Locals

Today Mark and I met up with Kuniko’s dad to drive around and see some of the local sites that are really best seen by car. He picked us up in Takasago, and from there we drove to Shoshazan Temple in northern Himeji. The temple is accessed via a ropeway from the base of a mountain, and once you arrive at the top you walk for about ten minutes to get to the main temple.

The walk there was beautiful – we were away from all the noise of the city and the cars, just walking through a peaceful forest. We turned a corner and descended to the base of a hill. On the side of the hill was Shoshazan Temple. It had a dramatic balcony and colored silk flags were suspended across the front. We took lots of pictures, and then walked up the steps on the side of the hill to enter the temple itself.

The temple is pretty famous already, but it was a location where The Last Samurai movie was filmed, so it became even more famous. As we walked in the main entrance, one of the monks asked us to walk in the back way – there was a special exhibit going on. There was a special statue of buddha that was so holy that they keep it hidden away from public view. However, they had it on exhibit to celebrate somebody’s 1000th birthday. They brought it out for the first time in 800 years for the public to see, and then in June they’ll put it back for another 100 years or so. It was pretty cool, but no cameras allowed so we can’t share it with you.

In the front of the temple we lit some incense and candles and did some prayers, and then walked around the rest of the grounds for another hour or so. The whole time Kuniko’s dad told us what he knew about the area and kept us in information. I translated the best I could, but I wasn’t able to pass on all the detail that he was giving us.

After Shoshazan we went to lunch at an izakaya-type place. We had a set meal – Kageyama-san and I had a sashimi and tempura set, and Mark had an eel, rice and tempura set. It was really good, and despite our best efforts to get the check, Kageyama-san picked up the bill.

The next stop was a sake brewery that the Kageyamas often visit. We got a great tour from one of the workers and learned about the process in detail. Even though it was a fairly large-scale operation, the process was pretty primitive, and coming from a winemaking background I was especially interested to see how it worked.

Afterwards we went shopping and tasting in the tasting room. They let us taste anything we wanted, and they poured pretty big portions. We found some bottles that we liked, and Kageyama-san wanted to pay for those, too. We ended up sneaking in and paying for them, and we felt pretty satisfied. Kageyama-san bought some bottles for himself, and then we left.

On the way home we stopped in at the Kageyama farm to check it out. There had been some major improvements in the trailer – now there was carpet, a refrigerator full of beer, and a very comfortable space to relax. A regular home away from home.

Our last stop was the Kageyama household. We tried to get him to take us back to the train station, since Kuniko would be coming home and we wanted to have dinner ready for her. He insisted we visit for just a cup of tea. When we arrived, however, Mrs. Kageyama was cooking away and by the time we got out of there we were carrying loads of takoyaki, a cake for dessert, and the bottle of sake that Kageyama-san had bought… he fooled us by saying it was for himself but then he gave it to us to drink.

He drove us home from there and we arrived right after Kuniko arrived. We ate up the takoyaki for dinner, and then played a couple of games of Sorry. Tomorrow Kuniko has to go to work, but Mark and I will do some shopping in a bid to fufill his souvenir needs. It was a great day today, and we both felt like we saw a side of Japan that most people don’t.


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