Sunday, 28 October 2012
Given the circumstances when I woke the next morning, seemingly the first human to have emerged from slumber, I did a quick calculation and decided if I was going to sit anywhere with the iPad on the knees and continue to tap out the narrative it was a case of finding the niche at the top of the stairs and ignoring the piteous whining emanating from the living area below.
Had I ventured downstairs there would have been two insistent canines demanding attention, and until someone else surfaced and took up the running that would make the writing bit impossible. I hadn't been at it too long before Our Host surfaced, and I caught up on the rest of the previous day before venturing into the maelstrom for a shower and breakfast.
Readers may suspect Hughesy's engaging in a bit of hyperbole when I use the word maelstrom to describe a living area inhabited by two smallish dogs, but given the nonstop hyperactivity (Red Cordial Dog) and the frenzied demands for attention (Grog Dog) I'm afraid no other, more suitable term springs to mind.
It's equally difficult to come up with a word to summarize the venue that occupied the bulk of the day, the small town of Hiraizumi and its premier attraction, Chuson-ji Temple.
We set off just after nine, heading south to a place we'd visited last time around when persistent drizzle had sent us indoors for lunch rather than up the steps to the temple, and had already taken a look at the town's other main draw card at Motsu-ji, and maybe, if I'd done some homework I'd have been more inclined to venture into the drizzle rather than sit inside and shovel curry down the gullet. This time around, however, I'd done fairly detailed research, so strap yourselves in for a fairly lengthy exposition, boys and girls.
There was a certain degree of concern on our hostess' part as to whether I really wanted to go to Chuson-ji, but I produced the handy PDF with the walking around the town map that seemed to quell most of her concerns. There were a number of places I wanted to go, even if going constituted a brief glance and a photo.
On the surface, driving through the town, there's nothing to differentiate Hiraizumi from a myriad of other small Japanese country towns, though if you reach the car parks outside two major attractions you'd soon realize there's something special in the vicinity.
So, the back story...