Kumogahata Matsuage at Koun-ji Temple & Fukuzo-ji Temple

雲ヶ畑松上げ

In the mountain village of Kumogahata, August 24 will witness the annual Matsuage burning.

The Tanicho and Nakahatacho sections of the village light piles of wood that create a Buddhist symbol to pray for a good autumn harvest and fire protection.

Every year a different Buddhist character is chosen - and is a tightly held secret.

There is no public transportation after a certain hour. Those going should drive or cycle - and on the return trip do so carefully.


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Cycling Kumogahata Kyoto

自転車で雲ヶ畑へ

In the hills north of Kyoto are several good rides: Kibune, Ohara, and Kumogahata.

All are excellent rides.

Kumogahata is perhaps the hardest of the three, with a gradual climb that will take about 30 minutes.

What awaits is a pastoral scene of farm houses, shrines and temples, and fields.

It is a cool breather from the scorching heat of central Kyoto.

Directions

From central Kyoto, ride north along the Kamo River until you get to Kamogamo Shrine (off to the right). Continue along the river until Route 38. Then, you will continue straight onto 61. That is where the climb starts. The ride is about one hour from downtown Kyoto, a bit more for first-timers.

For those in very good shape, it is possible to continue up and over the top of the mountain and follow the narrow mountain road - paved, of course - back into a different part of Kyoto close to Bukkyo University.


View Kyoto Kumogahata Cycling Map in a larger map

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自転車で京都雲ヶ畑まで

Cycling Kyoto Kumogahata

日本語ご希望の方。

In the far north of Kyoto City is a mountain village that is a world apart from the rest of the city.

Kumogahata is a rural village within the city limits.

To get there is a bit of a climb, but from downtown will take only about one hour.

The villages that make up Kumogahata feature several temples, rural scenery, a river (that is in places unfortunately filthy with trash) that is the source of the Kamo River, and mountains.

The area has been inhabited for than a thousand years.

A highlight is the annual August 24 the Kumogahata Torch-throwing Festival.

On weekends, there are a fair number of cyclists on the roads.


Ride Kumogahata ride.

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Gosho

Japanese Poisonous Centipede Mukade

ムカデ京都

Japan is paradise for insect lovers.

Separated from the Asian continent 20,000 years ago, many species have evolved over the years and exist nowhere else on earth.

Moreover, Japan is a bug-friendly country. Young boys take to the woods on weekends armed with their nets in search of beetles.

This fascination with insects can be found in children's stories, manga, and animation.

While we were dodging dead snakes - crushed on the pavement by automobiles - on the ride up to Kumogahata, we spied a small nasty little creature wriggling its way across the street.

It was the dreaded mukade, or poisonous centipede. This one was about 10 cm (3 inches) long.

In city parks, this would be a fairly large mukade; in the country they can grow twice this size.

And they are poisonous.

A bite will not kill an adult, but infants and small animals need to be wary. A neighbor's 15 kg dog was nipped on the hind leg, and could not move it for three weeks.

Older people are said to keep the juices of a mukade on hand as a salve. By applying these juices - gleaned by boiling a mukade - it is said to act as an antidote.

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Jizo Statue Kumogahata Kyoto

地蔵さん雲ヶ畑京都

The small statuettes sprinkled throughout Japan - an in particular, in Kyoto - are known as Jizo, or Jizo-san.

Jizo is a Bodhisattva (in Japanese: Bosatsu): that is, one who "achieves enlightenment but postpones Buddhahood until all can be saved." The "ji" (地) means earth, and the "zo" (蔵) is womb.

These mini-Buddha are beloved and thought to ease suffering.

This one sits in a cemetery in Kumogahata, northern Kyoto.

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