The next morning the three of us got ready and started our drive south towards Wakayama Prefecture.
Our first stop was in an Oceanside town in Mie called Kumano. The ocean was beautiful and the sand looked inviting. Sadly Courtney told us that people were not permitted to swim in the ocean here because the riptide was so strong that you would likely be swept out to sea and die.
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| Carp wind socks that are popular for Children's Day in the Spring. |
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| We saw a baseball team meeting on the beach. It seemed odd. |
So we continued on another block or so to a shrine, called Hana no Iwaya jinja, hidden by trees and foliage. We walked down a path lined with trees and bushes. We passed a purification fountain and passed through a building where you could buy omiage from the Shinto priestesses.
On the other side of that building we came into a clearing. Straight ahead was a steep cliff face and the sides we were surrounded by trees and foliage. In this clearing there were two fairly large monuments surrounded by gates. The bigger of the two was the grave of Izanami, the creation goddess. She is said to be buried underneath the stone of her monument. There is no shrine to pray at directly, but it is the stone that is sacred in this case.
The story goes that after the creation of Japan (see previous post for story) Izanagi got his wife Izanami pregnant with their first child. When Izanami gave birth to Kagutsuchi, the god of fire where he burned her and killed her during childbirth. Izanagi was so angry that he killed his son and cut his body into eight pieces which became the eight volcanoes of Japan. And it was from the blood of Kagutsuchi that the other gods and goddesses of Japan were created.
The other grave and monument is that of Kagutsuchi.
There were some beautiful tied ropes hanging above the clearing between the two cliff faces. I hear the ropes must be replaced every year and there is a festival when they put the new ones up.
There were also some eroded holes in the cliff side that some children were crawling into. It was a beautiful location, and quite peaceful despite the road nearby. The foliage really helped cut down on the noise. I would recommend this spot to those who are interested in folklore and mythology.
From here we headed south to Nachi Temple Complex and waterfall in Wakayama Prefecture.
This place was fun and beautiful we found some good parking at the top of the temple complex on the mountain near the top temples and shrines.
We slathered ourselves in sunscreen and walked to where all the people were.
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| This is the entrance. |
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| If you look closely, you can see a woman walking around inside. |
Courtney told us that at this temple you could rent old-timey, rich-person clothing from the Heian period (from ~800 A.D. to ~ 1200 A.D.) to walk around the temple complex in. Both men and women can do it. For women, it included the kimono style of the time as well as a wide brimmed, straw hat with a long white eil hanging down. This hat is called an Ichimegasa (市女笠) or “City Woman’s Hat.” This was used to keep the sun and bugs off the woman while she was out and about. It also served to keep her modest by partially hiding her from the gaze of others. Men can wear their style of kimono with a large black hat that resembles a shark or fish fin (I think.) I am not sure of the name of this hat, but it looks pretty cool. We skipped the shrines and temples to go find the building where you can rent this clothing.
We found a priest and asked him where we should go to get dressed up in the traditional clothing. He seemed excited, told us to wait there and ran off to go find out. I saw him run to and from a few buildings, but fifteen minutes later he had still not returned. I think somewhere along the way he forgot about us. I was really disappointed. I wanted to dress up in the hip fashions of the Heian period.
Here are some pictures of others that were able to dress up in the traditional clothing.
The big main Buddhist temple had a large statue of Kannon standing in the front surrounded by smaller statues of Kannon and Buddhas. The temple itself was fairly large and the woodwork was impressive. We went in and there was a large altar in the back, but between us and the altar was a long desk spanning the width of the space. Here the priests were selling their omamori and signing the calligraphy and stamp books. One of the women working there was super excited to see us and gave us an English information pamphlet.
Inside there were some neat wood carved statues of Buddhas and altars as well as a dragon! These were so intricate and cool!
I also saw a picture frame filled with the noble family sigils from important families in the area. I took two pictures because you couldn’t see some through the glade on the glass.
