Trying to pick up the blog thread...this post is the Monday after the rest of the group headed south to Tokyo, and I headed north to Hachinohe, not too far from the northern end of "the big island." And it's mostly the tale of the torii.
Torii are the large red gates that look like 'pi' to Westerners. They're actually part of Shinto shrines, and at least two were washed away in the Great East Japan Earthquake in March of 2011 (and I hope someone will correct me where I've gone astray). Somehow, they washed up on the Oregon coast two years later. Through a remarkable chain of events, they ended up in the care of the Portland Japanese Garden, which spent two years discovering where they were from and getting them back. These kasagi, or crosspieces, are considered sacred objects, and their return was kind of a big deal. The whole story is here:
https://japanesegarden.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Kasagi-Story-July-Final.pdf
This became one of my quests not too long after deciding I was going to Japan. Given that I've come to Japan to learn more about their experience with the tsunami, it seemed fitting to visit these torii. And things seemed to fall into place: the lady at the hotel tracked down all the train info, I failed to mess that up, and I got to the breakwater the shrine and torii now reside. Ooooh, but there's a cyclone fence. Okay, I'll check it out. Oo, there's a gate, and it's unlocked. Oh, but there are gulls. And it's.....nesting season. Actually, there are medium-aged chicks staggering around everywhere, not quite ready to fly. That's right: it's fledge week.
Woo, and loud. And there are a LOT of them. Just strolling through seemed really unwise, with real risk for stepping on somebody. Also, honestly, that many yelling birds raises the Hitchcock Factor for me. Plus, I mean, freaking out a bunch of other critters just to get to a Shinto shrine rather seemed to miss the point of Shinto shrines. So I shuffled along for, mm, a while, no doubt to the amusement of the fishermen who base their boats all up and down this cove, and made it about halfway to the torii. Just close enough for a zoom photo of the words 'Portland Japanese Garden' now etched in them.
Phew. Worth it, if a little roundabout. I don't know how to do things any other way.
No comments:
Post a Comment