Mount Kora And Kora Taisha Shrine

 Today turned out to be very different to what I had planned, in a good way!

The plan was to finish deep cleaning the kitchen, start on my room, make lunch and have an easy afternoon.

When David came home from work, I was looking at Amazon to find an oven. I realised this morning that I do need a microwave, also, I don't have confidence that the other functions on the oven will keep working.  The oven I have is an oven, microwave and grill combination. I thought about buying a cheap microwave, but I don't really have space, plus the electrical system isn't that good; if I run more than two appliances at once, the fuses get tripped!

I noticed that Amazon offers split payments, where you can pay over a few months. I haven't checked all the details as yet, but I'm hoping that I can use this system.

I explained to David that I was going to buy an oven from Amazon, he suggested that we go and have a look at the ovens at one of the many electrical stores.  David buys a lot online, and unfortunately, what he expects and what he gets doesn't always work out! The other week, he ordered a heater, but it turned out to be a lot smaller than he thought it would be. 

We had an early lunch, then went to the store. I'm glad we went to have a look. The one oven I liked had a very complicated system to run it. The one I have now has buttons for the different functions; the one I liked had a couple of buttons, but most of the functions were on a dial that you had to turn slowly to get to each function. I think trying to use that at 5am when I'm half asleep would be rather frustrating! I found one I liked and will order it later, if the split payment option works!

After we finished, I thought we would go back home, but David asked if I would like to go to Mount Kora. Of course, I said yes.

Mount Kora is one of the high points in this area; it's part of the Mino Mountain Range, the mountains that are behind our house. The shrine is Kora Taisha Shrine and has a history of 1600 years.

The drive up there was hair-raising to say the least. I took some video, but the road was bumpy, and I couldn't hold the phone still, sorry! You can hear me tell David to change down gears. He has only ever driven an automatic car and has no idea what the lower gears are for! I've never driven a car, but I know that on the mountain roads, the lower gears are better!

The views from the top are spectacular.

Explaining the view

I asked David to take some photos, so, of course, he took a selfie!

David

This stone explains about the cherry blossom trees that are planted here.

Father, Son Cherry Blossom Trees

The trees were planted by a Navy Admiral. The tree split and became known as Father Son Cherry Blossom Tree. The first two gold letters are father and son.

The steps up to the shrine itself are long and very steep. 

Steps up to the shrine.

I took one look at those and decided to send David up to take photos, until I noticed the funicular railway on the side. 

It's free to ride, but there was a donation box, so we dropped in a couple of hundred yen and rode up to the top.

The next video was from inside.

A much better way to get up all those steps. I think I could have managed going up, but coming down would have been hard!

Again, incredible views.

Looking down the steps.

View of the river

The steps again.

There were many things to see up here.

I remembered to take a photo of the shrine this time.

The main entrance to the shrine.

Interesting colours, also, why a rabbit?

The side of the shrine.

A dragon's head

I enjoyed noticing all the little details in the architecture.  From a distance, the shrines look very similar, but getting up close, you can see the little differences that make each shrine unique!

The main part of the shrine.

This is beyond the red entrance. Very beautiful.

Also, we found some chickens!

Shrine chickens.

And a massive tree.

We went to the observation deck, but by that time the weather had turned, and it started to rain!

I remembered that the road we were on went back toward our house, so instead of going back the way we came, we went for a real adventure.

Most of the road was alright until we came to this very narrow part, with very few places to allow cars to pass. Also, in many places, there was no guardrail. 

I was worried that the leaves were getting wet and could be a bit slippery! I was very happy to get back onto the main roads!

On the way back, we passed a few other places that looked nice. Maybe, when the weather is better, we can go out there again!

I actually had a really nice day. I still have all the cleaning to do, but getting out, just for an hour or so, has given me energy to get things done!