Japan 2010, Day 5

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Today was our first day out of Tokyo. I had suggested going to Suwa both for the fact that it was a site related to Touhou, and because it seemed like it would be interesting. The main shrine there (Suwa Taisha) is extremely old, being mentioned in the earliest Japanese texts. Arnond had not yet exchanged his Japan Rail Pass, as he had wasted all opportunities to do so the previous day, so we had to wait for him to get that done when the pass exchange at Ueno opened up at 9AM. I picked up breakfast at First Kitchen in the meantime, and then we headed out to Suwa. We caught the Super Azusa train from Shinjuku at 10AM, and got off at Kamisuwa station. The station itself had a small hot spring for feet, which is something the area is known for, but we didn’t use it.

The foot hot spring in the station

We then checked into our ryokan, and boy, was it nice. Certainly a big improvement from the small rooms we were staying at in Tokyo. Anyway, we left our bags there, and went out for sightseeing. We stopped first for some food at an Italian themed place called Chianti, where some Engrish told us that once we had pizza there, Buono would shoot us. We couldn’t resist.

The Engrish warning us about Buono

I had a raw ham salad 8-inch pizza. Then we went and walked by Lake Suwa, checking out the swan and turtle boats, and heading to the geyser. We checked out the museum in the geyser complex as we waited for the geyser to erupt. There was a warning that the geyser had been erupting less spectacularly as of late, so to be aware of that. Once it did go off, I could certainly see that, as it only went up maybe 2 meters, instead of the usual 5 meters or more.

Arnond and Chris pose in front of the erupting geyser

We then went exploring around town, visiting Kodama-ishi Shrine and then Onsen Temple. We then saw Tenaga Shrine, and headed to the station to take the train to Chino, where we would catch a bus to the upper shrine of Suwa Taisha. I picked up some cream-filled melon bread at a bakery in Chino, it was actually pretty tasty. We went first to the main upper shrine, which was pretty cool, and not surprisingly, we found several Touhou related ema (Wikipedia link) there.

One of the several Touhou related ema

It seems the main shrine building is surrounded by a four onbashira (Wikipedia link) that make a rectangle, although I am not clear as to its significance. Also, the shrine seems to hold a sacred mirror that we saw; I can only assume it is the mirror that is on Kanako’s chest.

The main shrine building with the sacred mirror

I also picked up a new protective charm to replace the one I had gotten from Washinomiya Shrine the previous year. Afterward, we walked down to the front upper shrine, and saw a four more onbashira there. I wonder if all of these onbashira get replaced during the onbashira festival, which unfortunately for us, would occur after we left Japan, and only repeats every six years. We then hung around a Family Mart until we were able to catch a bus back to Chino Station. Then we returned to the hotel, got dinner nearby at an okonomiyaki place called Hiroshimaya, and settled in for the night after using the open-air bath on the seventh floor of the hotel.