First and foremost, from where I sit in this moment I am in a little restaurant, bar, tea room, living room-ish like place. I’m not quite sure what it is, but I’m being fed noodles and sake and was coaxed here after a series of random occurrences. Today, of all days, has been a day of unexpected arisings. For one, I knew it was going to be raining. Being a true Oregonian from the roots, rain does not stop me. Two, it was my day off and I needed to get out of Haenosaki, needed a change of scenery, needed to see something new, I needed to wander off the beaten path, to get lost in the leaves, and fall between the cracks, and that was where I hoped to lurk. I had hoped that because it was raining, I might find myself alone with spirit in a rainy forest somewhere deep in Japan where I would get a chance to hear the howl of she who runs through the wild places I love to go. However, it seems that, like me, rain doesn’t stop many people here in Japan, and I was ok with that too as it has turned out, it has been quite a fun, and interesting day for sure. So where was I headed; to a shrine where there was supposed to be a festival of people doing sacred horse dances with masks. However, I think that perhaps because of the weather, something may have shifted because I did not see any dances. There is also the possibility that I was just there at the wrong time. It’s hard to find this stuff out sometimes. Regardless, and as usual, I’m down for whatever. To get to the shrine required two train rides, and a bus ride. I get off the bus and it starts raining. No problem, I’ve got a waterproof jacket and boots, I prepared with my moisture wicking layer, and wool socks. I’m set. However, I decided that I would buy an umbrella. The street that leads to the shrine is full of small merchants selling shrine related paraphernalia, and of course umbrellas. My first exciting find of the day was a 400 yen leopard print umbrella. Yes I was thrilled to be sporting the leopard print umbrella! I get to the shrine and there are a lot of people walking around. The shrine was a very beautiful vermillion Inari shrine set against a mountainside that due to the rain and freshness was bright green, glistening, and lush. The grounds were surrounded by ponds with plump Koi fish, Fox messengers, gold leafed art, lanterns, and mossy trees. To get to the shrine required scaling up steps alongside the mountain. At the top was the main blessing hall and off to the side was the most attractive and alluring pathway further up the mountain. I said I was looking for an off the beaten path experience, right…. Ok here I go up the steps, through rows and rows of Torri Gates that just kept going and going and going, until at the top I found a mossy green glowing amber tinted forest. The steps however, I must add, got sketchy with each step. Not only was it raining, but they were flat slick shiny rocks covered in moss that at times pointed at a steep angle. In addition, I have long legs but some of the steps required quite a large step up. So on one hand my waterproof Merrill boots are amazing, but the drawback… no tread therefore I treaded light. It’s been raining, I’m still sporting my leopard print umbrella, a pair of crispy burnt lips from several nights of windy fire eating, and I’m taking pictures like mad, when I realize that my hand is really cold. Like really cold. I tell myself to put the camera away and focus on warming up my hand. I’m hanging in the forest, taking in the view, high up on the mountain cliff side, and it seems that the temperature abruptly drops. With that, I had the inclination to descend. I see a hand on a sign pointing in a direction, it’s a different path and I figure why not. So I proceed slowly down the mountain side when I hear steps coming from behind me rather fast. I turn around and there is a womyn two to two and half times my age elder booking it down the mountain like a wild cat repeating to herself over and over again, Sugoi, Sugoi, Sugoi, ( not sure on spelling) which means excellent. She doesn’t even see me and just about tramples me when I lose my footing on the slick rocks, however catch myself before barreling down the cliff. I’m standing there in her wet dust thinking to myself, ok that was interesting, she turns around waves and the disappears into a row of mossy Torri Gates. Never the less, and regardless, I didn’t feel so sure footed so I kept with my snails pace. I make it to the bottom of the mountain and decide that I wasn’t done wandering. I leave the temple and see that up the road somewhere, not sure how far there are some mountains that were calling me. I begin to walk and get lost wandering up this road, I find another set of steps that wind up the mountain, and there I go. Curiously climbing up more shifty rocks in the rain, when again, I notice that the temperature seemed to abruptly drop even more. I’m really cold and I realize that I’m way up the mountain. Did I really wander that far? Either way, just about as quickly as I had that awareness the rain turned to