Kurama and Kibune

as i mentionned in my last post, Ulala and i went for a short hike near Kyoto last weekend. we started at Kurama and the temple there, took a very short cable car ride up the mountain a ways, and then hiked over to Kibune and Kibune Shrine. it`s not too far and it was a nice walk through the forest. the sun went down when we were almost at Kibune so when we got there we were delighted to find long lines of beautiful lanterns and open fires at the shrine. we also got our omikuji (paper fortune) at the shrine. the omikuji at Kibune-jinja are somewhat unique in that the fortune is invisble on the paper until you dip the paper in the water from the natural mountain spring in front of the shrine.

the weather was good, too. sunny and cool but not too cold. this week has been getting colder everyday. i`m not complaining at all though. we had a long summer and the changing leaves are quite late this year. now if only i can convince Ulala to call and get our heater fixed....

here are a few of the pictures from our hike: