Day 5: Narai to Kisofukushima

Day 5: Narai to Kisofukushima

QOTD:  We are one again (with our send ahead small bags)

Hiking Haiku:

Wind picked up. Sign said
“Danger! Cliffs!” A drop of sense
kicked in. I turned back.

Weather: cool in Narai in morning, low70s on the hike, low 80s in the sun in Kisofukushima

Pics:  Narai:  shrines, rr xing, bridge, utilities, coffee brewing, Chopin or Piano with friend, DB and Fusao having the daily tech review, buns, inn proprietor with THB and DB, warm rice crackers; faded Nakasendo sign, trail markers, view from the Torii Pass, disappearing buns at lunch, public art;  Kisofukushima: inn, mochi, phootspaw, signs, dinner

Dept of clarification: The town we started our hike in yesterday was Karuizawa, famous for a visit by John and Yoko (and Japanese royalty).

Breakfast is a typical of Japanese inns: miso soup, rice, tea and an assortment of items including smoked fish (excellent), plum soaked in sake (true? It was very good), scrambled (tomago) egg (when fixed up with rice was a sushi standard), veggies, mini  (M&M size) extremely tart plums and some stuff THB ate and had no idea what it was.

THB and DB go for a walk through town, over the train tracks and down by the river on the west side of town where garages and small vegetable plots alternate. There is a recreation of an old bridge (see pics) and then we amble back up the main (ie, Nakasendo) road to a coffee spot. We order café au laits while waiting Fusao joins us and has a regular cup of coffee. Three very small cups, $15 total (so, seemed expensive by US standards and this is with a very favorable exchange rate.

The coffee is made by heating a water with a Bunsen burner, the water bubbles up into the upper chamber and mixes with the coffee where the “barista” stirs it gently, then turns off the burner and the coffee flows back down into the lower container. While making our coffee, the barista (a woman in her late 50s?) is fooling with the CD player and then explains it is Chopin. Maybe we misunderstood (not that THB has a clue to who the composer is) because then she comes around after serving us our coffee, pulls up some pics on her i-phone and shows us a picture of two small brown dogs: Chopin and Piano!

On our way back to our inn, we stop off and buy semi-dried apples ($5, great power pellets for the hike), and savory and sweet buns for our lunch ($10 for 5).  At the inn, we load up our backpacks, snack on rice crackers (more like flat pretzels to THB) and head out of town (on the Nakasendo, of course) and up into the mountains on our way to the Torii Pass. Up we go. More up, followed by an additional portion of uphill climbing, some of it on large rocks made to resemble giant cobblestones. We don’t see the local monkeys, nor goats, nor wild boar, nor bears. THB would’ve like to see monkeys or goats, he’s not upset at all missing the boars and bears.

It is a bit over two miles to the pass, around 1.5 hours, where we can see the shrine with a view. Roped off! Fusao thinks it may be because the torii (gate) is unstable, so we start walking down the backside of the pass to a spot where we turn left and start up towards the back of the shrine…up the stairs we go…up….up, and then we’re at a bench overlooking the next valley, rows of mountains, and very clear air. Out come the buns and water, a very pleasant respite.

Downhill is a lot easier, it is around 2 miles to the next post town where we catch a local train to Kisofukushima. Total hike for the day: over 4 miles, and THB again rounds up: extra points for climbing straight up for 1.5 hours, so let’s say 5 miles for the day. We pass nobody on the hike.

A short walk from the train station and we’ve reached our next mishku where we are reunited with our luggage (meaning on tomorrow’s hike, THB’s pack will be considerably lighter) in the room furthest to the back.  

We take a short walk in town to visit a recreated barrier station (aka, checkpoint) from the 1600s, snack on mochi, then return to the mishku and our room. It is a bit loud with the windows open, there’s a bit of a cross breeze, and we each “shower” and “bathe.” After trying the cross breeze for a  while, we give up and plunk in a dollar coin for two hours of a/c.

THB did not quite give the full explanation of getting clean in a ryokan (or spa): first you clean up, usually by sitting on a small stool, using a shower head to get wet, wash your hair and body (shave if you want), and when you are all clean you climb into an already full bathtub, full of very hot water. Today, the water is not quite as hot as yesterday, yet THB (who does not normally take a bath and also is not fond of hot tubs) does not try and make it hotter by turning on the hot water faucet.

Actually, since the hike was warm and Kisofukushima is also warm, THB takes another cold shower. Ahhhhhhhhhh…..

Dinner (see pics) is comprehensive though no obvious dish to serve as dessert. Local specialty mushrooms were prevalent including in the rice (unusual not to have plain white rice). Beer and sake not included, $13. And, as a special bonus, our proprietress, who speaks zero English, engages Fusao (who warned us) in long long exchanges (rather, monologues, that the ever-polite Fusao indulges). THB and DB finish their meals at least 20 minutes ahead of Fusao who is fortunate in one sense: THB can’t drink more than half a tall brewski, otherwise Fusao would need to order another beer.