Ow. Ow ow ow. Ow. Walking the entire length of a city and then some makes your legs hurt. Ow. Sunburn exists and mocks the unsuspecting gaijin. I am now redder than a spanked tomato.
I planned a rather circular route taking me past most everything of interest, including my new hotel, before winding up back in the city centre for the evening festivities.
First stop was the Uesugi clan mausoleum: a line of identical oriental styled crypts each housing one from a millenias worth of feudal lords. The burial grounds are surrounded by the remnants of some truly mighty cedars. Once upon a time this spot must have been a wooded grove for the wanderer to happen upon. I then past a couple of average temples hardly worthy of comment after the number I've seen.
Now the painful part: I wanted to visit a more interesting Buddhist temple on the other side of the city. I could either go sort of straight though the boring area of town, or take the longer route through the countryside. Desire to escape from the concrete was strong enough to overcome even my Lazy-ass-son-of-a-bitch-ness. I chose the latter and bar sunburn am glad.
See, I finally had a chance to leave civilisation completely behind me, following a dirt track up into the hillside woods... Now, yes, I must have survived because I'm writing this, but please take into account for a moment the following
- I was alone.
- I was in no way prepared to go wandering in the wilderness.
- I was in an unfamiliar city in an unfamiliar country in an unfamiliar hemisphere.
- No one knew where I was or what I was doing.
- Japanese forests are known for being exceptionally vertical.
- I have a reputation for falling off cliffs.
- I am Tony.
In my defence, I thought all of the above at the time, and was exceptionally careful of my footing / route etc, but feel free to call me a f***ing idiot nonetheless. I had a good time so nyah! I followed a narrow river uphill until I came across an ancient moss covered dam. A cherry tree was blossoming over it, and I could hear the water trickling around its crumbling base.
Returning unscathed I wandered past field and farmstead, odd woman were hunched over sowing the years first crop, wisely wearing big floppy bonnets against the sun and completely unaware of their gaijin observer. I saw very few men, and only ever behind a tractor. Is farming a woman's job in japan? Are the men at home vacuuming, changing the sheets and watching Oprah? I guess I'll never know.
I escaped the sun to a roadside coffee shop most definitely worthy of the tag local. Inside were half a dozen gossiping women. They turned out to be delighted at the arrival of a "cute" English tourist, complimenting him on how good his terrible Japanese was, and discussing bread. It has to be the warmest reception I've received to date.
Eventually I reached the temple. It was deserted and silent bar the stream that ran straight through it birdsong from the woods behind. It was certainly a fine example of its kind, a copper dragon guarding the cleansing water, fresh aprons on the Buddha statues and a generally decent atmosphere. To put it short; well worth the trip, though now I was running out of time and needed to get back for the festival.
I made it just in time to hear the Japanese drum opening. The drums were played in a relay by pairs of talented drummers throughout the whole two hour festival. Speakers blared out descriptions in Japanese as lots of people dressed in very spangly Samurai armour and weaponry charged on brandishing burning torches. The ceremony is a re-enactment of what was reputedly performed by the Lord Kenshin Uesugi before each of the 80 odd battles he fought in. As well as being an excuse for a party, it was how Lord Kenshin kept his humility. It was a reminder of the virtues the non-expansionist lord was fighting for. That, at least, is what it says on the pamphlet. All I can vouch for are the pretty costumes, the rifle, sword and polearm demonstrations, the cute kiddies in armour and the really really pretty armour.
Did I mention the pretty armour?
Pretty suits of armour seen: Several hundred.
People bugged by a strange gaijin asking where he can buy samurai armour: 12
Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/www/Auhipoon/entryBuilder.php on line 19