A Walk from Koshigahama to Nagato-Oi

 

Late March, and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom on the Sea of Japan coast in Yamaguchi.

This was day 30 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, and the for the next few days there would not be any pilgrimage temples to visit, but the route is along a spectacular section of coastline where the road is literally right next to the sea.

Koshigahama is home to a pretty large fishing port, but fish is not the only product harvested from the sea.

As well as squid hanging up to dry, there was a lot of wakame, a species of kelp, and widely eaten in Japan.

Spring is the primary harvesting season in Japan.

Looking up the coast at my route. The high mountain in the distance is Mount Takayama near Susa. I expect to be there in about 3 days.

have no idea what these tiny fishes are that are being dried.

Not a big fan of small, bony fishes, though I must admit i used to enjoy whitebait back in Cornwall.

I suspect this guy doesn't care less which kind of fish he gets to eat....

If its not cloudy or windy, then the sea here is usually clear and turquoise blue.

The train line from Masuda to Hagi also hugs the coast and so these views can be enjoyed from a slow train....

Oshima is the biggest of the islands visible most days. In good weather, Mishima, much further offshore, can be glimpsed in the far distance.

For the next few kilometers there are no houses or settlements until Oi.

The previous post was on the scenic Itsukushima Shrine on Myojin Pond in Koshigahama.

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A Walk to Mine

 

Where I grew up, December 26th is known as Boxing Day. On Boxing Day, 2014, I began my 26th day walking along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

This was a symbolic point in the journey as I had been moving primarily west for the previous 25 days, but now I turn north and then start to head East.

I had started in Okayama, then headed west through Hiroshima and then into Yamaguchi. Though there had been many detours, it was primarily along the coast of those prefectures. Now I head to the Japan Sea coast of Yamaguchi and then head east, primarily along the coast, through Yamaguchi, then Shimane, and then Tottori.

I had just visited the 19th of 37 temples, the 33 main temples plus 4 "extra" temples, so I had passed the halfway point in that regard. My route now would be much straighter than the first half, so I am well over halfway in terms of kilometers and days. The next half of the pilgrimage will be far less populated.

The next temple was in Hagi, and on this day I would get as far as Mine.

My destination was to the NE so I started out walking up the Koya River, passing under the Shinkansen Line, before crossing over to the Hara River which ran into the Asa River heading into Mine.

Not sure what kind of bird this was that was unfortunate enough to have been hit by a vehicle.

It was fairly typical rural landscape, with plenty of paddies and plenty of dilapidated buildings...

I stopped in at a couple of interesting shrines, and will cover them in the next post in the series...

I would have thought that the small, unmanned, rural buildings that sell porn and related products through vending machines would be dying out with the prevalence of online shopping and online porn, but Pink Joy seems to be very new, so obviously still worth investing in... I have noticed that the ones I have encountered in Chugoku have much more advertising on the exterior. The ones I came across in Kyushu usually just had a small nameboard.... no flags nor bright posters like here

Two of the most common birds I come across in the countryside are the heron

and the egret...

The previous post was on the fascinating Imimiya Shrine I visited the day before.

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Along the Sanyo-do

 

26th November, 2014, and I set off before sunrise on day 24 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

I stayed the night near Shin Yamaguchi Station, formerly known as Ogori. My route is SW towards the next temple near Ube.

Instead of taking the main road I take the old Sanyo-do, the imperial highway from ancient times that ran from Yamato down to Shimonoseki along the southern coast of Honshu. This roughly corresponds to todays National Highway 2

Looking back to the built-up area around Ogori.

The old road retains some of its historical charm with plenty of examples of older-style architecture...

There are numerous roadside Buddhist altars...

As is usual for me, I stop in at most of the shrines that I pass. I will cover some of them in the next post...

The only Autumn Colour I encountered was at one shrine....

At times, my route parallels the Shinkansen Line.

It is most pleasant to be away from all the traffic and commercial establishments on the newer Route 2  not far away.

From one shrine that is on higher ground, I catch a glimpse of the Inland Sea...

Economically, the Sanyo region is doing really well compared to my region, the San-in, but there are still some empty and decaying houses, though a tiny number compared to my area.

A heron proved not so skittish...

After passing Hon Yura  Station I pass a newly rebuilt Buddhist "chapel", Mikage-do, part of Bodaiji Temple.

The previous post was on the last temple I visited yesterday, the amazing Ryuzoji.

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