Hiking report -2013.5.19
- May 21-2013
- Chikako Takemoto
- Event,Green tour,Kyoto,Nature,Outdoor life,Shrines,Temples,Travel
Today’s Kyoto was hot! I remember the terrible weather in summer here.
Rainy season will start soon. It’s just now to enjoy good weather actually.
Green Tour Kyoto had a nice event of hiking last Sunday.
The route was from very famous shrine, Fushimi-inari-taisha to Sennyu-ji which is well-known as the temple related to Imperial Family.
Fushimi-inari-taisha Shrine is located on the foot of Mt.Inari. This mountain is not too high and maintained as the ground of shrine. But or therefore, there are lots of steps so hiking on this mountain is a little tough.
Hikers go up the mountain while passing through thousands of Sinto gates. It sounds different from a usual hiking. That’s just like a Kyoto hiking!
After lunch while overlooking the landscape in Kyoto City, we walked towards the next destination, Unryu-in Temple in the Sennyu-ji Temple Ground.
Sennyu-ji is well known as the great temple having a relation with the Imperial Family from the Edo era.
We chose one sub-temple, Unryu-in to have a rest after hiking and experience some cultural tradition, a kind of training in Buddhism. Meditation? No, It wasn’t.
Have you ever heard the word, Shakyo (写経)?
This is the transcription of the Buddhism sutra which had been done to spread the Buddhism before the invention of printing.
We transcribed 262 letters of kanji as sitting next to the Buddha statue in the main hall of the temple.
It was quite a special experience! It was not easy to concentrate to write 262 letters without talking. Speaking of me, lots of thinkings about daily life, business etc. appeared in my head. It seemed to be far from the world of nothing! When I experienced the meditation in the temple, it was a same condition. Oh..I am just a normal person with many worldly thoughts.
However, take a look at my transcription above.
Don’t you think it is so so well?
Anyway, we enjoyed the active hiking and quiet moment in a day.
Weather was nice and members were wonderful. GTK’s challenge was successful at this time!
If you’d like to know further information about this route, see here on GTK website;
http://www.greentour-kyoto.net/green_east01.html
