Today Tina, Marie and I went to Kakagowa which is about 10mins by train from Himeji. We met Paul (an Australian guy who has married a Japanese lady) and some of his friends. We then went to Takamikura which is a mountain with a walking path. We set off up the mountain and as I am not that fit I went very slow at times and conveniently needed to stop to take photos! But it felt so good to reach the top and the view was amazing! There is a shrine at the top of the mountain which makes you wonder how they got all the building materials up there!
View from about half way (when I needed a break!)
View from the top!
Marie, Tina and I at the top!
Shrine at the top.
We then walked along the top of the mountains before starting our descent. On the way down we could hear horns being blown and Paul was telling us about the priests in a nearby temple who fast and are called Yamabushi (mountain priests). We ended up going to the temple where they were having a festival. Luck was on our side as this festival is only held every 50 years!! What are the chances of being there on the right day!?! The festival consisted of priests firing arrows into the air, chanting, blowing horns which were actually made of huge conch shells. They then set a big bundle of wood and green branches alight. It smelt amazing – like incense and the amount of smoke was huge! (This was to rid us for all of our sins.) We left the temple in wonder –thinking about how lucky we were to see such a great festival and considering if we missed it we would have to wait 50 years!
The arrow shooting.
The horn made of a conch shell.
The mound of branches and leaves that was going to be burnt.
The huge amount of smoke from the fire!
We then headed back to the park to have a BBQ lunch. Our first Japanese BBQ! The BBQ’s are a lot smaller here but have charcoal in them which makes everything taste really good although you don’t really have control over the temperature! Many things went on the BBQ – pumpkin, squid, chicken, hotdogs, chicken kidneys (I didn’t eat those!), beef (they were proud to say it was Australian beef!), corn, eggplant and of course onegiri (rice balls!). It really was a great BBQ and everyone just sort of ate off of it as it was cooked. You used your chopsticks to turn the meat and to pick it up which proved a little difficult!
Japanese BBQ
Rice balls on the BBQ - yum!
We then visited the largest torii gate in the world! It was enormous!!! It is made from titanium. We then walked through the gate to see another temple which was really beautiful. Each temple you see is different and unique and there is always a different way to pray to the gods. This one had sticks that you pick up the amount of your age and you do laps around the temple.
Worlds biggest torii gate!!
Steps leading up to the temple.
I had such a great day and we got to experience so much Japanese culture. I just have to say again “ 日本がだいすきです“( I LOVE Japan!!)
2 comments:
Yay Roren you made it to the top! The view was amazing. I love hiking :-) I also love eating Japanese BBQ. It rocks - we need to find a way to have one!!
That was a great day! わたしも にほんが だいすきです！I also love Japan!
Post a Comment