Saturday, March 26th: Oyamazumi Shrine
Erci is not feeling well so we are off to a slow start, but that is fine, we'll miss the worst of Hiroshima's rush hour. Checking out of the Granvia was our first surprise: despite Yahoo claiming we had been charged for the room when I made reservations, the hotel wanted full fare. We called Yahoo and they said we had not already been charged, so I'll double check when we get home.
The stretch of the Sanyo expressway from Hiroshima to Onomichi set us back ¥2000 in tolls (ouch). We stopped briefly in Onomichi for a leg-stretch and walkabout, but with Erci feeling under the weather it turned out to be a bust. We did see a new safety alert sign in the parking lot elevator, this one using a crab pinching a finger to illustrate the danger of the elevator doors. Onamichi was also having a local history festival where late 19th century attired people did little skits from local legend and history.
Then we took the Nishi-Seto expressway towards Shikoku stopping at Omishima to visit the Oyamazumi Shrine. The shrine is beautiful, and it's attached museum is awesome. They claim to have the swords and armor of both Minamoto Yoshitsune and Minamoto Yoritomo (I am a bit skeptical of the armor they attribute as theirs, to my untrained eye the armor looks more mid 13th century than late 12th). Either way, it was awesome stuff. Mostly Muramachi era, but some earlier and some later. The sword and Naginata blades show clear evolution in tiny details over time.
We completed our drive on the Nishi Seto expressway (paying tolls at 4 more places of ¥1300, ¥800, ¥850, and ¥1850; or about $45). Then followed the navigation system's directions to Matsuyama, one stretch of which was on another toll expressway (¥1400). Sadly we hit Matsuyama right at rush hour, and it took us most of the rest of the day to find the Castle and Mazda rent-a-car return, so we did not see Matsuyama-jo (reputedly one of the three best castles in Japan). We did enjoy a nice dinner of fried rice and gyoza at the train station and caught the "limited express" (slow train) to Okayama.
The stretch of the Sanyo expressway from Hiroshima to Onomichi set us back ¥2000 in tolls (ouch). We stopped briefly in Onomichi for a leg-stretch and walkabout, but with Erci feeling under the weather it turned out to be a bust. We did see a new safety alert sign in the parking lot elevator, this one using a crab pinching a finger to illustrate the danger of the elevator doors. Onamichi was also having a local history festival where late 19th century attired people did little skits from local legend and history.
Then we took the Nishi-Seto expressway towards Shikoku stopping at Omishima to visit the Oyamazumi Shrine. The shrine is beautiful, and it's attached museum is awesome. They claim to have the swords and armor of both Minamoto Yoshitsune and Minamoto Yoritomo (I am a bit skeptical of the armor they attribute as theirs, to my untrained eye the armor looks more mid 13th century than late 12th). Either way, it was awesome stuff. Mostly Muramachi era, but some earlier and some later. The sword and Naginata blades show clear evolution in tiny details over time.
We completed our drive on the Nishi Seto expressway (paying tolls at 4 more places of ¥1300, ¥800, ¥850, and ¥1850; or about $45). Then followed the navigation system's directions to Matsuyama, one stretch of which was on another toll expressway (¥1400). Sadly we hit Matsuyama right at rush hour, and it took us most of the rest of the day to find the Castle and Mazda rent-a-car return, so we did not see Matsuyama-jo (reputedly one of the three best castles in Japan). We did enjoy a nice dinner of fried rice and gyoza at the train station and caught the "limited express" (slow train) to Okayama.
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