Shingu, or Where Abby learned that she is capable of so much more than she thought

Growing experiences are tricky things, I think. While you are experiencing them, you often feel stressed, confused and uncertain (or at least I do). At times, it’s extremely frustrating and/or isolating and you don’t understand why you have to go through them. They might not be any fun at all (like when I broke my ankle) and often you don’t realize what they are while you are living through it.

And yet, they are so important because they shape who we are and without them, no one would ever become a fully rounded individual or a mature adult. We would all be closed-minded people with no ability to empathize or understand others. But of course, nothing important ever comes easy, it seems.

I’m realizing that this trip to Japan both as a whole and as individual experiences are growing times for me. I’ve already had two events that were defining moments for me and I’m proud to say, in both cases, I took the harder yet ultimately more rewarding path instead of the easier one. One I won’t talk about yet, but the other was this weekend’s day trip to Shingu.

If it hasn’t been clear from previous entries, let me clarify now: I am in the middle of nowhere in Japan. That might be a little harsh, but the reality is that I am in the country several hours away from a large city (Osaka is the closest). This has a few consequences: 1. There is very little English here (written or spoken), 2. The small towns on the peninsula are not arranged in a grid pattern; instead they have just sort of grown in various ways (which makes navigation difficult particularly since no one really uses street names here) 3. There aren’t really big exciting things to see that everyone, including the Japanese, makes an effort to see (several Japanese people that I spoke with didn’t actually know where Shirahama was), and finally 4. There really aren’t trains around town, there are buses but they are limited in coverage and in the number of runs that they make in a day which generally means that walking is better than counting on public transportation.

All of this makes Shirahama and the Kii peninsula in general more difficult to sightsee than other locations. After spending the first week in somewhat of a depression about these facts, in the second week, I bucked up and decided that I would try to see something of the area. At first I was going to go to the Nachi shrine but Ellen, a Taiwanese grad student here, got all worried about me doing that because it would require a train ride and then a bus. I think she was particularly concerned because my Japanese is pretty much non-existent. She had been to Nachi before, but only when one of the other graduate students, Keita, had taken her. She told me that I should talk to him about taking me. But that seems rather presumptuous and rude and to be honest, since no one offered to even show me the sights in Shirahama even after I subtly made it clear that I wanted to see them, I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask for an even bigger favor. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and then I found a website that gave walking tour maps of certain areas on the peninsula. After looking at that, I decided to try my luck with Shingu, which is about 1 ½ hours away by train and also contained one of the three great shrines of the region (Nachi is another). The big plus to Shingu is that everything seemed walkable, nothing more than a 30 minute walk away, and there are a few things to see.

So I packed up a bag (I took way too much with me, I don’t know why I took all that) and headed out Saturday. I got a break in that Ellen was getting a ride to the airport so Yuko gave me a ride to the train station after dropping Ellen off. I was going to take the public bus. Anyway, I got there and got the express train to Shingu. The train ride alone was probably worth the trip as it was really beautiful. On one side, mountains, on the other rugged coastline and the ocean, and in-between lots of small towns, villages, and farming communities. It was really charming. And I figured out a better way to go to the Nachi shrine which I still will do.

I got to Shingu, went to the travel office by the station and scored a map in English (though I already had a rough one, the new one was more detailed). I then tried to set out. Or rather, I circled around the train station for about 20 minutes because I was completely confused. The two maps I had didn’t agree and I didn’t know what direction to take. I finally realized that the maps did agree, it’s just that the direction axes were different. And with that I found the first sight, a memorial for a Chinese man called Jofuku park which was really near the train station, and then headed out for Ukijima no Mori (the Mysterious Floating Island).

I tried to follow the map, but the no-linearity of the streets really made me feel uncertain about the path I was taking. The map did not show all those twists and turns. I was starving so I stopped when I saw a reasonable restaurant. I was nervous going in because it looked like the kind of place that would just have words on the menu. Luckily, they were preparing a tray for someone that had yakisoba on it – something I recognize and knew that I liked. So I pointed and said bring me this please and that worked.

