Day 8: TravelsofTHB post Number 500
Hard to believe! THB got his 50th
major league park and 6 weeks later hits another numeric milestone.
Coincidence? Parking karma?
Weather: Hot in Osaka, on the
cool side in Koyasan
Day 1 on the Kumano
Kodo: Kumano Kodo refers
to a network of pilgrimage trails through the southern Kansai region of Honshu. Kodo means "old
ways” and the trails have been in use for over 1000 years.
Our group of 11 (at
least 4 southpaws) picks up lunch at local convenience store around the corner
from the hotel, then moves on a short block to the train station. The trip is
around 1.5 hours, in reserved seats and THB takes opportunity to catch up on
sleep.
From there, pretty
much the entire train crowds on to a two car funicular (could be a cable car)
that heads straight up the hill. Five minutes later, the vast majority transfer
to local buses, as do we, the big difference being we get off after 5 minutes!
This is the
beginning of our hike, straight up the side of a hill. We’re looping around
Koyasan the mountain, in what turns out to be around 3+ hours of hiking with
another hour or so of stops for brief talks and lunch (rice balls with tomiko
and salmon fillings, $7, covering 6 miles. The myth has mostly to do with
Buddhism and how the temple was situated in this area.
After the hike, in
the late afternoon we’re in the cemetery (or mausoleum), with all the spiritual
rituals and intensity of 200,000 (or more) dead being honored. The trees are
turning color, there are many unique and unusual statues and odd entombments:
companies have purchased “plots” for honoring employees.
Near the rear is a
sacred temple which includes 50,000 near identical statuettes (they stopped
adding them 30 years ago when they ran out of space), the “stone” that was
thrown over from China that made this the spot for honoring ancestors, and a
large space for ceremonial chanting.
THB and DB agree
this was one of the great sites we’ve visited, on a par with (or better than)
the wats of Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The tour is staying
at a monastery near the cemetery; we’re too late to take a soak before dinner
(though afterwards THB realizes he should’ve done the soak and let the group go
on with dinner). The food is not very good, and the after dinner soak felt
great. DB reported her soak was not so good: French women created a real bad
dynamic, taking too long to get “clean” and then a bad vibe in the onsen.
We’re staying in
rooms with a shared bathroom at the end of the hall, and sleeping on futons
(which as always, THB could’ve used two ply instead of one). However, since THB
is exhausted from the hiking, falling asleep at 8pm was hardly a struggle, more
like a surrendering.
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| The single room |
Book Review: H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald: Grief
after her father dies drives the author into depression and extremes including
deciding to train a goshawk, all the while retelling T H White’s version from
the 1930s of dismally failing to train his goshawk. Stirs up THB’s own grief of
losing a parent, though actually White’s failure seemed truly tragic. Recommended
Day 9: Koyasan to Takahiro
Weather: Cool in early morn, warming up into the
mid 70s during the hike
Two activities before
breakfast: monks leading a prayer ceremony with much chanting (amazing how much
sound two guys can produce, even with great acoustics) and then a fire ceremony
where one monk plays a bunch of instruments (including a bass drum?) while the
other does what every youngster wishes they could do: light a bonfire and throw
more wood on until the fire is 4 feet tall! THB was only moderately worried that
with the huge kimono sleeves the fire monk might light his outfit on fire.
Breakfast: better
than dinner (not saying much), and one warm tofu dish was excellent; maybe the
breakfast monks can help out the dinner monks? (Note: all breakfast and dinners are included, lunches are on us,
plus alcoholic drinks are ours.)
After breakfast, we
visit the local temple, Kongobu-ji, which is immense with a number of
buildings. Around 9:30, half the group goes off to meditate (by repeating Ah
over and over again) while half the group goes to see more of the structures
and have coffee. THB and DB do coffee and treats….ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
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| We don't think the guide has to wear a matching outfit |
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| Art from Korea in the temple foreground |
Around 10:45 we set
off in a mini-van and taxi, traveling close to an hour to a look-out point for
lunch. Lunch for THB was a bit of a “lost in translation” moment: grilled fried
pork turned out to be a cold almost-hard boiled egg surrounded by warm fat
bacon on top of cabbage and rice. Turned out to be very good! DB had breaded
fried chicken and a “croquette.” With a ginger ale, $20.
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| This was not an offer on getting to the trail head |
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| Egg and bacon lunch |
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| Green tea softie |
The hike: straight
uphill for 3-4 hours, covering all of 3 miles. Exhausting! THB postpones his
soak when 4 Kiwis get to the onsen before he does; works fine, wait 20 minutes
and the bath is open for two of us on the tour. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….
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| Celadon urinal |
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| Markers every 1/2 kilometer |
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| Monkey (if blurry) |
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| Local scarecrows |
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| Old power source |
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| New power source |
Dinner is excellent:
local crab in a slight mayo dressing, local small fish, beef cooked at the
table, several very good tofu dishes, mushroom soup with shrimp, a very good
sorbet for dessert. Oh, and pizza…pizza? Yes, and quite good.
Our room is very
comfortable, en suite toilet and a view over the valley below. A great spot.
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