The holidays are always a whirlwind of activities. As soon as November came last fall, we seemed
to be busy every waking moment. Now that
we’ve turned the corner into the new year, I have finally found my way back to
blogging.
Before sharing my holiday activities, I need to catch up on
the rest of rest summer. (Yikes-it
really has been awhile!)
One of our final weekends last August studying Japanese in
Okazaki was busy exploring some special shrines, hiking some mountain trials,
and exploring an old castle.
We began with the shrines.
Fertility is a celebrated aspect of life here in Japan. In addition to the special shrines, there are
also annual festivals held to specifically celebrate fertility. During our visits to these two shrines-one
dedicated to each sex-we witnessed several families with new born babies,
likely giving thanks for the birth of their healthy child. (I am afraid I do not recall either of the temples names we visited.)
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| The shrine dedicated to male fertility. |
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| Shrine dedicated to female fertility. |
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| Pregnant women are supposed to crawl through. If they make it, they will have an easy birth. |
After refreshing ourselves with some ice cream, we were
ready for a hike. On our way to the
trailhead, we stopped to view some lovely waterfalls. The two waterfalls are said to be a couple-one
male, one female. One of the waterfalls
in quite loud while the other is quite quiet.
It’s up to you to decide which is which.
Our hike was beautiful.
It left me longing for more time in the mountains.
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