Kumano Hayatama Taisha

Friday, November 10, 2017 – Today I took the Kuroshio 9 Limited Express train to Shingu where I visited one of the three major shrines of the Kumano pilgrimage. The train trip was a little over four hours. Japan is amazing for it’s network of trains.

The trip along the coast was beautiful. I found it interesting in the seat pocket there were instructions on what to do in case of tsunami. In Japan, they take safety seriously.

There was an interesting statue outside the Shingu train station, which turned out a little dark.

I was able to find my hotel easily. I like using the Agoda website to make my hotel bookings, as I have never had any problems with the booking. After check-in I walked to the Kumano Hayatama Taisha shine and had my temple stamp book stamped along with getting my first stamp of the Kumano pilgrimage in the official Kumano stamp pamphet.

Here are some of the pictures I took at the shrine:

The Tori gate entrance.

The gate to the shrine with the hand washing station on the right.

Hand washing station.

Main shrine.

Some photos I took around the grounds:

I think the sign is of the old moss covered tree.

On the walk back to the hotel, as it was getting dark (beyond dusk, as it gets dark around 5:30 pm in Japan), I came across this traditional Japanese statue I liked so thought I would use it to end my blog for the day. I stopped at a grocery store on my way back to the hotel and picked up a bento box and yogurt for supper. The hotel has WiFi, which I am glad so I can upload my photos.