The tone for the day was set at dawn. Owen and I had slept well.
We didn’t have any miles to make or really any schedule at all other than the 11 o’clock checkout time which we took advantage of.
Our inn was more of a youth hostel. It was busy with young people. They were preparing for their hikes. I took advantage of the outdoor personal onsen.
We were staying in an onsen village. It’s one of the oldest in Japan. It was deserted. I guess it is not the traveling season, at least not for hot springs.
It understand why because of the heat.
There are many inns and restaurants around but they are all shut up. The only place with life was our hostel / inn. We looked for a breakfast spot but had to settle for a bowl of rice and an instant coffee back at the hostel.
We are way out in the mountains. It is very remote here. It is nice to change our pace. It is also nice to be away from people for a bit. It is also a little boring and things are not convenient.
Buses come infrequently. We have waited around for buses for hours now.
We have another night of country living. We’ll definitely be ready to return to a faster pace.
Kumano Honshu-Taisha ⛩️
In this region of Japan, there are three major shrines. They are collectively called the Kumano Sanzan. The series of pilgrim trails that connect these shrines is what brought us to this area. The symbol that is used throughout the region is the “Three-legged Crow”. There is a myth about the Three-legged Crow guiding the first emperor of Japan through the “impenetrable Kumano mountains is the Japanese creation myth.”
We stopped by our first of the three grand shrines: Kumano Homgu Taisha.
After a nice visit to this lovely shrine, we had another long wait for our bus. We spent our time in a nice restaurant and had a curry and chai tea.
Our wait staff were two junior high students who the restaurant owner explained to me were doing a “work study” type of program. They were so cute, nervous and hard working.
My magical phrase, “Otsu kare sama desu” (“Thank you for your hard work”) brought a round of applause from the the other patrons. Thank you Hisashi-sensei.
Farmhouse
We took two buses unbelievably even further into the mountains.
We wound up in the tiny town of Koguchi.
This nights stay was my toughest reservation to make. I had “applied” to a travel agency some four months ago and only heard back that we got the reservation a week before we came to Japan.
We made a call to be picked up
The Kumaano Farmhouse was an amazing stay.
The guesthouse is part of a family farm. The owner and his wife farm the land and work as hosts. The meals we were served were primarily home grown foods.
The place was so nice and so fun. I am glad we didn’t hike there as originally planned so that we could enjoy ourselves instead of just trying to recover.
Owen had a great time playing in the stream
The evening was beautiful.
We had a very special meal prepared for us.
We saw Starlink fly over again
We each enjoyed several baths in the outdoor onsen.
It was a very pleasant stay.
