North of Kyoto, the city's famous temples and tourist crowds fall away within a few kilometres and the mountains begin. Keihoku is the high, forested country in the northern part of Kyoto's municipal area, reached by roads that follow river valleys up into cedar plantations, and it feels remote in a way that is hard to believe so close to a city of one and a half million. The slopes are covered with straight, tall trees, planted in neat rows, and the light under them is deep green and still.
These are the Kitayama cedars, a type of forestry that has supplied Kyoto's architects for centuries. The trees are pruned and managed with great care to produce slender, uniform, knot-free trunks, which are polished and used as pillars in teahouses and fine homes. The craft goes back to the fifteenth century or so, and it is a living tradition, visible in the carefully tended groves that climb the hillsides. The old road along the river, a branch of the route that carried fresh mackerel from the Sea of Japan to Kyoto, is known as the Mackerel Road, and fish were said to be salted on the way and arrive in time for the evening meal.
The riding is a pleasure. The roads climb through the forest in a series of curves, with a good surface but some narrow sections, and the air is cool and fragrant. Traffic is light, apart from the occasional logging truck, and the pace is slow. In autumn the maples add red and gold to the dark green, and in winter, snow can fall and ice can form on the shaded corners, so check the conditions before you go. Fog in the valleys is common in the morning.
Fuel and food are best handled before leaving the city or in Kameoka, about sixteen kilometres away, or in Arashiyama on the western edge of Kyoto, where the services are plentiful. Small shops and roadside stations in the valleys offer drinks and snacks, but it is wise not to rely on them. Bring a rain layer, because mountain weather changes quickly. Mornings and late afternoons give the best light, and the air carries the clean smell of cedar. It is a quiet, easy way to see the other side of Kyoto.