Essay - Travels

No.7
2004 Eary Summer - Yoshino No.2 "Make a pilgrimage"
Drawing: angel?
angel?

A hotel "Kato" which we stayed at this time was log-house which was built of 640 local Japanese cedars. They closed their hotel for a year and built by all the family. When we entered, there was filled with smell of wood and it was silky and comfortable to set foot on its floor. We soaked in the hinoki wooden bath slowly (If its wall would be wooden, it's more than we could have asked for), and we relaxed at the glassed-in hall built in wellhole style, then we could see the biggest cherry tree in Yoshino-yama with gracefully-shaped branches. We were filled with wonder at its daring idea.

The landlady who barked all log by herself was seemed bravely and powerfully woman, but in fact, she was charming just like a Benzaiten (one of the Seven Deities of Good Fortune). Her husband and son have absorbed in building since they made their log house. One of the reliable staff came to help the build as a carpenter and hen he has woked at hotel since. We were impressed with them who loved Yoshino.

Yoshino-yama is a ridge and both of the side is steep-walled valley. The scene which wrapped in a dense fog is just like a world of sumie (an Indian-ink drawing). I occurred to Vezelay, France which I had been to. It's a small town on top of a hill and always wrapped in a fog. There are Basilique Ste Madeleine in the center of the town and it used to be one of the base town of the pilgrimage. There are a lot of point in common. Oh yes, Vezelay has been registered as a world heritage already and I hear that Yoshino-yama will be as a "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range and the Cultural Landscapes that Surround Them" this year, too.

The next morning, Tomi, Peco and Poco who woke up at eary half past five, became a hastily acquired ascetic and joined morning sutra recitation which we taught from a staff of our hotel at Kinpusen-ji. A sound of drum which echoed throughout the temple vibrated heavily our stomach. And the sound of a trumpet shell, a wood block and a bell responded. We felt edifying like a what we became a reincarnation of Shakyamuni, Kannon or Bodhisattva. What has the woman who sat in the front row carried the on her shoulders.

After we took a morning bath, we had a breakfast. Boiled rice, misosoup, boiled tofu, rolled egg, simmered sweetfish in sweet sauce, three dishes of small bowl, nori seaweed, pickled plum, pickles, konbu boiled down in soy. after the meal we took a rest in opposite tea room and had cherry flavored ice cream and arrowroot gruel. Well, let's go! We left the hotel and went toward the buckwheat noodles restaurant which was in front of the Taima-dera at the foot of Mt. Nijo . As we arrived a bit earlier, we made a pilgrimage to temple. Although we knew after we got back to the home, it was a in and around here that the scene of the animation story which Kihachiro Kawamoto is at work now is laid .

The taste of buckwheat noodles, the sauce for dipping noodles was a bit salty and it was a little lack of flavor. We satisfied our appetite and We were strolling on the temple town with shopping. The signboard which has been attracted our attention from yesterday was "Daranisuke" taht was a pill for stomachache. We were surprised we knew there were many lover of this pill unexpectedly. Unusually three of Toyama group who went back before dark finished our trip by having a sushi. It was so nice.

Highslide JS
Mt. Yoshino was just like a world of sumie
( 2004-5-23 / Tomi)
Highslide JS
Greenish buckwheat noodles
( 2004-5-23 / Tomi)

written by Peco and Poco, illustrated by Poco

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