Day 14: From Nachikatsuura to Ise

Day 14: From Nachikatsuura to Ise

Weather: Perfect again, we’re on a roll now. Cool all day, from low to mid 60s

Today we are walking little and training a lot!

 

What the hiking woman used to wear

What she is wearing today

DB and THB share a pre-breakfast snack of coffee and then hit the buffet. A few haw gaw, a bit of raisin toast, some yogurt, and more coffee for THB. Around 7:30 we take the water taxi back to the mainland and walk a few 100 meters to the morning tuna market.

Over time, the fish are getting smaller and smaller as the ocean is fished out. There might be 30 fish today (some days there are none). The last of the auction occurs and the fish are packed up and loaded in trucks, some on ice and some not (THB thinks that has to do with how far they are traveling).

And, in the rafters, waiting for a scrap or two,

 a black kite

A brief walk through the town: it’s still too early and there are almost no open stores. 

 

Foot bath

Foot and hand bath together

Back to the train station and a ride to Shingu, home to Hatayama Shrine (the last of the Kumano shrines we’ll visit).

Selfie on the train

Kyoko, our guide, did these murals in the train station

Can't the most wanted ever pose pretty?

Shots from around Shiingu:

The Hatayama Shrine:

Wedding photos:

Then we stroll further through town to a straight-up walk to visit a huge rock overlooking Shingu. As THB has conserved his energy, he’s raring to go and revs up the 538 steps!

Around town:

Single seater

Open drainage

And, a back door that actually works

The big rock steps:

Snake next to the steps

Now for the most famous shrine visit in town: the Kitchen Tom-Tom. It’s an excellent western-style spot, complete with free samples (the head baker has fresh rolls cut up for us). THB HEAVEN!!

Lunch on benches outside the train station:

A bit more topping than our pizza, filling and very good

Local brew

Hope on a train and we’re in Ise in enough time to see the outer shrine, dedicated to the Sun Goddess’s caterer (true: even back in the 600s a good chef/baker was something to be revered).

The toilet on the train is larger than anything we've seen

How many guys does it take to announce the next train

The museum explaining how the shrine buildings are constructed is fascinating, and the video is terrific: more like a cad/cam demo.

 

Jamie told THB that this said something like: may this be the first of many stamps

Unique construction, note the round logs going across the top section of the roof

The empty lot where a shrine structure was just torn down

The buildings of the shrine are rebuilt every 20 years right next to the existing ones, which are torn down (and the lumber redistributed to other lesser shrines around the country) a few weeks after the new ones are up and running.

Check-in to the Hotel Pearl-Pier and the last dinner of the tour. The food is not exceptional, there’s a bit of “what could be done better” session, and nobody is fresh enough to go out for karaoke (sparing the group of D and THB doing their best Dylan sing-along). 

Tasting local brewskies to-go!

P ready to go, Jamie and D and THB looking for change