Our next stop is Kotohira location of the ancient shrine of Kotohira-gu popularly known as Kompira-san. It is one the major Shinto pilgrimage sites which is obvious immediately as the whole area is chock full of people. It is reached by a climb of 785 steps – not so difficult usually but in the heat we intend to take it easy going up. The shrine is dedicated to the spiritual guardian of sailors which is evident by the many ship parts and replicas we see on our climb. It also has an interesting history as it was for over 1,000 years both a Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine and so popular that people who were too poor to make the pilgrimage to the srine were throwing barrels of rice and money in the sea in the hope that they will be picked by sailors and brought to Kompira-san on their behalf. However during the Meiji restauration in the 19th century Shinto took precedence and the Buddhas were removed from the temple.
We start at the bottom of course after finding a good parking spot relatively close to the arcade/main street that leads to the stairs. We are easily distracted by the different souvenir shops and exhibits on the way includng an interesting one in front of the sake museum.
Before starting the climb we need some additional refreshment (we are not procrastinating before the climb…really) so we stop at an Udon restaurant serving the famous Kompira Udon at the bottom of the stairs.
To our surprise the Udon noodles are served cold which in the end is a good thing as it cools us down a bit and with new energy we tackle the first steps.
The stairs are numbered from time to time just as a reminder of how much more we have to climb. Some people have given up and decided to take one of the palanquins upstairs, but not us, we decide to trudge on.
As expected there are quite a few ship artifacts sent here so the guardian will protect the ship and sailors. There are a few museums going up but they are expensive and small so we decide to skip them.
We even use one of the springs following what we have seen other people do in order to cool us off a bit. It is quite hot but at least it is not that sunny, that helps a bit.
The stairs seem to be relentless so we are happy whenever we find a flat area between two flights of stairs and it is even better when it has some shadow.
And everywhere there are things to see including a stall of sacred horses which are supposedly the messengers of the Sea Goddess.
There is also wildlife here including a huge praying mantis that blends so well with its surroundings that nobody else is noticing it. We are quite proud that we noticed it though!
After a short climb we arrive at the first major building Asahi-no-Yashiro the Sunshine Shrine. It is quite attractive and the sunshine is not allowing us to take any good pictures so I guess the name is justified.
We spend some time just people watching on a landing, it is surprising how it can be quite empty for a few minutes and then full of people next. Full of mostly tired people that still have to climb quite a bit to reach the main shrine.
And then we start again and after even more stairs we also arrive at the main shrine. Most people including us return from here but if interested you can climb an additional 583 steps to the interior shrine. Not for us not today.
There is also a viewpoint nearby that allows us to see how much we climbed and also to see the whole surrounding area from high above which is beautiful.
Near the main shrine the major attraction is a hall with pictures of mostly ships but also spaceships and airplanes all sent to get the blessing of the temple.
After catching our breath we start our descent which is much faster but we still stop from time to time to enjoy the souvenir shops and a small free car museum that we noticed when we started climbing. It has only a few cars but it is interesting.
And then we have to leave Kotohira and also Shikoku as we return to the main island using a different set of bridges closer to Hiroshima which is our destination for the night and where we will stay for three nights.
There are multiple bridges all different and to our surprise not even charging toll fees, at least not each one separately.
We stop at different rest areas to take pictures of the beautiful sunset and some quaint villages along the way but then it gets dark so we continue driving nonstop towards Hiroshima. The road passes through lots of tunnels and a few times we get rerouted by our GPS on some smaller roads instead of highways. As we get closer to Hiroshima we are a bit scared if we will find the correct exit to the hotel but we manage to navigate the streets correctly in the end and arrive at the hotel which for the first time on our trip doesn’t have a parking area in front of it.
One of us runs inside to understand where the parking garage is while the other one parks on the sidewalk in a major city on the major throughfare a bit scary. But no police comes and we find out where the parking garage is and then finally climb to our room. It is quite high up in the hotel which is in downtown Hiroshima so it is a beautiful view of skyscrappers close by and sea in the distance. The room is small but we are starting to get used to it and we are really tired so we soon drift to sleep.
