Autumn in Kyoto city is always crowded with tourists looking for momiji (maple leaves) in temples. To avoid the crowd, I decided to go to Mount Takao – where an 6-9km hiking trail with momiji trees and a crystal clear river is around. Turns out, the scenery is magnificent! Here is the story of our hiking date in Kiyotaki Hiking Trail.
To reach Mount Takao, we took JR Bus heading to Takao from the nearest bus stop. For a tourist, the JR Bus to Mount Takao is available from Kyoto Station. Be minded though, in this autumn season, JR Bus can be very crowded. While waiting for the bus, there were three buses that didn’t mind stopping at the bus stop where we were waiting because inside it’s already packed with people. For me, I had to re-route my trip to a bus stop in the middle of nowhere because here they have two bus options to Mount Takao: JR Bus and Kyoto city bus no.8 (Yes, Bus no.8 also available from Shijo Karasuma to Mount Takao). After the one hour trip becomes two hours because of the waiting time, we finally made it to Takao!
Note: As of November 2018, for those of you who wish to see Jingo-ji Temple before heading to the hiking trail, it is suggested to get off at Makino instead of Yamashirotakao because the track to Jingo-ji from Yamashirotakao is said to be closed because of the previous Typhoon No.21 (Jebi).
Our first beautiful scenery was the red bridge surrounded by the mixed color of autumn leaves. When we look downward, we saw an enchanting turquoise-color river of Kiyotaki. After some snaps, we walked to Jingo-ji Temple. Here around Jingo-ji, there are various restaurants open for tourists – both downhill near the river and upside hill near the entrance of Jingo-ji. If you want to enter the temple, it costs 600yen. As for us, we went uphill but didn’t enter the temple – we took a rest in an open-air restaurant named Kaishitei (硯石亭) instead. Even though we didn’t enter Jingo-ji, we didn’t regret at all climbing those steps. The momiji here is so beautiful!
Finished with our brunch session, we went back downhill through a different route. We continued to climb a little towards the temple, and then turn left downhill. The route was leading back to the same entrance we went to, eventually. From here, we started our hiking track. A bit warning for everyone who will start hiking from here – it’s better to go to the toilet before starting to hike. There is no toilet in between the hiking track (about 5-6 km ahead), and it was a bit of problem for us that day.
As we walked through the hiking track, we realized the crowd becomes less and less. Apparently, not all people who went to Jingo-ji will go to the hiking track. Thus I would say for those who don’t want to go hiking, you can still go to Takao and having lunch + momiji sightseeing around Jingo-ji! Then, you can go back from the same arrival point using JR Bus/Kyoto city bus no.8.
Back to the hiking track – I would say the hiking road is not 100% a smooth path as you might expect from a Japanese touristy object. There were some rocky and slippery roads, so make sure you use proper shoes (doesn’t have to be hiking shoes, but at least sports shoes). Although people said Japanese forests – include this one in Takao, maybe – are re-planted after the real one exploited, but the scenery looks real enough for me. Through the path, there were greeneries with some autumn colors trees pop up. Pine trees are lining up in our right and left side created a walking tunnel for us. Big rocks and a clear river is our best company during the walk. There are even some points in the track where we can go down walking in the rocks around the river.
After about an hour walking, we found a space where people having a picnic. Looks like this place is built for hikers to take a rest. There were tables and bench nearby the river, but you may also sit on the grass with your picnic mat if you prefer to (and don’t bother if you don’t bring one, just sit anywhere you like). A perfect place to have lunch before continue hiking.
An hour later from the lunch spot, we arrived in a bridge near to Atago Shrine. Here, there are parking spots, public toilets (finally!!), and bus stop. The place looks like the end point of the hiking track. However, I insisted to search for a place that my friend took a picture on. Turns out, it takes two bridges downhill from the first bridge near Atago Shrine to find the scenery that I was looking for. Thus, after you meet the first bridge, don’t stop yet! Go down to the river, or go through the local houses to the next of the next bridge in front of you. There’s beautiful scenery await!
Having the wanted scenery snapped, we walked uphill to the bus stop. I and Rizky almost took the bus, but later decided to continue walking instead – despite having a challenge in front of us: Kiyotaki Tunnel. To pass the route from Kiyotaki trail to Arashiyama, we have to pass the 500-meter Kiyotaki Tunnel. Since we saw there’s an old man walking through the tunnel, we thought it will be okay to walk through it. Well, despite the fact that we made it through the tunnel, I would suggest anyone to not do the same as me. Later I found that the Kiyotaki Tunnel is one of the most haunted places in Japan (!!!). Even if there’s no ghost story surrounding it, I still not recommend anyone to walk in the tunnel because it’s cold and dangerous (the tunnel was dark with limited lighting inside, I was praying hard car drivers won’t hit me).
After tunnel episode, we arrived in the preserved street of Arashiyama. There are some temples around here, including the famous Adashino Nenbutsu-ji, a mass burial sites for 8000 people. Oh yes, later on, I found that this area was once a battlefield. No wonder there were spooky stories surrounding the tunnel and around.
Anyway, we were too tired to continue our walk to the Togetsukyo bridge of Arashiyama. We decided to walk directly to the nearest bus stop that will take us home. If you still have some energy to explore Arashiyama, not only Togetsukyo bridge or Bamboo Forest, the streets on the back side of Arashiyama is also a nice place to take a walk.
And that’s all our hiking story! I can say I didn’t regret at all having walked in total 12 km that day. The scenery, the refreshing air, the momiji – it’s all worth it.
Love,
