This is probably the most surreal and visually stunning place I’ve ever been. To get to these remote hills takes about a two hour train ride from Nara. The mountain has a tiny village that sadly only have a couple of weeks a year to sell their wares during cherry blossom season and during the fall. The story goes that monks planted thousands of cherry trees in these mountains hundreds of years ago. The day we went there was a light drizzle and low clouds swirled around the tops of the mountains. I really couldn’t have asked for a more dreamy setting. There are a couple of old shrines that look a bit run down and overtaken by nature, which is in stark contrast to the toursity shrines we’ve visited in Kyoto. The whole mountain feels like time stood still there. It is probably only worth going during the cherry blossom, so if you do go please give some love to the local businesses.
