Hinomisaki, 25.05.24

Would you believe it! I saw the sunrise! Not sure why but I was wide awake at five in the morning and just saw the faint light of morning. So why not. See the sunrise! How lovely it was and not something I regularly experience. Of all places in the world at Hinomisaki in Japan! Yes I can tick that one off my list!

Sunrise

I made myself some coffee in the library, had a cheese cracker and went out to explore the neighbourhood of the hotel. All was quiet as it was early morning still. On a little walking map I saw that a track lead down to the beach or sea just below the hotel. And indeed I ended up right by the sea and to my surprise found a fishing village down there. Boats moored in the cute harbour and houses lining the streets. Fishing nets drying and what looked like lobster pots lining the pier. 

Fishing Village

Quite a few fishermen were casting their lines into the sea from rocks and boulders and what looked like fortifications, huge concrete structures like protecting the harbour. Over on the other side was a Torii gate leading up to the top of an island. The story is that in around AD143 in the early morning of the fifth day of the first month of the new year a black-tailed gull took in its beak fresh wakame dripping with sea water and hung it from the railing of the Hinomisaki Shrine three times. A Shinto priest thought of it as being miraculous and offered it to the god enshrined there. 

To commemorate this every year on the fifth day of the first month of the lunar calendar the Wakame Harvesting Ritual is performed on Gogenjima Island. For that purpose boats are lined up to form a bridge over which a Shinto priest crosses to harvest the first Wakame of the year. The local youth, dressed in red loin cloth, sing sea shanties as the priest crosses the bridge of boats. They volunteer their services as guides. The Wakame is not gathered in Hinomisaki until this ritual is performed to this day. 

Torrii Gate to Island

Wakame is an edible seaweed that grows in cold temperate coasts of the north Pacific. It is kind of sweet but strongly flavoured with a shiny texture and often served in soups or salads. 

I walked back on the narrow winding road towards the hotel but went past it to the lighthouse which is just behind it. The lighthouse is the tallest in East Asia and was built in 1903 being the tallest lighthouse in Japan. 163 steps to the top and the viewing platform! It is also one of the 100 most beautiful lighthouses of the world! Indeed located in an amazing spot high on a cliff face with the pounding sea below. 

Time to go back to the hotel, wake up Christine and have breakfast. The plan was to take the bus back to Taisho-Izumo and visit the shrine there which is believed to be the oldest shrine in Japan and is dedicated to Okuninushi, the god of marriage. It is an impressive complex of different temples and shrines all set in large grounds with gardens, fountains, ponds and huge trees giving shade. The temple being dedicated to the goddess of marriage attracts also a lot of weddings of which we observed quite a few taking place at the same time in different parts of the garden. 

Wedding

Lovely to see the brides in their kimonos and the men in traditional Japanese dress. Throughout the compound we also saw everywhere figures and statues of hares or rabbits. They are of course fertility symbols but here another legend gave rise to their presence. Daikoku, the god of wealth, was the kindest sibling among many others. They heard of a beautiful princess, Yakamihime, and decided to go and meet her. Daikoku was to carry all their luggage and walk behind the group like a servant. When they came to the land of Inaba where they found a single rabbit who had all his skin ripped off and was in much agony. 

The Rabbit

The brothers of Daikoku teased the rabbit and told him to have a dip in the sea and he would be much better for it. It was a lie and the rabbit suffered even more as the sun dried the sea water and left the salt on his raw flesh. 

The rabbit was crying and crying very much in pain when Daikoku came across him and asked what happened to you? The rabbit said that he lived on an island called Oki and he wanted to come over to see this land. He did not want to swim but he saw a lot of sharks swimming in the sea and he asked one for a challenge into a competition of who had more friends. 

The sharks lined up for the rabbit to count them and the rabbit walked over them towards the shore and just when he was about to get there he told the sharks how easy it was to deceive them. They got very angry being lied to and tore the skin off the rabbit and to make things worse some gods came along and told him to soak in the sea. 

Daikoku said: 'Poor thing, go and wash your body with fresh water and then lie down on a bed of cattail flowers'. The rabbit washed in the river and laid himself down on the flowers and slowly his fur grew back turning into a normal white rabbit. When Daikoku got to the princess much later the princess chose him rather than his siblings. 

We took the last bus back to our lodgings for another dinner. But first I paid a visit to the hot pools. Nobody was there which was a bonus. Very relaxing it is having a bath Japanese style in a mineral hot spring overlooking the ocean. It was really very cold as well with the wind blowing over the hot water, steam coming up and giving it all a magic touch. 

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