muroji & hasedera

Sunday, we were heading out to Nara when Satoshi who has a bad habit of walking in front of me, took me out and I landed "kerplat" on the pavement.

I usually have a chance to "deflect" him, but this time he came out of nowhere....luckily it happened right in front of our place, so we headed back upstairs for me to clean my wounds...

Both palms have teeny asphalt holes (try washing dishes, showering, even putting on skincare....sting!)...both my knees have scrapes...my chin has a bump (hope it won't turn black and blue) and my lip looks like I have a huge cold sore on it...

On top of that, my arms and legs are sore probably from trying to brace my fall...at least I didn't break anything and didn't need to go to the hospital...

Anyway, from our place to Muroji it is about an hour an 45 minutes by train to Muroguchiono station, then by bus another 10 minutes or so.

Luckily during this time of year they have extra buses running, so we were able to get onto one as soon as we arrived at the station.

You need to walk in a bit from the bus stop but there are some shops to look at along the way.

From the entrance to Okunoin (the farthest inside temple), you need to climb stairs...lots of them and they go pretty much straight up...

I took my time going up and held onto the skinny rails that were almost all along the way up.

I also took my time coming down as it is quite steep and didn't want to fall "again"....

Treat while we waited for the bus to come...a slightly warm, yomogi (mugwort) mochi filled with sweet bean paste.

Also during this time of year there is a bus that takes you directly from Muroji to Hasedera...luckily we were able to catch one of these...

The ride is about 50 minutes through winding roads.

Once at Hasedera, there is a huge staircase to walk up to the temple.

It is quite peaceful and beautiful from up top.

If you have some time, pay the extra 1000 yen to go inside and see the Eleven Faced Kannon, it is 10 meters tall (about 32 feet high). You can walk around it too...talk about mouth open drop jaw moment...

And from Hasedera to the station it is about a 30 minute walk.

We were glad to check out some of fall foliage, though the weather was overcast and cold.

It seems we've been thrown head first into winter...maybe those stink bugs really know something yeah?!

Have a good week!