Motonosumi Inari Shrine







 I've been sick since the day after Thanksgiving and am finally able to rise above the congestion and hacking cough to document the day. 

Isn't it crazy that you can't just be sick anymore?  I know what you all are thinking....Did she have COVID?  The answer, no.  But if I did, it would have caused quite the ruckus around here.  However, there has been a surge in COVID cases here (when I say "surge" I mean, in our town of ~150,000, there were around 40-50 cases that popped up out of the blue....and I'm sure the numbers are different now but our "surge" is different than, say, Arizona's surge).  Because of this, our Thanksgiving plans which included having a few families from our church over, were canceled and suddenly we were left with a wide open day.  This "surge" also made it so that our kids could not go to school for a week (typically they would have had to go to school Thanksgiving day because...ya know....the Mayflower didn't land in Tokyo!) so we really had the whole day.

We decided to take a little day trip to a place called Motonosumi Inari Shrine.  I had heard a lot about it and we just hadn't made it there yet. The drive to get there was about two hours.  Any time we have to go further than an hour I am reminded how amazing technology is.  I am so grateful for DVD players inside automobiles.  Now, the tricky part of this is that we own a Japanese made vehicle, made for Japan.  Our DVD player only plays Japanese DVD's.  Bummer??  Not at all.  What better way to force my kids to learn Japanese?  There is a store here where I can buy Disney movies, Mickey Mouse videos, Tom and Jerry and Donald Duck videos in Japanese for the equivalent of $2 each.  SCORE!

Back to the shrine.


As I mentioned, I had heard a lot about the "100 Torii gate shrine" and had wanted to visit since we got here.  When we were discussing what to do for Thanksgiving, I made the executive decision.

The supposed history behind this shrine is as follows (and I'm sure I'm stretching this here, or telling it wrong):

In 1955 a local fisherman to the area of Nagato had a dream.  In the dream he was visited by a white fox shinto spirit named Inari, who told the fisherman that he {the fox} was responsible for the man's wealth that he had accumulated as a successful fisherman.  The fisherman decided the fox deserved a sign of his thanks, and so he began building the shrine.  The shrine currently consists of 123 red Torii gates and is said to bring good luck in the form of fishing, business, travel and pregnancy.

The shrine sits on a cliff that overlooks the ocean and the view is truly breathtaking.  The bright red torii gates stand out in stark contrast to the grey cliffs and the deep blue ocean below.  



We spent two hours wandering through the torii gates, and the exploring the cliffs below.  We were able to find a trail that took us all the way down to the water where we could search rocks for crabs and other fun sea creatures.


I was pleasantly surprised at how much the kids enjoyed being there.  There wasn't any complaining about being bored, or wondering if this was "ALLLLL" we were going to do.  



Because this is a Buddhist shinto shrine we were sure to buy O-Mikuji, Buddhist fortunes.  If it is a good fortune you are supposed to tie it to a nearby tree or wire so that it will have better chance of coming true.



When we got back to the car, we pulled out our turkey sandwiches that we had made from the awesome turkey Andrew had smoked the day before.  Happy Thanksgiving!  We sat down on the curb by our car and ate lunch with...once again....no complaining (HEH????).



After 100 trips to the bathroom and begging to get ice cream from the vending machine, we decided it was time to head to the beach.  


It was only 62 degrees that day, so the plan was to just play in the sand and enjoy the ocean view.  I know what you are thinking: "How well did that work out for ya, huh?"  And the answer?  About as well as you expected.  All the kids got wet (Holland on purpose.  Cache got hammered by a wave (lots of tears), and Keane....the jury is still out on him).  All the kids ended up playing in the sand in their underpants.  And as for me?  I kept my clothes on.  I was also smart enough to bring extra clothes for all of them because I KNOW them.  Andrew got to sit in the car while Indie (and Andrew) napped.

I DID get some before and after pictures:








After awhile there we decided it was time to move on yet again.  We went to what was supposed to be a cool marketplace in the area but most of it was closed down because of the time of year.  We grabbed a couple snacks from the store and decided it was time to begin our 2 hour trek back home.


Man we are the cutest

It really was such a nice (long) day.  We recognize not all of our family outings can or are going to be as pleasant.  We are realists with four kids.....we know what we are up against.  We sure do celebrate when we have a good one though!

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