The Heasley Japan Times: Kotohira

	Kotohira[links]		October 26 - October 27, 2000
	Kotohira was a lovely little town, with a nice, homey atmosphere. The whole reason for going there was the Kotohira-gu Shrine, which rests at the top of 785 granite steps. The steps are not continuous (Thank God!), but rather are part of a pedestrian street that runs straight through town. Fortunately, we found someplace to stow our packs. I'm not sure we'd have made it if we hadn't, particularly after our excess wandering in Takamatsu. There are 88 Buddhist temples on the island of Shikoku, and many Japanese make it a goal to see all of them. Although Kotohira is home to Temple #75 of 88, we decided to visit the more famous Shrine. The founder of the Kotohiragu Shrine must have been a proponent of cardiovascular fitness. Why else would you make a shrine such a workout to get at? "We took pictures along the way. There were really neat lanterns and engraved tablets lining the path, as well as various little and big shrines. The steps would go in spurts - lots of steps, then just a path, then steps and a rest/viewpoint. It was a nice evening - not the heat and humidity of yesterday. At one point we could see the enormous bridge stretching from Honshu to Shikoku. This was definitely a workout, too. I think we had already walked at least 6 miles before starting this trek, but it was worth it." A good ways into the climb, a toothless old man recognized us as Americans and tried to guess where we were from...it was fairly humorous, since I'm not sure he really knew where Oregon was, even after I told him. The climb took nearly an hour, but the descent was much faster, rubbery legs notwithstanding. Being the sweaty-messes that we were, we really didn't feel like pressing on to Matsuyama as we had planned. Instead, we thought to grab a hotel. We went back and retrieved our packs. There was a nice looking hotel not far from the station, so I ventured over there. Here's Elaine's account: "I sat with the bags while Seth went to a nearby hotel and inquired. Apparently, it was a very nice Japanese style hotel that included dinner and breakfast for 18,000 yen per person! When Seth said Thank you and started to leave, the nice English-speaking man told Seth to have a seat while he checked something. He came back and said that he had a room available at his sister hotel - a twin room for 13,000 yen. When Seth asked where it was, he said that he would take him. Seth followed him to the parking lot, and he (the man) asked Seth where his car was. Seth told him we came by train. He said he would take Seth in his car, and wasn't there another person? Seth told him I was at the station, so they got in and came and picked me up in his mini-van. I saw them pull up and couldn't believe my eyes! The man came and helped carry our packs, then drove us to the hotel, which was one that we had passed by earlier and thought looked nice. The man stayed until we were on the elevator to our 4th floor room. Another very friendly, helpful person. Thank God for him. We didn't have to walk anymore today, and we were in a hotel in a quaint little town by 6:30pm." I didn't get the man's name, but we'll never forget him. We still keep part of him with us, since he asked us during our car ride where we would take dinner...only he pronounced it "Deenaarr." To this day we pronounce it the same way. It was nice to just relax after such an exhausting day. Elaine caught up in her journal, and I watched the Nippon Series game (Japan's equivalent to the World Series). The Hawks won that game (the Fukuoka Daia Hawks were playing the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants). The Giants eventually won the series, coming back to win 3-2 after dropping the first two games. Japanese baseball is easily as fun to watch as American, perhaps more so. We had also caught one game of the World Series between the Yankees and Mets at a different hotel. It was fun to listen to the commentary in Japanese. Certain things are easy to understand ("Strike out!", "Ball Four"), but the enthusiastic chatter is tons of fun. Having seen all we came to see on Shikoku (or at least all we could afford the time for), we bolted for Kyushu. We took the short ride back to Todatsu and boarded a commuter for Matsuyama. Once we were moving, a young fare inspector asked where we were going, then in a mixture of very poor English and gestures, told us to get off and get an express. We did so, and were very glad we did...it was much faster. At Matsuyama station, I got tickets for Yuwatahama (Elaine loves the name of that city), where we could catch a ferry to Beppu, on Kyushu. Well, the ferry for Beppu didn't leave until 8:30pm. Since it was only a little after 1pm, we grabbed some lunch at Mos Burger (Japan's equivalent of McDonalds, only nicer) and caught the ferry to Usuki, slightly south of Beppu. The ferry was interesting. The main cabin had no furniture, only raised carpeted areas with available neck pillows. People just grabbed a spot of carpet, laid down, and started smoking. We decided to give it a miss. After sitting outside for a while, I went exploring and found an upstairs lounge-type area, with terribly uncomfortable reclining seats. Still, it was warm and there was no smoke. The ferry ride took two and a half hours. In Usuki, I had to stop and ask directions at a police station. When I said "JR", I think they thought I said "jail"...it was somewhat humorous. At any rate, I finally got my question ("JR wa, doko desu ka?" = "where's the Japan Rail") answered and got us moving in the right direction. We rode to Oita, grabbed some dinner, and barely avoided missing our train to Kumamoto. We didn't get in until 10:30 pm. That's a solid day of traveling. We got up at 7am, and didn't stop moving until almost midnight. Sleeping, then waking...in Kumamoto... Kotohira Links: Shikoku Sightseeing [ Main Page ]
			You'll find Torii gates leading to shrines all over Japan. No all of them are this big, however. Elaine's standing under the right side of it. Can you see her?

			And yet another Torii gate, early in the climb.

			Where am I? Half-way? By this point, the sweat is starting to flow.

			This is also near the middle of the journey, in a nice, wide temple area. The sign on the left says "O-tearai". Remember that. It means "washroom".

			Here's the main gate to the shrine. But we're not there yet. A couple hundred more steps, and we arrive.

			The shrine itself isn't anything to shout about, but the journey was the important part for us. It might've been nice to have a less washed-out picture taken, though...

			By now the sun was setting, but the view was still beautiful. And it was getting nice and cool.