From here we went over to the Shinto shrine, it was large and colorful. There were a lot of people praying at the entrance, but you could also walk around them and go inside the shrine. At the time I was there the inside was completely filled up because the priests and priestesses were performing a ceremony. The priestess had a little, metal trinket covered in bells, with some long strips of colorful cloth hanging from the end. She wasn’t dancing per-se, but she was bobbin up and down and walking around the altar space with the thing (after trying to research it, I still don't know what it is). I was able to see this from the window outside since I could not fit inside the room.
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| There was a rather large group of Japanese bikers inside watching the ritual as well. |
From here we climbed some staircases nearby and came to a smaller shrine at the top. It was surrounded by a beautiful, but small, garden. Inside the entire ceiling was covered with hanging lanterns!
From here we started descending the mountain.
Nearby was a pagoda that has an amazing view of the waterfall nearby. We walked up to the pagoda intending to get in, but you had to pay extra, and it was a little more than I was comfortable paying to see the inside of the building. Courtney also said that there were drawings inside the pagoda, but that they were not very good or impressive. She also said that the view of the waterfall from the top was blocked by orange chicken wire and it was just as pretty from other vantage points. So we decided to not go in.
We descended hundreds of stone steps down the mountain to the waterfall and shrines at the bottom of this section of shrines. Courtney said that the temples and shrines keep going and you can walk for miles and miles and follow them down the mountain, through the town and all the way to the ocean. That’s pretty impressive if you ask me, but we were content with just seeing this section of the shrines and temples.
The waterfall is beautiful! It starts way up high at the top of a steep rock cliff. These bottom shrines are on the banks of the river near the bottom of the waterfall. The sight is absolutely beautiful!
There is a viewing platform to the left that you can pay extra to see the waterfall up close, relatively speaking. I’m sure it is lovely, but I wasn’t bothered to decline.
From here we started hiking all the way back up the mountain. Most of the ascent is by stairs, so it’s not too bad. We passed dozens of little shops along the way, and they were so cute and had adorable things for sale!
At one point there was a woman selling a variety of drinks to those weary from climbing so many steps. We walked up to her and Courtney asked for a bottle of tea, and the woman popped the class ball seal of a Ramune and gave that to her instead. I saw this and was a bit confused. She asked me if I wanted anything, and I said “Yes, I would like a Coca-Cola.” She turned to her pile of drinks and quick-as-a-wink popped another Ramune for me. I was just standing there holding it, trying to accept my fate. She then demanded the money that we owed her. I was a bit annoyed, and I was slow to get my money out. So she snatched the Ramune out of my hand in a rude fashion before I was able to give her my coins. Tye saw that she wasn’t going to give us the drinks we asked for but would only give us Ramune. So he declined a drink and just shared my Ramune with me.
When we finally made it back up to the top of the temple complex we stopped at another small shop where we got some plum ice cream. It was sweet, but had sour spots at the same time. It was freaking delicious!
We got back in the car and started driving away. I had Tye take some pictures of this old building that has been abandoned since, but the roof still had beautiful carved animals and designs on it.
From there we went to the Kushimoto to see the Hashiguiiwa Rocks. It is a line of rocky islands off the coast of Kushimoto, which have been eroded by the wind and the waves. The name means “rock formation that looks like the pillars to a bridge.” They stretch out into the ocean for about 850 meters, and there are more than 40 rocks standing in a row. They stretch straight out from the coast towards a small nearby island called Oshima. They are so pretty!
The story is that long ago a well-respected monk named Kobo Daishi, who later founded the Shingon sect of Buddhism, was walking along the coast here when he was challenged by a local ocean ogre, or demon, called an oni. The oni prided himself on being the smartest being in the world. So he saw Kobo Daishi and was jealous of his wisdom so the oni challenged Kobo Daishi to build a bridge to Oshima Island in one night.
Kobo Daishi agreed and gathered some large stones from the mountains and started placing them in the water. Kobo Daishi was confident that he could complete the bridge in the allotted time.
