Last Tuesday was a public holiday in aid of the new emperor’s enthronement. It reminded me of a walk I did in the spring when I “met” some of the older emperors. It was all in Nara prefecture and was a nice easy afternoon’s walk.

I started in Tenri at a nice little temple/shrine.

There were chickens and roosters wandering around the grounds. Some little kids were having lots of fun imitating the roosters.

The path is paved so there isn’t any difficulty. It’s also rather flat so not much hill climbing.

I had previously attempted thus walk in the other direction. I didn’t even find the start. Some maps and signs in Japan can be a bit hap hazard. The path is marked once you get on it but even then you have to be careful. Which direction do you think this sign post is pointing you?

A lot of the walk is through different fields. This a rice paddy that has been drained before any rice is planted. The smoke is from the burning of either sawdust or dead plant mass. I seem to remember reading about a Japanese fertiliser method that burns sawdust but I can’t find anything on the internet about it.

I also walked past a “moated village”. Sadly most of the moat has gone but here is part of the moat that remains. Really it was just a small rural village. It makes you wonder what it would be like to live in a place with a moat though.

It being the spring I also came across some cherry blossom.

One of the major features of the walk is that it passes several Kofun. I’ve talked about Kofun before. They are the burial mounds of emperors from a long time ago. They have been back in the news recently as several Kofun in and around Osaka have been made UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Japanese like their World Heritage Sites. This is one of the smaller Kofun.

One of the larger Kofun includes a little gated area where you can pay your respects to the ancient emperor. You’re not allowed on the Kofun themselves.

This is a wider view of the above larger Kofun.

About half way along I stopped off at a temple to have a look around the grounds. I took a picture of what I think is plum blossom.

Outside of the temple was a garden area. I stopped here to eat my lunch. A number of cats appeared to say hello (and presumably they were hoping to get some food).

Towards the end of the walk (near the end town of Sakurai) the path gets a bit hillier. Walking through the wood was a nice change from the open space of the earlier open fields.

All in all a good walk. I later did this walk again in the summer and the subtle change in some of the scenery was nice. I might try again once the autumn starts properly.