Thursday, 12 May 2016 in more detail
Original posted LIVE here.
Time to visit the Kyoto International Manga Museum which was only a 400m walk from our apartment.
Manga (漫画 Manga) are comics created in Japan or by creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art.
The term manga in Japan is a word used to refer to both comics and cartooning. "Manga" as a term used outside Japan refers to comics originally published in Japan.
In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The medium includes works in a broad range of genres: action-adventure, business and commerce, comedy, detective, historical drama, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy, sexuality, sports and games, and suspense, among others. Many manga are translated into other languages. Since the 1950s, manga has steadily become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a ¥406 billion market in Japan in 2007 (approximately $3.6 billion) and ¥420 billion (approximately $5.5 billion) in 2009. Manga have also gained a significant worldwide audience.
Inside the Kyoto International Manga Museum are thousands of manga, with entire series organised like this. This is likely the most comprehensive collection of manga in the world.
After I took the above photos inside the Manga Museum a staff member politely asked me to stop taking photos, as apparently they are not allowed.
Overall this museum is well worth the visit as it includes exhibits which show the history and development of manga. There was also a scale model exhibit on the day we were there. Many locals buy an annual pass to gain access so they can come in and read manga all year around.
Famous manga artists had also been asked to draw a geisha and above are some examples.
We got on our pushbikes and headed to southern Kyoto. We ride next to the Kamo River.
India recorded some of our bike ride today on her GoPro strapped to her chest as she rode (you can hear her heartbeat). Enlarge and enjoy India's excellent commentary and the view as you ride through Kyoto!
We visited many beautiful temples and shrines towards southern Kyoto today, starting with the Buddist Tofukuji Temple located here.
We ride further south until finally we arrive near our main destination for today . . . first we find somewhere near these shops to lock up our bikes . . .
Finally we arrive at the most popular tourist attraction in Kyoto, the famous "thousand gates" shrine of Fushimi Inari-Taisha.
Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha) is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.
Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the shrine grounds. Fushimi Inari Shrine has ancient origins, predating the capital's move to Kyoto in 794.
While the primary reason most foreign visitors come to Fushimi Inari Shrine is to explore the mountain trails, the shrine buildings themselves are also attractive and worth a visit. At the shrine's entrance stands the Romon Gate, which was donated in 1589 by the famous leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Behind stands the shrine's main building (Honden) and various auxiliary buildings.
At the very back of the shrine's main grounds is the entrance to the torii gate covered hiking trail, which starts with two dense, parallel rows of gates called Senbon Torii ("thousands of torii gates"). The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate.
Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine in Kyoto
We enjoyed riding our bikes next to the Kamo River towards our apartment in Kyoto
We ate a burger, hot dog and fries nearby and made it back to the apartment in time for a wonderful sunset.
