Today we ventured toward the west coast, something I've been wanting to do for quite awhile. We never got it squeezed into our adventures last year so it was on the top of the list for this spring! My planned destination was the Takayama Inari Shrine (red marker on map). We took the non-toll route going there (160km or 100mi) and it took us about 3 1/2 hours. Takayama Inari Shrine is on the west coast of the Tsugaru Peninsula. Coming home we went north to Cape Tappi, then southeast to Aomori and took the toll roads home from there (185km or 115mi).
Rice planting is in full swing! They flood the fields then work up the ground and then plant.
Driving through the mountains we re-encountered snow! The scenery went from spring right back to winter-ish...
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| It's the middle of May! This is crazy! |
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| Yummy tortilla chips! |
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| More rice planting. |
Inari is a god or group of spirits (kami) in the Shinto religion to which many shrines are dedicated. The majority being dedicated to praying to Inari as the "God of Rice." Takayama Inari Shrine is most famous as a place for prayers for maritime safety, bountiful harvests and business prosperity. Other Inari shrines are specific to fertility, tea, sake, agriculture, industry, general prosperity and worldly success. The symbol of Inari is the fox (kitsune) and they are said to act as messengers to Inari.
[At least this is the way I understand all of it...]
Takayama Inari Shrine is also famous for its number of torii gates. Some Americans call it the "100 Torii Gates." I believe Keenan counted just over 200 on the path where they are lined up closely. It is a much smaller version of Fushimi Inari Taisha (Grand Shrine) located in Kyoto which is the head shrine of Inari and supposedly has over 10,000 torii gates!
The weather today wasn't spectacular, windy and cloudy, the torii gates could use a coat of paint and the grounds could use some maintenance, but overall it was very beautiful and peaceful. We only saw about 5 other people the entire time we were there.
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| Large torii gate welcoming us to the parking lot. |
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| And the journey from the parking area started with a lot of stairs... |
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| Hundreds of foxes (kitsune)! |
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Foxes inside a little rundown building. Souvenir shop perhaps?
It definitely hadn't been open in a LONG time! Thick coat of dust! |
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| Gates were a little short for him... |
From the shrine we continued to drive north to Cape Tappi (Tappizaki) the most northern point of the Tsugaru Peninsula. The day had already been pretty overcast since we'd gotten west of the mountains but as we drove north we climbed higher and ended up in the clouds. I'm sure the view would be amazing on a clear day! We stopped at a couple little beaches to explore, I didn't find any treasures though. Cape Tappi is where the Seikan Tunnel is located, it connects the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido by train. It's the longest and deepest tunnel in the world reaching a depth of 790 ft below sea level and 330 ft below the seabed. It's about 33 miles long and around 15 miles are under the seabed. I think riding on that train might make me a little nervous!
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Right after this we passed a guy on a bicycle. We were miles
from nowhere in the mountains...makes my legs and lungs hurt
just thinking about it! |
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| The ocean's over there somewhere below the cloud line! |
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| Cool dragon bridge! |
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FritoLay version of pizza chips! Corn chips vs
the other pizza chips we get that are potato. |
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| Street of a little fishing village. |
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| Yum! |
And to finish up the day...found this treasure at the shoppette on base...30 pack for $9.95??? Keenan may have taken advantage of that deal. But, math can be hard...
Up next: Geibikei Gorge and Chuson-ji (Golden Temple)
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