ishikiri & hiraoka

Sunday we went to an area just before Nara called Ishikiri.

There is a huge shrine there but before you reach it, you walk through their shopping arcade.

I think this shopping arcade had more fortune tellers than actual shops.

Apparently this shrine heals dembo (tumors or boils) and other diseases.

While we were there we saw many people doing Hyaku-do mairi (he-yah-coo-dough-my-lee) which literally means praying 100 times. (click on the photo to see the video)

You walk from one point to another while praying in hopes of getting your wish granted.

It was my first time seeing a whole crowd of people doing this.

Some people were holding what looked like strips of paper, this is what they use to keep track of how many times they have gone back and forth.

It was interesting to see (I shot the video really far from where they were praying so that most faces are somewhat anonymous).

We tried the fuku soba (luck soba) from nearby Suzuya...but meh, it wasn't anything spectacular...bummer that the shrimp was ice cold too.

Before heading back to Osaka, we checked out Hiraoka Shrine which is a couple of stations over from Ishikiri.

To me, this shrine had a more spiritual feel to it.

On the walkway to the shrine there was also a festival going on...food, entertainment and games.

I was shocked to see the people performing on stage without shoes...(zoom in on the shoes at the bottom of the stairs).

Thank goodness it wasn't wintry weather yet.

Back in Osaka, we finally got a chance to try Ice Monster.

This shop from Taiwan has had krazy lines since the day they opened last year.

Satoshi had their mango and I went with their frozen version of almond float (almond flavored shaved ice) topped with sesame ice cream, bits of lychee, brown sugar gelatin cubes and condensed milk.

While this was good, I got bored with the flavors about half way.

This shop doesn't allow you to share, which means each person needs to order a shaved ice and at 1200 yen or so each...it is quite pricey.

While Satoshi enjoyed his, and we were glad we tried it, we don't think we'll be back.

The weather is still pretty warm during the daytime, and for the most part we've had lots of clouds and rainy days too.

Hope your week is going well.