Japan Day 13: Ise and Toba
January 13.
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Wake up in Nara, and hop on a train early in the morning to Ise. Now that's my kind of Japan traveling! We wake up fairly early in the morning to catch our first of two trains we'll be riding, but we arrived at our connecting station a little earlier than expected, and Boo mentioned a Mr Donut by the entrance of the station and his love for them, and I told him my dislike for the flavor. He asked me something along the line of, "Did you get one of those crappy specialty things?" and assured me the regular donuts are great. I ran down to grab a half dozen for us, and a cup of coffee for Boo, and totally forgot to grab a picture of them. We did have some Poifull Jellybeans on the ride, and one out of three Poifull packs have a jellybean that looks like a heart!
On arrival to Ise, we first walked down Oharaimachi Street, a market street selling souvenirs, and more street food than I think we can reasonably handle. Fish cakes, meat on a stick, croquettes, scallops, crab sticks, more donuts! It's a cool little street to visit, and even in this cold January weather, the place is packed to the brim.
Our next stop is Ise Grand Shrine, which was one of the first places Boo and his wife visited after they married. It's shrine located in a gorgeous park along the Isuzu River, and as I've been told, has some very large trees. In order to enter the shrine we have to cross the Uji Bridge which takes us over the Isuzu River. This is where something rad happens every 20 years. The two main buildings of the sanctuary are demolished every 20 years and reconstructed identically with cypress trees from Ise Forest. The wood from the demolished sanctuaries are then used to rebuild Uji Bridge. Apprentice carpenters build the bridge in the original traditional style to help gain experience before rebuilding the main sanctuaries. Pretty rad, right?
The trees here are massive, the water is crystal clear, and there's an abundance of ponds scattered through the area with Koi swimming around. There's little things when it comes to visiting shrines, like bowing while entering, washing your hands and mouth, prayers and clapping, and lastly bowing on exit from the shrine. Some shrines have gate with a beam of wood that you must step over on entry, never step on them, that's bad news, and etiquette with walking either through or around a torii at the entrance. There's so many little things the family taught me while here, and overall made for a wonderful experience.
After our time in Ise, we hopped on a bus to Toba where our hotel is located. Ojiisan and Obaachan stayed at the hotel with the baby, and Me, Boo, the wife and little one all made a trip out to the Futami Okitama Shrine, which is most well known for the Meoto Iwa or "Married Couple Rocks." It's a big "dad" rock and a smaller "mama" rock connected together by a giant rope. Its gorgeous at sunset, but I think seeing this at sunrise would be even more spectacular.
The last two items on the menu for us today are dinner and the onsen, both at the hotel. Dinner is buffet style all you can eat, and for an extra $20, all you can drink. Me and Boo had four beers each. Once dinner finished, technically me and Boo aren't allowed in the Onsen because we have tattoos, but we maybe "forgot" that small fact four beers deep and went anyway. There were at least 6-8 other dudes that were in the onsen on our arrival, and none of them seemed to care that we had tattoos. There were two different baths in one giant room: the first being a very large and excruciatingly hot bath, and the second a smaller bath at room temperature, which felt freezing in comparison. Just like roman baths, hot to cold, cold to hot, and done!
What a great day with great people, goodnight!
Wake up in Nara, and hop on a train early in the morning to Ise. Now that's my kind of Japan traveling! We wake up fairly early in the morning to catch our first of two trains we'll be riding, but we arrived at our connecting station a little earlier than expected, and Boo mentioned a Mr Donut by the entrance of the station and his love for them, and I told him my dislike for the flavor. He asked me something along the line of, "Did you get one of those crappy specialty things?" and assured me the regular donuts are great. I ran down to grab a half dozen for us, and a cup of coffee for Boo, and totally forgot to grab a picture of them. We did have some Poifull Jellybeans on the ride, and one out of three Poifull packs have a jellybean that looks like a heart!
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| Boo with the baby on the train. Somewhere outside Ise. |
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| Poifull Jellybeans, somewhere outside Ise. |
On arrival to Ise, we first walked down Oharaimachi Street, a market street selling souvenirs, and more street food than I think we can reasonably handle. Fish cakes, meat on a stick, croquettes, scallops, crab sticks, more donuts! It's a cool little street to visit, and even in this cold January weather, the place is packed to the brim.
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| Busy Oharaimachi Street, Ise. |
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| Crab Stick, Oharaimachi Street, Ise |
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| Croquette, Oharaimachi Street, Ise |
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| Lucky Money Cat, Oharaimachi Street, Ise. |
Our next stop is Ise Grand Shrine, which was one of the first places Boo and his wife visited after they married. It's shrine located in a gorgeous park along the Isuzu River, and as I've been told, has some very large trees. In order to enter the shrine we have to cross the Uji Bridge which takes us over the Isuzu River. This is where something rad happens every 20 years. The two main buildings of the sanctuary are demolished every 20 years and reconstructed identically with cypress trees from Ise Forest. The wood from the demolished sanctuaries are then used to rebuild Uji Bridge. Apprentice carpenters build the bridge in the original traditional style to help gain experience before rebuilding the main sanctuaries. Pretty rad, right?
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| Torii entrance to Uji Bridge and Ise Grand Shrine, Ise. |
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| Torii on the far side of Uji Bridge, Ise. |
The trees here are massive, the water is crystal clear, and there's an abundance of ponds scattered through the area with Koi swimming around. There's little things when it comes to visiting shrines, like bowing while entering, washing your hands and mouth, prayers and clapping, and lastly bowing on exit from the shrine. Some shrines have gate with a beam of wood that you must step over on entry, never step on them, that's bad news, and etiquette with walking either through or around a torii at the entrance. There's so many little things the family taught me while here, and overall made for a wonderful experience.
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| Ise Grand Shrine (no photos allowed inside), Ise. |
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| View along the Isuzu River, Ise. |
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| Big trees are big, Ise. |
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| Boo and baby looking at some fish, Ise. |
After our time in Ise, we hopped on a bus to Toba where our hotel is located. Ojiisan and Obaachan stayed at the hotel with the baby, and Me, Boo, the wife and little one all made a trip out to the Futami Okitama Shrine, which is most well known for the Meoto Iwa or "Married Couple Rocks." It's a big "dad" rock and a smaller "mama" rock connected together by a giant rope. Its gorgeous at sunset, but I think seeing this at sunrise would be even more spectacular.
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| Meoto Iwa, Futami. |
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| Meoto Iwa, Futami. |
The last two items on the menu for us today are dinner and the onsen, both at the hotel. Dinner is buffet style all you can eat, and for an extra $20, all you can drink. Me and Boo had four beers each. Once dinner finished, technically me and Boo aren't allowed in the Onsen because we have tattoos, but we maybe "forgot" that small fact four beers deep and went anyway. There were at least 6-8 other dudes that were in the onsen on our arrival, and none of them seemed to care that we had tattoos. There were two different baths in one giant room: the first being a very large and excruciatingly hot bath, and the second a smaller bath at room temperature, which felt freezing in comparison. Just like roman baths, hot to cold, cold to hot, and done!
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| Dinner Part 1, Toba. |
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| Dinner Part 2, Toba. |
What a great day with great people, goodnight!
January 13 by numbers:
- Photos: 164
- Miles walked: 6.9 (nice)
- Steps: 14745
- Total Calories Burned: 3940
- Bowls of Ramen: 0
-Joe
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