Touken Ranbu pilgrimage in Kyoto! ~京の軌跡~ Kyo no Kiseki~

[Japan Trip day 5! - 22/2/16]

Touken Ranbu had a collaboration with Randen (a local train line in Kyoto) and Toei Animation Eiga Mura. The campaign, "京の軌跡 Kyo no Kiseki" is a pun of sorts - 京 Kyo referring to Kyoto and sounds like "today" while 軌跡 Kiseki refers to track, while sounding like "miracle".  This event only runs from 23rd January to 13 March, quite a short period of time if you'd ask me.

The main draw of this event would be the stamp rally - after completing all four stamps on a pamphlet (free to take at participating train stations), you'll receive an exclusive badge! (But who am I kidding, the highlight, of course, is to take picture with the sword husbandos standees.)

The yellow rectangles indicate photospots where the standees of swordboys are, and the red areas are the points for the stamp rally.

Stamp rally points (in red)
Kitano Hakubaicho station (top): Horikawa Kunihiro
Arashiyama station (left): Iwatooshi & Imanotsurugi
Eiga Mura (centre): multiple boys 8)
Shijo Omiya station (right): Kashuu Kiyomitsu & Yamatonokami Yasusada

Photospot points (in yellow) - clockwise
Awata Jinja (top right) - Akita Toushirou, Ichigo Hitofuri
Toyokuni Shrine (middle right) - Honebami Toushirou
Fujimori Shrine (bottom right) - Tsurumaru Kuninaga
Mibudera (centre) - Nagasone Kotetsu & Izuminokami Kanesada
Daikaku Ji (top left) - Uguisumaru
Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (top centre) - Higekiri
Kenkun Shrine (top centre right) - Souza Samonji

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Given the lack of time in our itinerary, we could not visit all the photospots. The locations we went - either I liked the sword very much, or it was a notable attraction that we would have visited even without the touran collab.

The first location we went to was Toyokuni shrine! It was near to the place we were staying at, just beside the Kyoto National Museum.

Aha! Honebami spotted.

Just look at his beautiful face... In the game we could never get such high definition lol. I realised the standees are actually to scale? I am the same height as him and his standee was my height too! 

How to get an omikuji (fortune slip) tutorial:

The next place we went to was Mibudera! For the area where the standees are, you'll need to pay 100yen (most places were free though). The paid area is a small memorial for the shinsengumi members. The swords in this area were Nagasone Kotetsu and Izuminokami Kanesada - owned by Kondo and Hijikata of the Shinsengumi respectively, so it's actually quite fitting.

With Kane-san! (Not really a fan of Nagasone sorry LOL)

I also happened to be in Kane colours, in case you haven't noticed.

There was also a place to hang Ema. Quite a lot of them had Touran or Hakuouki illustrations.

-excuse me, was Kane-san here?

They also had an area full of guestbooks for visitor to leave messages. 

After Mibudera, the next location was Shijo Omiya station as it was within walking distance.

Stamp area and pamphlet:

Yamato and Kashuu!

Moooving on, we took the Randen train to Arashiyama station. There were Touken ranbu trains, but they only run every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Due to our tight schedule, we could only do this stamp rally on a Monday, so we did not get to see the Touran train.

Arashiyama station! Iwatooshi and Imanotsurugi are located here. (Look at the size difference between a naginata and a tantou!!! It's really endearing to see swords being shipped like these.)

We got a drink at the touran cafe! It was just beside the stamp/standee area. There was a screen showing a Touran trailer, and the BGM was looping in the shop.

I got the Jiji drink, which was Matcha beer! I'm not too sure if there's actual alcohol content (though it tasted like it did). Some sakura shaped biscuits and a coaster was also provided.

Moved on to our next location, the Toei Eiga Mura. This place was by far the most impressive with their Touran decoration.

There were replicas of the actual swords and all the standees of the boys.

If a sword already had a standee at one of the temple or station photospots, the standee here would feature their internal affairs outfit or their nornal outfits but with their attack pose. :D

The highlight would be this - a mini setup of what you'll see when you log in to play Touran - and of the background, you can actually select which season you want?!

Too bad the contrast of the background is too strong to take a proper selfie with it >___<

Jiji and Kogi stamp area!

There was a restaurant that served Touran themed food too (including overpriced dangos, like the one used to recover fatigue in-game.)

Too expensive... so I opted out. :X

Next place we went was Kitano Hakubaicho station!

Poor thing... he's so far from Kane-san :X

Last stamp area!!!

It was near to the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, so we dropped by to see Higekiri:

There was a sword exhibition as well, but it was closed by the time we were there ;___;
Most of the photospots are free, with the exception of Mibudera and one other shrine (can't remember X__X). The stamp rally points at Kitano Hakubaicho, Arashiyama and Shijo Omiya are located outside their respective stations and free of charge, however tickets to take the train are priced at 210 yen/trip - flat rate. Entry for Eiga Mura is 2,200 yen, but had the most standees.  

If you want, you can opt for the commemorative set which includes a one-day Randen pass and an entry for Eiga Mura, on top of some collectables (clear file?) for 3,500 yen. Alternatively, there is also the one day Randen pass for 500 yen. But we only found out about the commemorative set that much later, and they can only be bought/preordered at 7-11 so it was a bit of a hassle.

Here's the badge you'll get after completing the stamp rally! Some times we were wondering if we were on the right path, but we were always reassured by some random fangirl (either carrying a bag full of touran badges/straps, or dressed in the color combination of some sword- usuall kogi, jiji or kashuu.)

Thanks to my procrastination, there's only until this Sunday to find your sword-husbandos... if not, there's the Touran/Animate cafe which you might be interested in checking out! (It ends on the 30th March).