The oni was hiding nearby and saw the quick progress that Kobo Daishi was making and got scared, so he had to stop him from winning. The oni changed his voice and made the sound of a rooster crowing, signaling that it was dawn and that Kobo Daishi had lost the bet. Kobo Daishi stopped as he promised, so now there are the remains of the unfinished bridge stretching out into the water.
There is another story that Kobo Daishi wanted to make the bridge to help the villagers cross to Oshima. Every time he started to make good progress on the bridge the oni would rise up out of the ocean and break the bridge. So, Kobo Daishi realized that it could not be completed so he stopped.
The tide was out so we could walk pretty far out among the rocks. When we got closer to the water Courtney and I took off our shoes and waded in the surf. There were millions of little snails and other shell creatures stuck to the rocks! A lot of them were moving around along with some little hermit crabs.
Here I was practicing my Little Mermaid impersonation.
We were starting to run a bit low on time, so we got back in the car and made our way to the last destination of the day, the southernmost point in Honshu, the main island of Japan.
It is only about ten minutes south of the Hashiguiiwa rocks on a teeny little peninsula in an area of town called Shionmisaki. We drove up the mountain on the peninsula to an area that had a park, and a shopping center and restaurant and a lighthouse with some shrines. It was just after 4 pm, though, so it was all closing down soon after we got there.
I bought a backpack/bag to replace my tattered purse and we asked the women working at the counter for a restaurant recommendation in town. We then walked across the street to the park and ocean lookout. It has a nice viewing platform and a big stone map of Japan showing where we were.
The sun was shining, there was a nice breeze. It was a perfect day!
A group of 20 and 30 something men and one woman saw us and were super excited to practice some English. They asked us where we came from and why we were there. They were really nice.
From here we had some time to kill before the restaurants would open and we could eat dinner. So we walked down the road to the lighthouse and shrines. The lighthouse charged some money to go up and see the view, but I didn’t really see the point of that, considering we could see the same view around the corner from the lighthouse.
We walked into some thick trees and saw the entrances to two shrines. I took a few photographs, but there was not much to the shrines. They had really old and weathered stone lanterns, but not much else of note.
We continued down the path and it took us out over the trees and rocks of the cliffs. The path was surrounded by trees, so you couldn’t see the entire view, but it was still amazing. We could look down and see the waves crashing on the rocks below us. You could also get a good view of the lighthouse poking above the trees.
From here we walked back to the car and headed into town to go try the sushi restaurant that the shop ladies had recommended to us.
The restaurant did not have a sign out front, but we had the address. So we approached the door. We met the shop owner just outside the entrance; she was carrying some glass bottles to the trash around the corner. We greeted her and said we would like to eat here; we were speaking Japanese. She told us that the restaurant was full and that she could not accommodate us. We thanked her and started walking away while she turned and went back inside the restaurant. We walked about twenty feet away and decided that we didn’t mind waiting a bit, so we turned around and went back to the restaurant to ask how long the wait would be.
We opened the door to the restaurant and saw that the entire restaurant was empty. She saw us enter and rushed to speak with us at the door so we could not come in. We asked her how long the wait was going to be (even though we saw that there should be no wait at all) and she replied with “Oh, well, you know, it is a busy eating time for everyone. I just don’t really know when I can allow you to eat here.” We just looked at her and we looked at each other. I’ve been in this country long enough to understand the indirect way Japanese people tell you to fuck off. So, I turned to Courtney and said “Fine, let’s go spend our money somewhere else. I don’t want to give it to her anyways,” and we walked off. We drove down the road a short distance until we got to a budget conveyor belt sushi place, and ate there instead.
We all felt a little sad and disheartened after that. But what can you do? Racists are gonna be racist in every corner of the world. It’s not like we weren’t speaking Japanese and she would have had to struggle through English. She was just being a horrible bigot. Fuck her. I’m glad I didn’t give her any of my money.
After eating we drove the couple of hours back to Owase, Mie. I once again crashed. It’s amazing how much driving can take out of you, even though you’ve been sitting all day.
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