TNT Day 45 - scaffolded

 6 nov

Maps 31 & 32: (tent) misujino falls -> fudo-ji temple -> lake Biwa water gate -> ishiyamadera temple -> Ishiyamadera station // train to Kamisakaemachi station (Airbnb)

This morning was chilly, nearly chilly enough to wear long pants but not quite. Shorts and a tshirt it will be.

Leaving misujino falls I passed by an entrance gate being patrolled by guards and looking like a very serious operation. Satellite imagery shows a large building in a sea of trees. Turns out it is the headquarters for the Shinji Shumeikai religious movement. They also own the nearby Miho museum which looks quite amazing if google images is anything to go by.

I turned off the main road and headed up a forest road, where there was yet again scooters in strange places.

Hopefully they were wearing pants underneath these for the drive home.

A monorail and work area had been setup at the toilet block below taijin-san fudo-ji temple. I could here machinery and yelling, I assumed it to be forestry operations.

The rail went up as I did.

And then passed over the top of me.

Meanwhile I had arrived at the lower courtyard of the temple and started making my way further up to see the main hall.

Only to discover that the main temple is currently wrapped up in scaffolding as they carry out repair works.

The sign board informed me that

"The Main Hall of Fudoji Temple is a building with a hip roof made using many layers of bark from Japanese cypress trees. Although some minor expansions were later made to the hall which altered its exterior appearance, it is thought to have been originally constructed during the early Muromachi period [1336-1573]. The rear section of the hall leans against a huge stone, and the building itself hangs off the edge of a cliff as it is constructed using the kakezukuris (suspended structure) style of architecture, which opens up a space between the pillars in the central back area to house a dais and a miniature shrine with double doors. The hall is a valuable example of a Buddhist temple structure constructed using an older Japanese style of architectural techniques."

So all in all a very impressive sounding temple, which I was only able to see glimpses of.

Found the end of the monorail, it wasn't forestry work after all, but cultural asset restoration.

The descent into otsu had many interesting shrines along the way.

And also some views.

And idyllic streams.

Mukaefudo shrine at the bottom had little piles of salt just inside the structure. I am not up to date on my Buddhist and Shinto religious practices so am at a loss to the significance of this. (I have seen signs elsewhere asking people not to leave salt and sake due to the lure of animals.)

At the end of the valley leading into otsu lay more scaffolding. Very large, intimidating scaffolding.

It's getting closer...

I hope it doesn't fall.

Made it under, without incident.

Not sure how I'd feel if one of those houses was mine. One minute you live in lovely idyllic countryside the next you've got a multi lane highway running over your house.

I was now into the suburbs of otsu, my destination for today was the ishiyamadera station where I'd catch a train to my accommodation for the night. Some of the sites from walking through otsu follow

And finally Ishiyamadera temple, a large, fancy and very beautiful temple complex. It is the 13th stop of the Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage and Murasaki Shikibu, allegedly began writing The Tale of Genji here during a full moon night in August 1004. 

18km, highest point: 556m, elevation: +418m -647m