Sea turtle town

I took the bus to number 21 (Tairyu-ji, "fat dragon temple"), back to the city, then onto another bus, then along a river up into a mountain valley to the small town of Naka, on the other side of the mountains from Kakurinji. It was a short walk to the ropeway, which proudly announces itself as the longest ropeway in Japan. Into the gondola, and there were the couple who gave me a ride down the mountain yesterday! They were incredibly nice, and today they offered to give me a ride to number 22, Byodoji. I gladly accepted, and after we prayed and chanted at Tairyu-ji I hitched a ride with them again. Again we prayed and chanted, this time with a group of bus pilgrims. The sutras are unfamiliar to my mouth and difficult to pronounce, so the Japanese pilgrims finish much faster than me, but it's a moving experience to chant in unison with a big group like that. I guess it's kind of comparable to singing at a church, inasmuch you have this feeling of togetherness.

The wonderful couple--Mr. and Mrs. Ohira, I learned--bought ice cream for all three of us, and then drove me 5 minutes to Aratano station, where I would take the train. Aratano was a tiny, empty platform like most of the stations around here. I love these tiny little towns, which in New England would be too small to have public transportation, just a general store and maybe a cafe, maybe a post office. I waited there an hour for the train, which filled up with high school students going from rural areas to school or to town.

A ride through forest and along the coastline to the village of Hiwasa in Minami town. Minami means beautiful waves, and it lives up to it's name. There is one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen in Japan. The caves were cool, and I considered spending the night inside them, though I decided to stay in a ryokan again.



The town was used as the set of an NHK (Japanese national TV) drama, which I often watched in the morning before work until it finished last year. I was pretty excited to be in the town where it all took place. From the TV show I knew that the town is an egg laying destination for sea turtles, and right next to my ryokan I found the sea turtle museum, with beautiful baby turtles swimming in a pool.



The temple, Yakuo-ji, was one of the most impressive I've seem so far. I'll try to get a good picture of it tomorrow. Because it was on a hill and my knee still hurts, I didn't climb the stairs up, but just got my book stamped at the base.

I still can't walk pain free, so I'm taking the train again tomorrow to Ikumi, surfer's paradise. Ikumi's famous among Kochi expats, but it will be my first time to visit. If there's a cheap inn maybe I can stay for a couple days, or just camp on the beach.