Miyazaki… The adventure continues pt.2 宮崎旅行
The last post I did was about the forest area of Miyazaki. This time let’s touch on some of the beach side areas. I’m not really a beach person and I honestly preferred the mountain side area but I will say the beach was nice!
The picture above is from the Udo Jingu Shrine. The shrine is actually IN a cave along the cliff side of the beach. To get there we had to take a bus like most of the traveling there since we weren’t driving. I think even if we had a car, we would have still had to walk a ways but, in the end, totally worth it.
I think I left that out of the last post but we spent so much time on the bus going from point A to point B it was insane. We had a few bus rides where we spent close to 2 hours one way going to a hotel, and then having to get back on that same bus to go to another hotel in a different part of Miyazaki.
So, getting back to the shrine, riding the bus for over an hour to get there wasn’t so fun but when we got there, we go dropped off at a plain old bus stop. You see this giant stone slab sign with gold carved Chinese characters that says 鵜戸神宮 (Udo-Jingu).
From there we had to walk through a tunnel and down this path that just teased you with the smell of the ocean and then this burst of BLUE sky and ocean! It was truly a sight.
As you continue walking there were some broken kinda raggedy steps that had these baby crabs going in and out of them. I swear I counted about 5 different crabs just doing their thing going into these holes and cracks in the stone stairs. I’ve seen crawfish on the streets in Tokyo but never a family of crabs. Low key I wanted to take one home but… that wasn’t gonna happen.
After you walk down the steps and hit a left there were more steps but eventually you come to an open area with a coffee shop, souvenir shop and a few food stalls.
From here is where the magic happens… We finally get to see the UDO Shrine in all it’s glory with the waves crashing down into rocks far far below us.
The deeper you get in the more of a tourist spot it feels like but it’s a dope tourist spot that you can really just TAKE YOUR TIME vibing in. The bad thing is that bus… it was a really tight schedule and we basically walked down to the end, saw everything as quickly as we could and had to almost RUN back because there were more places, we wanted to go but were at the mercy of the bus’s timetable.
If you can rent a car I HIGHTLY suggest it just so that you can truly enjoy everything.
Before I end this let’s just talk about the images above. I think the palm tree and that blue water needs no introduction, but the 2 middle images might need a bit of explanation.
The cute little bunny deals are wishes and prayers that people have left for the gods to read and ‘hopefully’ grant. Remember this is a shrine we’re at and of course people go there to pray for things in their lives or the lives of loved ones.
The third image with the coin money carved into the stone is (I guess) wishing for good luck with money. The Chinese symbol is for 運 (un) which is luck or fortune hence the money. I’d never seen anything like that one before usually people throw money into a wishing well in America or drop it in a donation box here in Japan but this one was unique, and I could dig it.
The last image is above the end of the path that was a cool little area that I wish we had more time for.
All and all the Udo shrine was hella cool and I genuinely wish we had more time to take pictures and soak in all the energy there. Highly recommended… even if you don’t like the beach.
The first image in this set was of the shrine that was actually in a cave and there was water dripping in from ceiling of the cave. Behind the shrine was a bit creepy, dark, wet and not the best for pictures.
Now on to the fun stuff. The second picture is of the sign for the 運玉 (un-dama) or the lucky ball. you can zoom in and read about it.
In the third image Hiro is holding some of the clay pebbles that you can buy. In the fourth image there is a stone with a rope, and you need to throw the pebbles into the watery crevasse for good luck.
As a side note the clay pebbles are actually made by some of the local special needs and ( I think) elementary school kids to make money for the shrine and the local community.
The fifth image I took on the way back of the main shrine surrounded in lush trees and that clear blue sky.
The final image is of the earlier mentioned bus stop. I just wanted to give you guys a look at it as we left to head out to the next adventure.
*All of the images posted here were taken with the FUJI X-PRO 3 and none of them were edited. They are all the jpegs straight out of camera.*
I hope you enjoyed. If you did leave a comment and let me know what you thought of this post. Until the next one.
