Day Fourteen: The Beautiful Cape and Temple 38
Weather: HotHotHot! Sun and a bit of rain.
A bad start to the day; I loaded up the bike and noticed my back tire had gone flat. Took it off and examined it, but couldn’t find a puncture, so refilled it and headed of to a combini for breakfast….and the tire went flat. Ate breakfast, returned to the parking lot and examined the tube again, more carefully. I found what looked like a small leak; after fixing it the tire ran fine all day.
I rode down rte. 56, inland for the first 15 km. or so, through the farmland and rice fields – and lots of tunnels, which I avoided whenever possible…I passed a lot of walking henro, though I didn’t see the guru walker. I found that when I said hello as I passed them I sometimes startled them, so instead I began to just bow over the bars as I passed. It seemed more kind not to intrude. I came across an ocean-side park just south of Saga, with a lovely view to the south east. Deciding to walk down the steep road to the beach, I came across these. A Kabutomushi slaughter. Beloved by Japanese of all ages, but idolized by children, the Stag beatle is an icon in Japan.
Every summer for a few weeks, after transforming from grub to adult beatle, they fly forth, clumsily, bravely, on the breeze to create a new generation. These ones looked like lunch to some crows or ravens. Do not show these photos to any Japanese children. They may weep.
A strange little futuristic….bathroom on the beach. Since bathrooms by repute have good reverb qualities, I decided to record the beach from inside. Listen here. At least it’s out of the wind. Recording of the beach here.
Riding along the coast for a bit, then inland to the Shimanto-gawa, the last remaining undammed river in Japan. Legendarily beautiful…but I have to admit I must have been thinking about something else, because I didn’t even notice, never mind take a picture of it.
Inland again and through the Shin-izuta Tunnel. It’s 4.8 km. long! Yuck. I was a bit worried about making time to the tip of the cape; next time I would take the small municipal road that hugs the coast and avoid this inland stretch. The little road looks like it climbs and drops a bit for this 12 km. route – the views might be great!
South of the hamlet Shimanokae about 3 km., I found the aptly named Oki no Hama (Big Beach), stretching for 3 or 4 kilometres and dotted with surfers. The waves are not huge, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
The tip of the cape, and town of Ashizuri-Misaki was only another 15 kilometres south.
Kongofukuji
At temple 38, Kongofukuji, in Ishizuri, I met two bike henro from Yokohama. They were camping in the area and said they would see me at 39. The temple itself was very busy (Saturday!), a bit of a circus, and I was not encouraged by the crowds to linger.
I did not visit Okunoin, a jinja on Mt. Shirao, 3 kilometres inland up the Ashizuri Skyway. Okunoin is also the name of Kukai’s resting place on Mt. Koya, in Nara, south east of Osaka. It is also the largest cemetery in Japan. Perhaps this shrine simply retains the same name (there’s also one in southern Kyushu, apparently). I’m not sure if this one is a cemetery as well, though I think perhaps it is. Next time around I will visit it.
They seem to be stalagmites. On my third try, I was directed to a ryokan down near the water, run by a sweet old couple. At first the woman was a bit apprehensive, but when I reassured them that I loved sleeping on tatami, and would eat Japanese food, she was fine. When I came down to dinner in my yukata (properly tied) she was happy; dinner was really good! My room had a view of the ocean.
They even let me set up my tent to dry it out properly, it having gotten rained on…it was very kind of them.
