2 rivers plus the waterfall... so I can see that this is an important geographical location. 

But I was getting hungry (ate a nut bar, but that wasn't enough) so looked for something to eat... but this region is so remote, that there was no open restaurant anywhere closeby to be found. Luckily however it was a downstream ride along a river until I found about 15 km later in Miyataki a small ryokan that had lunch. Only for me... no other guests. 

Further downstream I came through Yoshino. I had been a few years ago by train from Osaka at the hight of hanami season and only think of Yoshino as a hanami spot... so was surprised to find that it is a very industrial village. Actually not industrial, but a village with a LOT (and I mean A LOT) of saw mills. Every building seemed to be a saw mill, with wood everywhere. Not suprising probably seeing that there are so many forests around. And little else. 

For hanami this year it is way too early. A few weeks ago people were thinking that maybe this week hanami would start (at least down in Osaka/Kyoto/Tokyo), but it got cold again, so hanami is a bit later. In Yoshino probably still 3 weeks to full bloom. 

I continued onwards along the river to Gujo, a place I had ridden through a few years ago on my brompton on the way from Yamatoyagi to Wakayama. From there originally I had planned to take another of the recommended Nara routes on the foothills of the mountain range Mount Kongo, but a few rain drops started to fall, so I decided to play it safe and stay close to the train line... which luckily gets through a very tranquil valley. The rain never really started, so when I had a small stop at a conbini and looking around I saw the tall mountain of Tanzan jinja in the distance. At that point back to Sakurai (or at least to the onsen I wanted to wash off the fatigue) it was probably another 15 - 20 flatish kilometers... but I built up courage, checked the rain radar and decided to instead ride up again to Tanzan shrine, down the other side and only then to the onsen. I am really starting to like climbing up mountains, even though it is hard work and definitely I need several breaks when riding up. 

From there it was a fast decend to the valley, and into the onsen. A super sento between Yamato-Yagi and Sakurai that I have visited before. Also today it was full with families with small children enjoying their time. 

Tomorrow is a local holiday, but weather forecast is rain for the entire day... so I think I'll just do nothing (well, some administrative tasks... and planning the ride for Friday). Weather on the weekend looks pretty bad as well, so I think I will return a day early on Saturday, and hopefully have better weather in Tokyo on Sunday to ride there.