Day Go: Mt. Nokogiri

I went out with some co-workers to Mt. Nokogiri.  It’s a Buddhist temple up in a mountain.  The trip started at 8 A.M., so I had to get up early.  We took a train out to the town where we could catch the ferry.  When I was a kid, I took the trains, but I’d just follow my friends.  Today, I took the time to ask my co-workers exactly how it works. They helped explain it and it began to make sense.

In the town, we had to catch the ferry, but beforehand we were able to catch a festival go on. 

Apparently, everyone in town puts “bad fortunes” written on some traditional wood and puts in near the tree.  And what do we all want to do with bad fortunes when their put together?

Burn them motherfuckers to the ground!  Japanese people are geniuses. This is one reason why.

Next we caught the ferry.  I was far more fascinated by their ferry system than I should have been.  It was definitely nice riding the ferry as a novelty instead of it being as a means of commuting.

On the other side of the ferry, we took a skybridge up to the temple area.  Here’s a picture of how high it goes up.  It’s kinda scary.

Also, they cram as many people as they can in each cabin.  Kind of uncomfortable for 5 minutes.

At the top, I took some pictures of the view.

Then we first walked to the Buddha in the wall. It’s amazing that somebody, back in the day, etched this thing out of the stone.

Then there was a skywalk thing, where you could look down on the people.  I tried to take a picture on it like Tubo would, except I just looked lame.

Next we walked to the Big Buddha. On the way they had a ton of little buddhas to guide you.   Some got their domes chopped.  Poor dudes.

There were a lot of steps going down to the buddha.  I dreaded this, mainly because that means there’s going to be a lot of steps going back up.  At the bottom was a big ass Buddha. When I was young, I thought it was dorky to take pictures next to a big buddha.  Big Deal.  Yes, it is a big deal.  And i was an idiot. But I’m older now, and I couldn’t resist!

Then we checked out this wooden temple.  The fact that someone carved this piece is amazing.  You’d have to see it to see the detail.  I was amazed.

Then we took stairs up.  It was long.

Another thing that was long:  The fertility festival prop. I shit you not.  On our way to the skybridge down, I walked right by it and was amazed.  My co-worker explained it’s for the fertility festival.

On the ride home, I drank a Chu-Hi.  I don’t know how to explain the drink.  It’s fruit flavored, but 8% alcohol, So it’s stronger than most beers.  They sell them in cans or as a mix drink. One can definitely gets a buzz started.  I like them, but tooo many and you have a wicked hangover.

We then went to a 100 Yen (About a $1.10) Sushi Go around.  It’s pretty much on par with Sushiland, but it’s dope for 2 reasons.

They have Tubo’s flamed shrimp, salmon, scallops, and tuna.

And you don’t have to ask anybody for special orders.  You just order straight from a computer screen, then they put it on a special plate that rings a noise as it passes your table.  Effing amazing.

We then went home. The end.