Snow in Kurama January 2011

When it snows here in Kyoto, I like to head up to the town of Kurama in the Kitayama Mountains to really enjoy it. There's always much more snow up in Kurama. Yesterday, we woke to a few centimeters of snow here in Kyoto, so I did my work in the morning then I jumped on the Eizan line to Kurama to enjoy the winter scenery.

Here's a shot from inside the Eizan line train. Many of the train cars have these special view cars with seats aligned to let you enjoy the scenery, as this family was doing:


Here's the main gate of Kurama-dera Temple:


After hiking uphill through the snow for about 25 minutes, I got to the main hall:


I crossed the summit of Mt Kurama and headed down through about 25 centimeters of snow toward Kibune. On the way, I passed Okuno-in Maoden hall:


Here's a nice ryokan (Fujiya) in the village of Kibune. I chatted with the old lady out front who complained that the snow had caused a blackout:


Here are the steps up to Kibune-jinja Shrine: