Toyokawa: mold be gone

 8 Oct

Toyokawa

Overcast, rain

After an amazing hotel breakfast, which included smoothies, apple, tomatoes, waffles, coco-pops, miso soup and broccoli salad, I headed to he local supermarket to invest in some vinegar. I then spent the next 4 hours scrubbing and washing my bag.

Once the arduous task of cleaning had been completed I headed of the Sakuragaoka Museum, a free museum about the city. Turns out that during WW2 the factories in toyokawa produced 70% of Japan's machine guns and bullets and also made binoculars, compasses, and other weapon components. Unfortunately this put a target on its back and the US bombed the production facility, destroying it and killing ~2,500 people.

There is still a large military base based in the city and there are a number of museums and monuments relating to WW2. I even stumbled across a group of soldiers running drills with a giant gun in a field which was a little daunting.

Next stop was Toyokawa Inari nd Myōgon-ji Temple, now toyokawa seems to have a thing for inari (foxes) which I assume originates at this temple. After walking through the main temple buildings - very big, very impressive, some old, some new, lots of inari statues - signs will lead you to a pathway lined with banners and inari statues.

 

Making my way down this path, I was expecting maybe another small shrine, or a bell, or a big stone. What I did get was hundreds of inari statues all with red bibs on and all staring at me.

It turns out that this is one of Japan’s Big Three Inari Temples, along with Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari and the Yutoku Inari Temple in Saga Prefecture. The temple was established in 1441 by the monk Tokai Geki, and is both a Sodo sect Buddhist Temple, and a Shinto Shrine, dedicated to Inari Okami, the god of fertility, rice and agriculture, industry and worldly success. In addition it is also dedicated to the god of foxes.

Toyokawa has definitely embraced the inari, around the city there were vending machines, man holes covers, fitness signs, businesses, posters, and artwork all depicting inari in some form.

The city also appears to have an appreciation for public art with many sculptures and installations dotted around.

So I've changed my plans for the next couple of days, as my brother is meeting me in Toyota on Saturday the 12th for the long weekend. This means I will be parking the next section from mikawa-ono station as it is likely to take me 4 days and instead I will head to toyota tomorrow and walk some of the trail which is connected to urban areas.