snow, big snow, heavy snow, thick snow, fast moving, sticky snow, and within what seemed like a few short moments everything began to freeze under my feet. Now I’m realizing I have to climb down on not only wet slick rocks, but frozen snowy rocks. Exciting. This took some time and effort. More than I was planning on giving it. I said rain doesn’t stop me, but snow will. It’s cold. It’s very cold. I’m wet and now I’m freezing, literally and all I can think about is an onsen somewhere I can hurl myself into. I wasn’t wearing that many layers and though I was prepared for wet moisture, I was not prepared for freezing ice and snow. At this point I’ve also realized that my thinsulate snow gloves have somehow soaked through which they weren’t supposed to do but that may have been my fault from taking my hands in out to take pictures and got them wet inside. So my hands are the kind of cold that most people don’t want there hands to be. After about 45 minutes of careful maneuvering while testing my tummo practice, in my treadless boots and frozen toes, I get to the road where I had wandered off from. It’s very snowy. Cars are moving slow and have several inches of snow on them. I start walking and someone actually pulled over and offered to give me a ride down the road…. Cool, I’m grateful, I’m thankful, and it was warm inside their car. They didn’t talk to me, or try, they just kept smiling and looking at me, maybe it was the leopard print umbrella or the burnt and possibly frost bitten looking lips, I’m not sure but we had moments of an energetic exchange that involved no speaking. They stop at a point at the base of the shrine, I thank them, they wave, and I get out. To my surprise the snow level had dropped significantly and it was snowing just as hard as it was up the mountain at the shrine. There was no escape. It was beautiful, it was cold, I was going to have to bear it. I begin walking toward the bus center down the street and something catches my attention, a display at one of the merchants just down from the shrine. There is all the usual shrine paraphernalia, rice cakes, tea, waving cats, figurines, rubber masks, and…… a rubber butt and rubber boobs. Like the kind that someone might put on their body to have a more bubbly butt and a more busty chest, I guess. At first I didn’t quite place how weird that was, then I started thinking about it. The rubber boobs were quite perky and the rubber butt had a thong on in a bag that said “Let’s Party”. So I pry my frozen fingers out of my wet gloves to take a photograph, when this little elder lady comes running out smiling and speaking to me in Japanese all excited. She tells me to come into her store, so I do, how could I refuse. She disappears behind a sliding rice paper door and comes back out with some large sized lingerie-ish kind of bras and begins to hold them up to me. It seems that she somehow had these larger sized bras, one of which was leopard print, that she has never had anyone my size to fit them on. She’s holding them up to her and laughing and then putting them up to me, she’s pointing at my chest, she’s holding the bra, and I’m standing there with my leopard print umbrella, frozen, cold, and a bit curious what the heck was going on. They were new with price tags and I gathered she wanted me to buy them off of her. They were kind of cute I guess and being her only large chested client for who knows how long, I decided to buy them off of her, she was thrilled, I was a bit confused, but either way I now have some bras that may or may not fit from the shrine merchant. Maybe they will be good luck. I’m just happy she didn’t try to make me buy the rubber boobs as I’m not sure what I would have done with those, well I can think of some pranks that would have been fun to play on the dance crew here, but I will leave that to your imagination. Finally getting a chance to break away, I leave, get to the bus stop to find out the next bus isn’t for two hours and the unmanned bus station is unheated, cold, damp, covered in snow. I’m standing there with my lingerie, leopard print umbrella, burnt lips, and another lady comes out from where I am and motions for me to come in and sit. I am a bit hesitant at this point, however equally a bit curious, so I go with it, but I’m not putting on the lingerie for her. Did she see me buy it? Does word travel that fast here between the shrine merchants? She takes me into a small room that kind of resembles a place of business. It’s warm, I’m grateful, I sit, she starts feeding me and holds up a cup curious if I want something to drink. I figured tea, but no she comes out with a sake bottle and begins to pour. A few moments ago, I hear my tablet make a sound, I open it up and it’s asking me if I want to connect to the internet, perplexed, I think this place has WIFI, So here I am, I’m not sure if I’m in someone’s living room or an actual place of business, being fed noodles and sake, waiting for my bus. This has indeed been an interesting day.
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