at e eastern end of Tenri, e cat walked alongside students on their morning run to e start of e hike at 石上神宮 Iwagami-jingu, a Shinto shrine:
two of e several ponds along e 山の辺の道 Yama-no-be-no-michi, useful landmarks for determining one's position on e map:
hanging out of e reach of hungry rabbits:
houses along e route:
big fat ripe persimmons of autumn....
harvested & hanging out to dry....
kofun, e keyhole-shaped burial mounds of ancient 4th-7th century Japanese emperors:
at ground level they look like little tree-covered hills standing out from e surrounding farmland, with a moat around their perimeter. e Yama-no-be-no-michi passes by e kofun of 景行天皇 Emperor Keiko & 崇神天皇
Emperor Sujin. pictures from an interpretative sign:
inside e stone chamber within....
aerial view....
more Yama-no-be-no-michi:
[2] e path through e country side, [3] gourds drying in e sun, [4] aloe vera & chillies (cat poison!) in vegetable gardens, [5] harvested & threshed rice, [6] jizo statues, [7] e doggie that kooned while 2 cats ate up its food, [8] decorative cabbage, [10] e part of e trail that passes under HWY 25, [11] traditional wooden houses & [12] more rabbit food....
[1] different flavours of Qoo (there are vending machines in e middle of e countryside....), [2] waiting to be bear-napped by ancient SPS fogies, [3] rows & rows of greens, [4] a quaint waterwheel, [5] casks of sake at 大神神社 Omiwa-jinja, [6] building a new traditional wooden house, [7] eggplants for sale, & [8] yuzu or mikan (can't tell e difference from afar) orchard....
[1] onions hanging from e eaves, [2] no doggie poo, [3] another of e beautiful ponds, [6] rest stop where e cat had lunch, [7] kiwis for sale, [8] straycat nosing around for dinner at JR Miwa station, [10-11] gaijin are so frightening they make good scarecrows ;)
[1] froggies at 玄賓庵 Genpi-an, [3] an altar in 長岳寺 Chogakuji, [4] wildflowers, [5] jizo with baby blue bib(most have red bibs), [6] Miwa somen noodles for sale, [9] JR Miwa station cat, [11] Omiwa-jinja, [12] drink up the bottle to find the difference?, [14] shichi-go-san @ Omiwa-jinja, & [15] chrysanthemums for sale near a graveyard....
met a nice guy who was covering e trail on bike & taking photos with his cameraphone. from time to time he would wheel his bike along to slow down & wait for e cat to catch up. he tried to talk to e cat, only to realise that it can speak as much (or rather, little) Japanese as he can speak English *lol* at Genpi-an, by e time e cat figured out that e big fat box obstructing e entrance was for visitors to throw in a donation in before entering, he'd already fished out his wallet to throw a coin in on e cat's behalf, calling out in his best stilted English, 'Prease! Come! In!' =)
got kinda lost trying to work out a way to JR Miwa station at e end of e hike - e station is on e west side of e railway tracks but just couldn't seem to find a path to cross over to that side. Miwa station is one of those super tiny countryside ones where e obasan running e station kiosk selling newspapers, sweets, drinks & snacks doubles up as e ticket collector.
retracing e hike through e beautiful countryside by train from Miwa back to Tenri & Kyoto:
back in K's House, 3 new loud Taiwanese room mates who thought that e cat was Japanese (until they saw it scrawling English in its notebook), & had a shock when they discovered that e 50% Hokkien cat could understand some of e Minnan dialect & all of e Mandarin that they were babbling in ;) too bad for them, they had exhausted all e of 2 languages that they knew....which was good for e cat cos they had to adjourn to e living area in order to gossip in private, allowing e cat to koon in peace & quiet *evil grin*
e giant suitcases that e Taiwanese brought [right], & e cat's barang in e black duffel bag + empty backpack [left]:
e room was so tiny & e suitcases so huge, only one girl could open her suitcase at any one time (while others sat on their bunks to free up space on e floor), so they had to take turns =P
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