totsukawa

We woke up early the next day and went to have a morning bath before breakfast.

I had ordered their "western" breakfast while Satoshi had their "japanese"...still, my meal came with chagayu (what we call chagai in Hawaii), rice porridge with hojicha (roasted green tea).

My breakfast had way too much food while I thought Satoshi's was kind of small...I gave him my chagayu after tasting it.

While eating breakfast, I loved watching the birds pop in and out of the bird feed.

And then we were off on an adventure...

First we had to cross the Yanagimotobashi (Yanagimoto suspension bridge). This bridge is 90 meters (98 yards) long and 10 meters (32 feet) high.

Oh em gee...this bridge swayed so much as we "walked" across it.

If I were in the circus I imagine this was how the tightrope must feel...scary! as there really was nothing to hold onto going across as it swayed!

Not to mention the boards under your feet flip up a little...eep!

We trekked up the Hatenashi Pass which is a tiny trail that connects to a pilgrimage trail that leads to the Kumano Hongu in Wakayama.

This particular trail took about 40 minutes and was very steep and rocky, while the overall trail is about 70 kilometers (43 miles).

Apparently the majority of the trail is still in its natural state.

Walking up gave me a feel as to how people used to travel in Japan before trains & cars.

It is a very tranquil trek too, a nice chance to reflect on things.

At the top, this was the view.

While there we said "good morning" to the people living here.

And then we made our way back to the hotel to pick up our things.

We came upon this waterfall called "men taki".

Of course, to return to the hotel, we had to cross that bridge again!

It took us about 2 hours in total to do this but we were glad we did.

After dropping our things off at the hotel we would be staying at that night, we hopped on the bus again to the area near the city office.

It is a good half an hour ride to the city office area.

Satoshi had wanted to check out the Totsukawa museum and I wanted to check out their michi no eki (rest stop) for souvenirs.

Well, because we were there near the end of the year, the museum was closed...boo!

I was able to buy a yubeshi at the michi no eki which I'll post when we eat it.

Luckily at the michi no eki, there was a soba shop, so we were able to grab lunch...whew!

Unfortunately, the bus that we had planned to catch back to the hotel was not running that day...boo!

So we had to figure out what to do with ourselves for two hours!

I was amazed at how everyone builds to meet up with the roadway...

We eventually made it back to our hotel, Kosenkaku Yoshinoya.

We checked out the surroundings including a trip "up" to the Fukuyama shrine.

And then we had a bath before dinner.

Highlights of dinner were seared wild boar slices and botan nabe (wild boar hot pot).

Another long day, and even if we weren't able to go to the museum we were still enjoying ourselves and the area.

Kosenkaku Yoshinoya
432 Totsukawamura Hiratani
Yoshino, Nara
Phone: 0746.64.0012