After I ate, I asked the woman serving me where I was in Japanese and gave her the map. I learned an important lesson from what followed – it’s good to pick up an English map for me, but I should also try to get one in Japanese for when I have to ask directions from a Japanese person. The woman wasn’t sure but gave me some vague directions as to where I was and how to find Ukijima. I left the restaurant thinking that there was now way that what she told me was enough to find the place and I should just head back to the train station and regroup for the next place. But amazingly, I did find it. I was shocked that 1. I had generally followed the map correctly; I had just overshot the mark a bit and 2. That I had been able to get useful directions from someone who spoke no English.

The floating island was interesting. Basically, it’s this little forest that is kept afloat by methane gas produced by decaying plants. You walk around it and then through it and can see a reasonable diversity of plants (or at least it seems that way to me). There were beautiful dragonflies, but none would sit still long enough for me to photograph. There were also tons of mosquitoes. When I came out, the woman manning the place was ready with cream for the bites and she seemed upset when she saw how badly bitten up my legs were. I didn’t know how to tell her that I already had most of those bites. (Side note: The mosquitoes in Shirahama are KILLING me!)

From there it was on to the main site in Shingu, the Kumano Hayatama shrine. It is one of the three grand shrines of the Kumano Triad (the shrine in Nachi is another so I should be able to see 2 of the 3). Actually, the God enshrined here was originally enshrined at the Kamikura shrine (my last stop of the day), but a fire destroyed part of the shrine and the God (or Kami) was moved to Kumano Hayatama. I got to see a special Shinto service while I was there. It seemed to be special blessing, and it was cool to see. Although the girl next to me had no problem taking pictures during the ceremony, I thought it was a bit disrespectful, so I waited until it was over to take pictures. I understand that most temples and shrines here have their own stamp/seal and special calligraphy that they write over it. I got this at Hayatama and it’s pretty cool. I hope to get several more of these (which have a name that I don’t know).

Finally, I went to see the Kamikura shrine. It’s a really old shrine which must be at least 800 years old (because that is how old the steps are). I got a little bit lost (I overshot again) and got directions from a very nice woman (it was funny, the woman knew what I was going to ask before I did, people must get lost there all the time). This shrine is much quieter than the others. This cliff or small mountain (I’m not sure what to appropriately call it) is part of the shrine so it has a very different feel from the other places. Very quiet, serene, reserved, special, and more sacred. It’s a place for hushed voices and deep bows if you know what I mean. The main sacred place is a hike up the mountain up those 800 year old stairs (and they definitely look that old – very picturesque but weathered so as to be very unpleasant to walk on really). The first half was pretty vertical and I honestly didn’t know if I could make it. But then an older couple with their grown daughters came up behind me and I felt kinda embarrassed about not going all the way up so I continued. But at least they were also heaving and sweating like crazy so I know it wasn’t easy for any of us. But it was totally worth it. The view from the top was amazing and the little shrine at the top next to the holy rock (which is where God sits apparently) was lovely. As Elizabeth Bennet said “I’ve never seen a place so happily situated” (I’m roughly paraphrasing here because I don’t remember the exact quote). I think it is by far my favorite place of where I have visited so far. Worth being soaked with sweat and everything. It took me forever to get down (the rocks were wet and a bit slippery and I am always overly cautious going down ever since I broke my ankle). Overall, I’m really glad I didn’t skip it because it was getting late.

And from there I went to the train station and in 15 minutes was on an express train home to Shirahama. I got a taxi from the train station to the dorm since the buses had stopped running (and it was rather expensive. About $20 which doesn’t seem so bad until you realize that my train to Shingu was about $26!)

I am still rather shocked at my own resourcefulness. I managed to do a whole trip by myself to a place with no English. And I found all four places that I was trying to visit. It was a learning experience in that I now know that I am capable of a lot more than I realized I was. Of course, it would have been fun to travel with someone, but being alone does not mean that I can’t do stuff or have an enjoyable time. Just from this alone, I feel like I’ve grown a lot and have become more fearless about doing what I want to do. Which I think is a very good thing.

I need to stop making these massive posts and start making smaller, less detailed ones. Sigh. Someday, I’ll get better at all of this. Maybe.