Travel: Japan 206 Day 16 & 17 // Kyoto // Nishiki Market; Arashiyama

03/01/2016

We pretty much spent our day... ... ...

burning money at Nishiki Market T.T

Nishiki Market is adjacent to Teramachi shopping street and Shin-Kyogoku Shopping street. All three areas are designed with roofs, so visitors can spend money come rain or hail :P

There is not much for me to elaborate here, as I have been here before. Check out my last year's entry for more.

These are seriously good. Love the cheese one.

there is quail egg inside the octopus

04/01/2015

Last year I didn't get to explore Arashiyama much. So this time, I wanted to dedicate more time for this lovely part of Kyoto.
We made our way to JR Saga Arashiyama station, then started our self walking tour north.
Arashiyama is dotted with small shrines, quaint old style houses, and all around very 'Kyoto'.

Our first stop was to Tenryu-ji Temple. Registered as one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites (and rightly so), this place has a beautiful expansive zen style garden.
Admission fee is JPY600 (for both temple & garden admission).

Then onto the famous bamboo forest...

Okochi Sanso Villa (admission fee JPY1000) also boasts beautiful garden. The admission fee also includes a bowl of frothy matcha tea and small snack.

 For lunch, we stopped at one of the opened eateries along the way (as most of them were still closed for New Year holiday)

The path north is dotted with a lot of cute shops selling cute items.. .

... as well as the ones selling hand-made craft goods, from potteries to utensils.. .

We continued on to Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street, where many of the buildings are in the style from Edo period. Beautiful preserved area and very quiet. Love this so much more than Toei Park the other day... .

figurines made of silk cocoons

A bit of walking north led us to Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple (admission JPY500). I suggest to visit this if you have the time. Said to have some 8000 buddhist statues to appease and memorialize the souls of the dead, the place is off the track from usual tourists' path: you can definitely feel the solemness of the unspoken words from the statues.

After coming this far, of course we had to visit another small temple - a further 10 minutes walk brought us to Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple (Admission JPY300). There are a lot of statues as well, and after the solemness of Adashino Nenbutsuji, you'd be pleasantly surprised that the status at Otagi Nebutsuji mostly have happy and humorous faces.

Heading back to JR Saga Arashiyama, we passed Seiryo-Ji Temple. Didn't really do much here as the temple was closed, but the wooden architecture of this temple is beautiful.

 ***

Back at the main shopping/eating district of Arashiyama (which is close to Randen Arashiyama Tramway station) we had our dinner at Kyo- Ine (嵯峨とうふ稲). There are actually quite a few eateries offering tofu dishes in this area (after all, Kyoto is famous for its tofu as well), but this place caught our eyes.

The meal set prices are actually very reasonable, and you have a complete meal out of it (though no meat).

The Teoke Yuba was so smooth and yummy when dipped in the accompanying yuzu sauce.

Kyo-Ine (嵯峨とうふ稲)

〒616-8384 京都府京都市, 右京区嵯峨天龍寺造路町１８

Closes at 6.30 p.m.

***

Arashiyama is truly a beautiful part of Kyoto. If you spend a few days, I suggest to allocate the time from morning until late noon here. I still missed visiting a lot of temples (I love the architectures, the ambience, the gardens, and the small emas usually sold).

Arashiyama is pretty much dead after dark, so allocate some time to eat at one of the tofu restaurants (if you are into it) or any of the awesome dessert & snack shops there. You are in Kyoto. Eat tofu, drink matcha, eat green tea or soymilk desserts.