Kumano Kodo pilgrimage – Day 4 – Wednesday, November 15, 2017 – Yunomine back to Hongu Taisha and Koguchi

After a nice soak in the onsen last night, a wonderful meal and being able to dry my clothes, day pack and shoes (with the hair dryer in my room) I am ready for another day.  As they say, what a difference a day makes.

I decided to take the bus back to Hongu Taisha as I really didn’t get a chance to see everything in my tired state yesterday. Weather forecast is calling for cloudy, so we will see how the day goes. Plan B is to take bus from Hongu Taisha shrine to Koguchi where I will catch a shuttle to my accommodation tonight.

I want to check at the tourist office if the trail tomorrow is walkable. If not, I will go with Plan B and take bus to my last shrine I will visit.

I spent the morning walking around Yunomine Onsen area. It was misty and cool at first, but eventually the mist cleared and the sun came out. I was able to walk to the Yunomine- Oji nearby.

I stopped at a small shop where you could buy eggs in a net bag and cook them for 13 minutes in the hot springs water in a place set up to do this in the picture below. There was a strong smell of sulfur in the steam and the minerals in the water are supposed to add to the flavor of the cooked eggs.

Here are some other pictures I took of the Yunomine Onsen area.

Here is a photo of the Ryokan I stayed at last night.

In the nearby parking area I was impressed to see another EV 240 charging station sign. I decided to take a closer look at take a few pictures on the instructions on how to use it which was also in English.

I was able to catch the bus to Hongu Taisha and spent some time exploring the shrine and sending some post cards to friends in Japan and Canada. Usually the mailboxes are red but at Hongu Taisha there is a special black one with the three legged crow (Kumano Kodo symbol) on top.

I walked to the large Tori gate that is one of the shrine landmarks.

I was able to spend some relaxing time at the shrine taking pictures and visited the Haraido-oji nearby.

There was also a special shrine dedicated to the god that protects women.

Below are some of the other pictures I took at Kumano Hongu Taisha where the weather was better for taking pictures.

At one of the building entrances they had a stuffed wild boar. I have never encountered one but heard lots of stories how dangerous they can be if you encounter one on a trail. So I sneaked this partial picture.

I checked at the tourist office and yes indeed there was a detour on the trail tomorrow that would add up to an hour to 1.5 hours to the already 7-9 hour day. The trail is a steep climb, so not sure if I could make it by 4 pm when it gets dark. So I decided to take a bus to the shrine and spend time enjoying the shrine verses being concerned if I would make it before it gets dark.

I met up with Max from USA while waiting for the bus to the onsen where we were staying. We were able to share our walking in the rain horror stories. He is planning to try and do the hard climb and detour tomorrow. He is a brave soul. Hopefully he makes it ok. 

Today was a much better day than yesterday. What a difference a day makes.