Mt. Ishizuchi shrine

It was a bright, beautiful May Sunday morning. Mt. Ishizuchi, Shikoku's tallest mountain at 6503 feet, beckoned from our backyard. So, we hopped on our bikes, stopping for a quick filling up of the water canteens at the freshest water around, our very own Saijo uchinuki (water springs.) Here's my personal favorite 'spring' where I like to fill up at (aint it purdy?) complete with its own pyramid of water, as you can see to the right. After stopping for water, it was on to traverse the rice fields, rice fields and...whaddya know? more rice fields, finally arriving at the foothills of the Ishizuchi mountain range, just off of Route 11 in Saijo. We brought along our picnic and trekked up the asphalt to the outer gate of the shrine. (The outermost gate, right on Route 11, can be seen below. Pretty tall, huh? Fitting for Shikoku's highest mountain maybe?)
Shrines in Japan are usually built into or onto hills, which are considered holy ground (thats why in Japan, as well as China and Korea, graveyards are usually up in hills as well.) The shrine dedicated to the Shinto spirit of Mt. Ishizuchi stretched out from the shrine at the foothills of the range, the one we went to, all the way up the side of the mountain to the very top of the mountain itself. While the official climbing season for Mt. Ishizuchi kicks off on July 1, we decided that the quite lovely base shrine is a treat enough in itself, as the four tiered approach is a workout of its own! So, we decided to climb to the main shrine building.At the outer gate of the shrine, we viewed the shrine guardians on either side. Often, goblins of the mountain are shown having particularly long noses (Pinocchio anyone?) and are always associated with the 'mountain winds'. (cuz when I think of mountain winds, of course, long noses come to mind..?) So we looked them over and enjoyed a moment in the cool shade before going through and walking up the stony path further up towards the inner shrine.













After climbing up the stairs, we reached a smaller entry shrine, next to a shady pond. Their over the pond was a small arched bridge that went over the pond. Looking off from the bridge, was a small stone shrine statue emerging from the pond. Circling the the stone shrine and crossing beneath the bridge were many koi -Japanese speckled carp- that were at least 2 feet long, some of them! We paused to take a photo and enjoy the view from our current perch at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the water shrine, and finally, the main shrine.
After washing our hands according to the instructions (wash left, then right, hands, clean mouth, left hand once more and then tilt ladle 90 degrees and wash ladle handle,) we walked toward the mountains, where there was a small spring gurgling up, with a dragon's head spewing water into a small pool of water. Presiding over the pool was a stoic figure, presumably a guardian spirit, guarding over the immediate area. There, a man made an offering, bowed, and began chanting a prayer that sounded more like it belonged in a Zen temple than a Shinto shrine!






















Finally, it was time to move up to the next--and second to last--shrine. There, a small water spring was bubbling, a spring that people were free to come and take water home from. Standing in front of the spring was a shrine building, guarded by two stone lions. There I made a small offering, intending to come back after I drank the water in my canteen at lunch to refill it with water (which I did.) Finally, we went up the final staircase to the main shrine hall. There happened to be a service while we were there. Actually, two, the more intriguing of which was happening...outside, and, um, around a car. Yes, that's right. There it was, a priest blessing a car. Waving the purity symbols around to get rid of any evil spirits hoping ton inhabit it (you can see them hanging off of ropes at the entrance to shrines in Japan, they look like white lightning bolts,) he was also chanting and throwing something onto the ground around the car. It was pretty surreal! Also in front of the shrine was a little boy, running around excitedly and watching the priests bang on the taiko drums (every shrine in Japan has a taiko drum that is used to open and close the shrine and also during prayer ceremonies.) Whether it was a private, commissioned ceremony for only a few people or a public ceremony I wasn't sure, but it didn't seem to make a difference to this kid. We talked to his mom, and she said he wasn't even two years old! That kid was moving around quite a bit for being so
tiny.




























After our stop at the main shrine building, it was down to the park to have a bite to eat for lunch. We walked down to a small garden, complete with pond and fountain. There were even some baby trees,

we tried to gauge their age using Jennifer's height! I carried our lunch in my llama bag as we strolled into a gazebo to eat our lunch away from the heat. After settling into the gazebo, we pulled out our sandwiches and admired the garden with its strange boulders surrounding a pond at the bottom of a hill, as well as trees and flowers around our gazebo. Enjoying our lunch while also viewing the beautiful weather and surrounding garden, I can only imagine what it must have been like to have a patio with one's own private garden to view the changes of the seasons in Japan back in the day...although, they probably weren't enjoying PB&J and apple slices!











Finally, it was one last stop to go grab more water for the canteen, then we bid goodbye to lovely Ishizuchi shrine, the carp, the flowers, and the mountain range it protected!
'til next time, Ishizuchi!

Imabari--the shores of the Inland Sea, and delicious ice cream!

On a sunny Saturday at the end of May, one of our fellow Saijo friends invited Jennifer and I to go on an 'outing' somewhere with her and her always-inquisitive son. To where we had no idea, so we grabbed our bags, headed over to her place and were told we were going to the nearby town of Imabari, about a half hour to the West. Having never spent a significant amount of time there, but having heard about the castle (as well as seen it from the train) and a certain towel museum, I was more than curious as to where the journey would take us.
As it would turn out, neither of those places.

First, it was down a highway towards Imabari, with a detour just outside of town to go to the very narrow beach of Seto Inland Sea National Park. Let's put it this way, if you were playing freeze tag with a few friends on the beach, you could run up and down the whole 'beach' and everyone could be frozen within a matter of minutes. Yeah.
it was kinda small.
But it was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect with clouds sailing above the distant islands and off towards the mountains of Saijo to the East, and we got to skip stones on the water and soak our feet in the frigid, frigid still waters of the Seto Inland Sea (I have yet to see any waves on this thing. I don't think it happens.) So, Jennifer and I chased Alex while Moto looked on and we all kicked water on each other (as it happened, my mini skirt was actually soaked by one of Alex's attacks. Thanks, dude!) and we made a sandcastle, that didnt last through the water coming ashore (the beach was mainly made of small rocks--or, maybe, large pieces of sand?--so we had to be reallly close to the water to make a castle out of anything resembling, um, sand.)
So, good times! Then we hopped back in the car with our sandy shoes, just in time to head off to a nearby farmer's market, replete with fish, fish, and more freshly caught fish! including some left out to dry (they must get more, um, delicious that way?) and a cafe for sweets, surrounded by small plants and herbs, and this giant cactus. There was a also a nearby restaurant, with this lovely setup of flowers and ... um, a poem I'll venture? Not sure what that says, but its pretty nevertheless. Of course, there was also fresh, fresh, freshly made ice cream (best ive had in Japan so far hands down) and plenty of horsing around. By the time we hung out there for a bit, it was already late and we had to come back. On the way back, we did get to see the eminent towel museum, but it was too late to stop by. Aw, man! I guess learning how towels are made will have to wait for a rainy day...