Today Tina and I were lucky enough to have Yoko as our tour guide - our destination was Omihachiman which is in the Shiga Prefecture - home to Japan's largest lake - Biwa-ko. Omihachiman is an old merchant town and has old, traditional Japanese streets. We set off early and it took about two hours to arrive in Omihachiman. It was raining a little and was really foggy but we wandered along the Hachiman moat which is so beautiful and the weather just added to its beauty. The moat is lined with Sakura trees (cherry blossoms) which would just look amazing in spring time - once again another place on the list to go back to!!
The Hachiman moat
Tina, Yoko and I along the Hachiman moat
An amazing spider we saw along the way
We then went to Himure Hachiman-gu which is a shrine which has over 1000 years of history.
Himure Hachiman-gu
Tina, Yoko and I then went to a Roof tile museum where we saw an old kiln and many different types of traditional roof tiles.
We then went to Chomei-ji temple which is a Buddhist pilgrimage site. It has 808 steps leading up to it and it is quite a hike but we made it! Now we will all have a long life as that is what is promised if you make it to the temple! At the top there is an amazing view of Lake Biwa, the temple, bell tower and a 3 story pagoda. It was definitely worth the hike!
The 808 steps leading to the temple
Beautiful autumn leaves on the steps
An amazing view of Lake Biwa (the biggest lake in Japan)
Tina's great shot of the temples and pagoda - Chomei-ji temple
Omihachiman is an interesting town which is good for a day trip and once again thanks to Yoko for being a wonderful tour guide!
2 comments:
Glad we made it up those steps as difficult as it was!
Wow! Brings back memories! I went up those steps and tried counting them...never managed to count 808 tho ;-P
Post a Comment