Kumano Kodo, Day Three
Pilgrims in water.
We're out the door early this morning, as good pilgrims are. We cross the road with our bag of eggs and two umbrellas in hand to the hot water spring. 6 minutes later — soft-boiled perfection fulfils an ancient tradition and back across the road and in the door we go, to feast of our steaming hot eggs and a traditional Japanese breakfast.
No sooner as we have swallowed our last bite, we are on a bus to Hitari. In the interest of keeping up tradition we are heading to the river for a boat cruise. We don a traditional hat and a less traditional rain ponchos for this 1 hour journey. Along the way we see many rock formations steeped in mythology, some are said to bring good fortune and some bad. As our journey comes to an end, the less traditional boat engine is switched off and replaced with the more traditional flute playing of our guide.
By the time we arrive at our destination on the shore of the river, Kumano Hayatama Taisha, the second grand shrine, we are soaked. Randy has never looked so cold — under his hat, rain ponchos and tarpaulin sheets (yes plural) given during the downpour by our guide to siphon the downpour off our shivering limbs — lays a man who is wet through to his core. Wool and any other high-tech fabrics built for the modern pilgrim stood no match for the heavens falling upon him.
We sloshed around the loveliness of the shrine, long enough to come to the conclusion that tradition needs to be put on hold.
A hot lunch, barely long enough for us to stop dripping. Sees us make a b line for shelter — after a short bus to Kii-Katsuura and the quickest of boats, we cross to Nakanoshima — our island sanctuary for the rest of the day/evening.
The island is home to the one and only Hotel Nakanoshima. A product of the 70's/80's that could do with some TLC, but so are we. It has seen better days, but so have we. No judgment resides here in these tired pilgrims. This place is both massive and fascinating, as are our fellow guests who probably remember the hotel in it's heyday. Time to explore the property and grounds.
We round out our day, by going full circle — traditional Japanese served for dinner and hot spring water served in an outside Onsen from our island sanctuary. Today we were certainly pilgrims in water.
