Mitokusan

The next morning we went to Mitokusan, a beautiful temple somehow built on the side of a mountain, I have no idea how they carted all the stuff up there to build it. This year marks the 1300 year anniversary of it's founding- so I'm gonna assume that it's not the original structure. To get here, you have to walk, climb, scramble up the mountain, at times it's neer 90 degrees so you have to use tree roots, ropes, or chains to pull yourself up. My arms were a bit sore the next day. I kept hearing my dad's voice in the back of my head from all those hikes as a kid saying never grab onto trees for balance because they might not be stable- but sorry to say Dad that here you didn't have a choice unless you could dig your nails into the dirt. Not for those with a fear of heights, but the view and the temple are worth it, absolutely gorgeous. Would have been better in cooler weather, was feeling quite gross and sweaty by the time we got back down- those familiar with Japan's humidity know what I'm talking about, yuck. After we finished we went to one of the lower temples and had shyojin ryoori- Japanese vegetarian Buddhist cuisine, and it was delicious. This made for the 3rd big meal in 2 days though and my stomach was not too happy with me. But I figure it will get over it as this is my last chance in awhile to eat shyojin ryoori, mmm mmm!