Today was a day of sites that have not been destroyed by fire, earthquake or war, which is fairly unusual in Japan as most historical buildings have been touched by at least one (some all three) of the above events, but today we saw original sites.
Surprisingly I had the best night's sleep since I have been away so I think Japanese beds seem to agree with me. It was probably a good thing because we had another busy day in store and being well rested was necessary.
With our JR Rail pass in hand we set out for our day in and around Himeji, we took a train from Osaka Station to HImeji (without railpass it would have been Y1490 one way $16.50Aus)The trip to HImeji takes roughly one hour and the route runs down the coast and there are some impressive bridges across the waterway.
We arrived at Himeji station and our first stop was the Shinki Bus Terminal in front of the station to get our combination bus and ropeway ticket for our day's excursion. (Y1400 $14.50 Aus) We then headed to north exit bus stop number ten for bus 8 which takes you to the Mt Shosha Ropeway terminal. The bus ride to the terminal takes roughly 30minutes
and it is a great bus trip as we were riding with locals and driving through suburbia so we got to see how people live and I really liked that. I may be a tourist but I like having real life experiences too, and today I felt like we did exactly that. (maybe because today like the day we visited Mt Takao we didn't see many tourists other than ourselves)
We could of course have hiked up the mountain which they estimate takes 45-60 minutes but I acknowledge that I am not fit enough for that and why walk when there is a perfectly good cable car (besides I knew I would be doing plenty of walking when I got to the top)
The views as always are spectacular and you forget that you are in a country that has a huge population (for it's size) because you are in the middle of the countryside and although there were people walking the trails along with us there weren't many so it was a peaceful day hiking around the mountain.
The reason for our trip to Mt Shosha apart from getting out of the city for another day exploring more of Japan is the amazing temple complex of Engyoji which has been on this mountain for at least 1000 years. Engyoji Temple was founded on Mt. Shosha by Shoku, a holy Buddhist priest, who received special spiritual enlightenment
from Monju, the God of Wisdom and Intellect. Monju informed Shoku that anyone who climbed this mountain would be purified both in body and spirit and many people make pilgrimages to the mountain for this purpose.
There is a Y500 fee to enter the temple grounds and well worth the $5.50 Aus to see this amazing temple complex which is spread over the mountain. It is about a 15-minute walk to the Niomon gate which was reconstructed in 1665 and is the Main Gate to the temple and once you set foot through here you are on sacred ground. There are many small buildings around, and numerous Buddhas
along the path to investigate before you reach the Maniden a beautiful wooden temple which is constructed on pillars because of the steep slope of the mountain (which is probably another 15-20 minutes from the main gate.
(Travel tip: you can get a minbus for Y500 which takes you from the top of the ropeway to Maniden but I am glad we opted for the walk, although I may ask myself if that was a good idea tomorrow)
Another five to ten minute walk down the pathways you come across the biggest structures on the temple grounds, the Mitsunodo which consists of the the Daikodo (main hall), Jikido (lodging and dining hall, now exhibiting temple treasures) and Jogyodo (gymnasium).
There are still more buildings scattered around the site and I thought Samara and I had found all we could get to, there is one further up the mountain the Hakusangongen which has spectacular views of Himeji below us, but the path was closed due to maintenance so we missed out, but there was more than enough to keep us occupied for the day and if it wasn't for the fact that we had another destination planned for the late afternoon we would have probably stayed exploring the mountain until the site was closed for the night.
It is an absolutely beautiful, tranquil spot and I understand how people come away from it feeling that they have been purified.
We made our way back down the mountain and towards Himeji castle, unfortunately I misjudged our timing and although we could wander the castle grounds we weren't able to get into the castle itself (you had to buy tickets by 4pm and we got to the castle at 4.10 so travel tip number 2...just because it says the castle stays open until 5pm check what time they stop people from entering the castle, it does say on the Japan guide website that you need to enter an hour beforehand but I must have missed that. Entrance to the castle and grounds is between Y1000 and Y1040.)
This castle is one of the 12 original castles in Japan that has not been destroyed by earthquake, war or fire and stands where it has for the last 400 years (full completed in 1609) I am a little disappointed that we were too late to actually walk through the castle because everything I have read about it is amazing, but not too upset because the castle grounds and outer buildings are magnificent and we enjoyed walking around taking one or two photos.
Once we left the castle grounds we walked down Otamae-dori towards Himeji station which is roughly 1km and it was a lovely end to the day. Like most Japanese cities there is the combination of old and new, modern buildings blending with traditional, and also there are quirky things that are just so 'Japan' and it is always something to keep an eye out for things like that.
We said goodbye to Himeji and headed back to Osaka, we had another great meal (although sadly I didn't take photos) before settling back in our room, another Japanese variety show on the television as we catch up on social media logging our day. (I do wonder if there are any other shows on Japanese television...there have been Korean dramas which funnily enough I have been watching back home and some dubbed American movies but so many variety shows I can't keep up)