Today a much shorter walk, just to Kumano Hayatama Taisha in Shingu, then down the road a bit and up a mountain to the Kamikura Shrine.
I got my calligraphy all nicely done at the temple, but didn’t stay long as it felt strangely sterile. As always, the real power was at the shrine. Nachi was a waterfall for the present. Kamikura is about the future. It’s a rock. A solid point, but you have to work hard to get to it. Right up the top of a steep steep hill. As I go up, lots of people are coming down on their bums.
The shrine itself is a huge rock overlooking the town, with the inner sanctum as a vagina of three rocks. It’s powerful.
I spend a good amount of time at that shrine, praying to the rock yoni, and I blow my plan of buying presents today – there’s no shop. Then I have to run back down the steps as I’m getting a lift to my next accommodation from Kii-katsuura and I have to catch a bus. Thankfully I don’t go arse over tit, but people look at me disapprovingly as I run away from the future again while they shuffle away from it on their bums.
I get back just in time for my bus, and I’m driven up into the hills. This is a scheduled rest stop now and a chance to recharge.
My host tells me through Google Translate that there is an ancient shrine nearby. He takes me there and it is another rock shrine. This one is dedicated to Hachiman now, so the shinto animal would have been a dove.
I flick an old Georgian penny into the brook below the rock and clap my appreciation of the incumbent spirit here. My host approves. Then we drive back up the winding mountain pass to my place for tonight and I know I’m going to rest well.
A little wooden hut in the hills. A kitchen. A bath. A view. I spent the evening cooking things for my next couple of lunches, listening to the birdsong and thinking about how lucky I am. I’m coming to the end of this first tester journey and walk in Japan and there’s no way in hell I’m not coming back here. I’ll have to find time to walk Shikoku 88 temples, and this time I’ll plan it way in advance, although my choices at short notice so far have been satisfying. The next 4 days are logistically much more complicated though. I’m on a train to kii-tanabe at the moment to see if I can leave my wheelie case in left luggage there for a few days. Then I’m gonna walk a short steep ascent, the very beginning of the Nakahechi route, from Takajiri-oji just as far as Takahara. Logistically it might be the only chance I have to cover that part of the trail. I’m feeling pretty good for it, even though I stubbed my toe horribly last night.
AlBarclay 