walkabout-japan

Day 43
Sake, Zen and old trees
GPS: N 34 °, 25. 253 ' E 136 °, 08. 532 '
Altitude: 340 mP
Place: Haze - Sanrinsha
Etmal: 25 km
Total 964 km
When I wake up, it still rains; I'm lying without moving in my
soft blankets watching how the wind blows down the pink blossoms of the cherry trees. Everything is fleeting... We
have 3 degrees over zero outside; it was wise to stay here. After many photos with the pensioners' group who also spent the night here, I am trotting away from the mountains pushed
by the icy wind. The rain has stopped and my clothes smell
like a freshly souped-up white poodle (yucky!). In the evening
I am hauling myself on a temple mountain with 1,000 years-old trees. Finally, after a long photo session (the trees are really gigantic) I'm totally hanging out in my tent and a traditionally dressed man comes straight away and says: "Hi, I am the priest of this temple, please come to my house to eat and drink!" (No chance to resist). After several cups of sake and the yummiest delicacies, which Oba-chan has collected in the forest (Sansai - spring plants), the "priest" tells me that he is also political adviser of the government for negotiations in English as well as writer and professor of politics. Oh yes,
and furthermore he has consecrated the first Shinto temple in France (/www2.biglobe.ne.jp / ~ mizunoya/(Yukai and Yusen, Komyo-In Temple "La Montagne" fa 89 350 Villeneuve Les Genetes, France). I'm really sorry, but as usual I can't keep
my eyes open and we must stop talking till breakfast.


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