Kyoto - Fushimi Inari & Yariganna Hunt

On our way back from Arashiyama, we made a stop at Fushimi Inari Taisha, a shrine known for its thousands of torii gates lining the trail up Mt Inari, between the shrine's main buildings. This is a very popular tourist attraction in Kyoto, so it's recommended to come super early or super late if you don't want to be in a sea of people. This was our only opportunity for visiting, so we decided to give peak timing a chance. It was a zoo in the beginning, but like with lots of tourist attractions, once you head up the mountain a bit, the crowds thin out and you can get some time to yourself.

Before we left Kyoto, we stopped at a small carpentry tool store. After seeing and trying a yari-ganna (spear plane) at the Takenaka Museum, I (Keanan) found a place to buy one to bring home. The shop itself was tiny, with barely enough room for the two of us, the two men there (who I think were father and son), and the shelves and shelves of handmade chisels, gouges, planes, marking knives, and hatchets. While Jess ran out to an atm to get more cash, I did my best to make small talk through Google translate. All of the tools in the shop were handmade on site, and being shown all the varieties of tool and how they differ from western hand tools was a real treat.Read more