During Silver Week (which occurs about once every six years, when three national holidays happen to run consecutively after each other), I'd headed off to the Kansai region for a short getaway of temple visits, pilgrimages and local food. And what lovely, sunny weather we had for it!
After alighting from the night bus, the first day was spent exploring Ise Jingu Shrine and the area around it. Expecting to see something impressive, as it is one of Japan's famous shrines, I was pretty disappointed to see new buildings making up the shrine complex. Every twenty years, the shrine is pulled down and rebuilt, in accordance with the Shinto belief that life is brief, and that there is life after death; and as it was, the shrine had just recently been rebuilt.
Over the next two days, we did a pilgrimage from Nachi to Hongu, a section of the ancient Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Trail, where we wild camped under a bridge in Koguchi, the midway point. The trail took us through forests along moss covered paths of stone; and Koguchi was nothing more than a small village with one tiny grocery shop. Nachi to Koguchi took us seven hours, and from Koguchi to Hongu, five. After dropping off some luggage at a campsite, we explored Hongu Shrine, and had a dunk in an onsen before turning in.
The next morning, we caught the first bus to Shingu, the last temple of the circuit. And from there, we headed to Matsuzaka, where we made a stop at a public bath, and had a dinner of Matsuzaka beef before getting the night bus back to Tokyo.
