Bamboo Forest, Arashiyama

If you make Kyoto the base and center of your travels in Japan, which I would recommend, there a few nice day trips you could start from there. This would be quite smart, because the little town of Kyoto with its 1,5 million citizens attracts the incredible number of 40 million visitors a year. One of the great spots around is Arashiyama. This little town is famous for many neatly restored temples and carved stone-buddhas, which are laid at the sideways.

If you make Kyoto the base and center of your travels in Japan, which I would recommend, there a few nice day trips you could start from there. This would be quite smart, because the little town of Kyoto with its 1,5 million citizens attracts the incredible number of 40 million visitors a year. One of the great spots around is Arashiyama. This little town is famous for many neatly restored temples and carved stone-Buddhas, which are laid at the sideways. There one thing though, that makes Arashiyama truly unique: a Bamboo- Forrest. Remember the scenes in “Tiger and Dragon” when the heroes and villains jump from one treetop to another? Using the elegant bounces of the elastic bamboo? Well, all of these dreamlike sequences could have been shot in Arashiyama. If you walk deep enough into the surrounds of the towns you will find yourself within bamboo. This encounters is sensually polyvalent. You see the trees waving slightly in the wind and you hear the wood clapping against wood. The created rhythm surely is one thing you will never forget.

Another thing remarkable in Arashiyama is Bruce. While we were heading back to the station I discovered a sign in front of a house showing a little man and beneath the man another, even smaller little man. I went inside the store and discovered a whole multitude of little men. These figures are pencil cases made of different materials and designs and the creator behind them is Bruce: A Japanese in his thirties, a Designer, who quit the retrace and now design pencil cases. And they are state of the art and come in limited edition. Even though I have no pencils I surely got me a pencil case from Bruce.

Take the JR San-In line from the Kyoto Station or take a bus going from before the station. These sites seems to be wildly popular with the Japanese travelers, especially during holidays, where especially the women dress up in traditional garments and visit the plenty shrines.

Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arashiyama

http://www.bruce-kyoto.com/

written by wil6ka on 2008-08-21 #places #nature #trees #location #arashiyama