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Japan trip
Day 12 - 17th June - Mt Misen, Miyajima (Part 3)
View of Inland Sea
Two isles
Me on rock. I forced flash but the camera was too far away for there to be an effect.
Lookout point
View from lookout point
There was quite a bit of wildlife at the top of Mt Misen:
Monkeys
Monkey and rocks
"Please don't feed animals" in 23 (?) languages:
"Monkeys are present around here"
"Please don't touch deer. They eat monkey's droppings"
"There are new born babies"
"Please don't touch animals"
Very informative whiteboard
There was a Y10 surcharge for the vending machines at the cable car terminal.
Monkey and baby
Map of Mt Misen
Ema board. They went for the budget price of Y100 - because they were made of cardboard.
I thought these only show up at shrines or temples. Maybe they got a license to be a concessionaire from the nearby temple
"Monkeys feeding sign. They often eat mud."
I then took the 1km path to the temple(s) and shrine, and Mt Misen observatory.
Inland Sea from break in the trees
Butt-shaking deer. Maybe it was possessed by the gods.
Weird eerie music - on a mountain path. Damn Japs.
The path was 1km but it felt a lot longer - it was uphill all the way and the trek made me hot and wet. Everyone heading in the opposite direction (i.e. Down) konnichiwa-ed me (in comparison, at Amanohashidate only half the people greeted me). They were probably thinking: "Haha, sucker! We're going down and you're coming up!"
[Addendum: In contrast, on my return trip no one konnichiwa-ed me, so I knew my theory was right!!!]
"Eternal fire" lit by Kobo Daishi "said to have been burning for 1200 years" (I appreciate the honesty), used to light the flame of peace in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park.
As you can see, the so-called flame was just a smoldering log. I considered going down in history as the person who put out the 1,200 year old fire, but my deed would probably be covered up (and more importantly, I'd lose the good karma I got from turning the prayer wheel and being blessed by the priest and end up being reincarnated as a cockroach again).
Pot and altar. I should've shouted "Cook little pot, cook", but I didn't know how to say that in Japanese and didn't want to kill the monkeys and deer in a landslide.
Reika-do Eternal Fire Hall
Misen-hondo
Altar
Bell
Statues of gods
They were selling drinks but it was damn expensive - Y300 for a 500ml bottle of green tea. Yet, it was the honour system - the drinks were in a fridge and there was a receptacle to deposit your money.
More steps up led to the Sankido
Guy praying
Guy praying. His mumbling didn't sound Japanese.
Pile of rocks
Random rock. They have a webpage dedicated to the weird rocks on Mt Misen. Unfortunately due to a recent typhoon some of the paths were closed so I didn't see all of them.
Kuguri-iwa ("Duck under rock"). It didn't collapse on me.
Reaching the observatory I was very thirsty, so I had the most expensive and smallest Coke in Japan (250ml for Y200). The place did not sell the most expensive Oden in Japan, though (it was only Y500). Stupid Oden auntie.
Me at 2nd floor of observatory
View of Inland Sea from observatory
Urban area
Rocks at foot of observatory
Another hill
Me at top of observatory. It took a while for me to communicate to the 2 young Japanese women (i.e. having some English education) who helped me take this that I didn't want the metal thing (binoculars hulk) in my picture. No wonder JET needs so many ALTs.
Kanman-iwa (Ebb-and-flow rock).
The confusing description on the webpage:
"As the name implies, water level of the hollow opened on the side of rocks changes according to the come and go of the tide.
But the hollow of this rock is about 500 meters above the sea, furthermore salt is included in the water. It is not proved scientifically and it is one of the seven wonders."
Thirsty as I was, I resisted the urge to top up my water here.
Cleavage. Someone carved a statue (of Jizo?) here
Deer looking at temple
I went halfway down to the other side to look at the other temples/shrines, but I gave up because there was only a vaguely interesting whale rock, and I was all templed out.
"Deepa finds a job close to home. Maya finds a tall Indian boy. Sita wants to orgasnise our wedding. Neal gets a canon 350D. Isha stays cute + adorable. Rav, Nisha + Kav get jobs + work hard!"
Indian ema
Terraced slope. If they were desperate enough they could cultivate rice here.
Monkeys passing out in the heat
Monkey sucking youngling's finger.