We went to the northern part of Kyota near the Togetsu-kyo Bridge where there is a couple of highlights not well known by many tourists.

We will share one today and share the secret of the second tomorrow. The first was a small hike up to the Senko-hi Temple.

It was built originally in 1614 but recently reconstructed due a typhoon a few years ago. It rum by Monk Obayashi to evangelism Zen Buddhism and maintain the temple.

Everyone is welcome and the views of the city and surrounding area are gorgeous.

We even joined a ceremonial tea session and some meditation guidance on how to solve the conflict in the Ukraine.

Definitely worth a visit and an awesome hike near Kyoto.

We then ventured out into the farming region a little south of Kyoto but not all the way to the Kobe cattle region. Many people do not know that most Samurai were from farming families. The highlight of this excursion was to check out another Samurai residence (known as the Heki Residence) which was built and used in the Edo period.

We stopped and had lunch in the house with the family (the husband is actually in Samauri lineage). Many movies are actually made here because some parts of the home are still original. But if you look close, you can see that modern Samurai are high tech now.