Shinto ceremonies, temples and to osaka

We had went sleep yesterday early up as it had been long day. Particularly hard one for the driver who had drove all day(one of us didn't have drivers license, not sure of another and I had no drivers license that would be acceptable in Japan not to mention I'm not used to idea of driving on left side so there was just one, maybe 2, who even could drive!). But this was nice as despite another early wake we got good sleep.

Why the early wake? Well apart from early bath we took there was before breakfast shinto morning prayer we could attend. I DID say in last blog this was shinto shrine!

 We woke up, looked out and...saw snow. It had snowed enough to be clearly visible! Got my first snow of this year in Japan out of all things. Hadn't expected this one due to warmth in Tokyo! Interesting how big difference going to mountains does.

 Temple at the outside.

 We walked past soba restaurant where cooks were already at work. I'll be by the way trying doing noodles on my own few days later...

 That's...One BIG torii gate!

 The trees here are very wide. Would take quite a few men to surround one.

Anyway after quick little morning walk we went to the morning prayer. Unfortunately I don't have picture to show with me wearing these white things you put over your shoulders with writing in it. Ceremony itself was surprisingly similar to what typical sunday church in Finland would be. Chanting, music(drums though which differs bit from Finland) and tale(something about Shinto and Buddhist being together before getting separated to separate churches and shrines). But overall not that different.

I tried my best doing the seiza(japanese way of sitting) but damn that is TOUGH for your legs and had to cheat a bit and lift myself a bit with hands. For the tale the elderly priest said to relax myself. Good thing too! Another 15 minutes and I would be struggling to walk!

Very interesting experience though and glad I could take part in that(good thing we live in bit more civilized ages. Couple centuries ago my own church would be burning me alive for doing this!).

Everybody got this afterwards. It's a protecting charm against mishaps in travelings.

 After that we went for breakfast. Above is picture containing all. Traditional Japanese styled breakfast. Bit more stuff that I recognize.

Bottom left, rice. Above that tofu with something on top. Red plate above that had some sort of deep fried thing. Big plate in center fish. Black bowl at top right good miso soup. At right tea, rest no idea. Very nice meal to get yourself started.

Breakfast done we checked out and went for quick trip to nearby shrine friends had been going skiing before.

 Pretty nice blue weather. We were in luck!

 Ground was quite white here already. And only 2 days ago I was in warm Tokyo.

Impressive tree-covered road toward the temple.

 Not quite sure what that building is. Not torii gate, not temple itself.

 That's lots of big trees!

 Some sort of papers were hanging from paper. Not sure what they are for. Prayers?

 The top of climb was lot snowier than bottom. And I don't think height difference was that big! My first real experience on mountain weather.

 At the temple.

 Water in this had actually frozen(but I ended up breaking it. Not as solid as it seemed).

After this we headed back to where we had lodged. During breakfast priest had informed of "kagura" event that would be taking place later. Kagura is ancient shinto music and dancing. This sounded to be fun one. Too bad photographing prohibited(snif) but experience I won't be forgetting quickly.

And unlike morning prayer THIS is something I have hard time imagining Finnish priests doing in churches. Started regularly enough with some chanting with pipe&drum music. But then started ceremonial dances and performances. First there was one older man walking and dancing around with mask(with beard which made quite a funny mask). Later more priests dancing around and playing instruments doing carefully designed dances. Then came in 4 young girls(must have been still teenagers) who performed graceful dance of their own. Then came trio of men and first time I noticed each dance had name(angle I was sitting was bad for seeing the place where name was shown). Last dance we saw(we left before seeing all) was "dance of three swords" which as name suggests involved swords(3) by 3 men. Initially nothing too fancy though got bit more challenging later. And then when 2 men left one performed dance alone with 2 swords which at times involved fast swings over head switching between swords. That could be good time to hurt yourself accidentally.

I was impressed.

BTW Japanese buildings look nice but boy they are COLD inside. You could see your breath all misty. The heaters are very much "good thing" to have around.

Thank you Japan for giving me chance to experience these kind of performances.

With this it was time for me to head toward Osaka so we would be separating here but first we went for lunch.

 Soba manjuu(filled yeast buns with fillings). We each took one(one already taken before photo!).

 One friend selected this. Soba with vegetables.

Rest took tempura soba. I have started to pick up quite a fondness for soba here in Japan.

During drive toward Nagano we stopped at place where you can buy vegetables etc straight from farmers and for cheap. Friends bought some for souvenirs for friends. I noted that Japanese seem to love buying food for souvenirs(while I prefer to receive solid stuff like post cards, statues, paintings etc). Reason is actually pretty logical but one I hadn't thought. Japan being as crowded as it is rooms are small. If you receive lots of statues etc for souvenirs your room becomes crowded fast. Food however you can eat leaving no trace of it(why I don't like them). Actually logical!

Another topic we had was about bears and they mentioned that some time ago there had actually been bear who had wandered to the very station I was now heading. Whee. Not so pleasant surprise for people in the station! Wonder if the bear was looking for trip to elsewhere :D Little bear-turism! Haha.

Anyway all good things comes to end so we said farewells at the Nagano station where I headed toward Osaka. First train to Nagoya, then to Shinkansen to Shin-osaka where I managed to figure out train schedule enough to realize I needed to hop not to first train with same name but second(first one did not stop where I would be taking off), hop to train and get off at Tennouji and finally subway to Tanimachi yon-choume. Hotel was right next to it so was easy to find.

 Pretty standard western style hotel. Nice enough but after previous place pales in comparison.

With it being dark didn't do sightseeing so instead walked around and found book off store(more books!).

 Back at hotel did see two statues with enough lights around to make succesfull photos.

 There. Tomorrow will be meeting with Japanese(well 3 actually) seeing Osaka castle. Then I'll be heading to Koyasan. Osaka plans went bit awry so not much of Osaka I'll be seeing :( I always manage to get Osaka screwed up! Last year Osaka went awry, this year not much Osaka I'll be seeing either.