Among Kyoto’s many sights are bamboo groves. Some are famous and much-photographed, others are just there.

On our way to one of the famous ones with many Instagram photos, we passed one that was barely marked on the map. The low sun made for pretty light and shadow,

The largest bamboo stalks were as thick as tree trunks.

The tall, straight stalks, and the light filtering through the tufts of leaves at the top, make it feel sort of like the ribbed vaults of a Gothic church.

Arashiyama bamboo grove is a popular one. I had expected something the size of a small forest, but it was much smaller. Basically a single, mostly straight path of maybe a hundred metres, with bamboo on both sides. Given that there was only one path, it was quite full of people. You can’t see them very well because I mostly aimed the camera away from them, but the bottom of the photo is all full of people’s heads.

Among all the arrow-straight bamboo – a single dark and twisty tree.

I imagine the bamboo groves used to be larger. Probably still are, somewhere out in the countryside. I wonder what it would feel like to walk, surrounded by nothing but these straight pillars. Meditative?