オッス＼(o￣∇￣o)/ ーーー♪
Hello again,

here's already the next photo post featuring my spring vacation 2009.
I'll show you my day 2 in Okayama.

Okayama - Day 2 (April 2nd, 2009):



Found that sign on my way to a temple and thought it was cute :) On the back was the same picture just with a boy ^-^



First thing in the morning I went to Sougenji (曹源寺). That's a temple with a lot of foreign monks and famous for a huge and old cherry blossom tree.
It's quite far away from the center of the city and closer to Saidaiji (where I went on day 1), but I didn't have enough time the day before and it was raining, too.
I wanted to visit that temple no matter what, so that was the first thing I did in the early morning and let me tell you it was worth it ^-^



That is the famous cherry blossom tree beside a small pond. The atmosphere was so awesome! I can't even describe it!
As it was early in the morning there was just me and another Japanese guy taking photos (and all the monks of course XD). It was sooooo relaxing and ... just ... breathtaking!





After my visit there I went back to the Okayama JR station to go by train to the famous Kibi district (吉備郡) to trace the origin of the Momotarou fable.



Once I was there I had to get a rental bike because all the sightseeing spots were really far away from each other. There's a REALLY SMALL rental bike shop right beside the small station run by an old Japanese man.
To rent a bike there it might be way easier if you can speak a little bit Japanese. It was no problem for me, though. All I was worried about was that I won't have enough time to see everything I wanted, so I confirmed with the owner of the shop how long it'd take to take the different routes. Well, it was already about 11.30am-ish, so I had only half a day anyway and I had to give the bike back at the next larger station (which was about 15km away) by 6pm at the latest.



First stop was the Kibitsuhiko Shrine which is just across the street from the JR Station (so you wouldn't need a bike if you want to go just there).









And Momotaro everywhere! XD



EVERYWHERE!! XDDD



And then I was on the Kibi district bike road. As you can see the weather was not too great. It even rained a little bit.



The signs were not good at all (at least not for the first 5km or so). I got lost THREE FUCKING TIMES!!! which was horrible as I was on a strict schedule and didn't have so much time anyway ;o; .......
It was nice, though, as I got to see a lot of the surrounding inaka there :)



Next stop was the famous Kibitsu Shrine:

Kibitsu Shrine is a guardian shrine for the Kibi Region (Okayama and Hiroshima Prefectures) in western Japan. It is important for the distinctive shape of its main building and as a leading example of large shrine architecture in Japan's middle ages. The main building and the hall of worship are designated as National Treasures. The main building of the shrine that you see today was rebuilt in 1425.

The adjoining double gables atop the main building give the roof the distinctive appearance of a bird that is spreading its wings.

As a shrine Kibitsu Shrine is among the largest. The scale of the main building in a shrine is indicated by the number of bays that you can count when viewing it from the front. For example, if you can count four posts across the front, it means that there are three bays between the posts. Such shrines are known as three-bay shrines. In Japan over 90% of shrines are single-bay shrines and nearly all of the rest are three-bay shrines, but Kibitsu Shrine is a seven-bay shrine (eight bays on the side).

The corridor that leads to the Hongu building by way of the Okamaden from the main building is built to follow the natural incline of the ground. The overall length of this corridor exceeds 400 m (440 yd.).

Kibitsu Shrine is dedicated to Prince Kibitsuhiko. He is the model for the legend of Momotaro (the Peach Boy), which is a famous Japanese folktale about a boy who exterminated ogres.

Source: Japan Atlas

Sake anybody? XD



Momotaro again ;)



That Shrine was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo big!!! Apart from Fushimi Inari probably the biggest shrine I've ever been to!!!
Soooo amazing!! I can't remember how long I spent there, but it was definitely more than 1 hour XD



These 祈願トンネル (kigan tunnel / prayer tunnel) were really cute :)





As the new school year just began there were 合格 (goukaku / passing of an exam) wishes everywhere XDDDD
But that huge one there was the biggest one I've ever seen XD



That's the Kibitsu Shrine Corridor!!! It was really looooooooooooooooooooooong!!!!!



And that's where I spied the 弓道 (kyuudou) practice ^-^





That shrine had also tons of cherry blossoms EVERYWHERE! It was soooo beautiful ^-^



Across the street there was another small shrine: Uga shrine.
Sooooo~ beautiful!! (;o;)





.... but the weather sucked x_X



I decided to take a break and .... try the famous kibi dango ^-^



Kibi dango is actually served warm!! It's very sweet. I'm usually not a big dango fan, but this stuff was REALLY nice! :)



And then I was on my rental bike on my tour through inaka land again XDDD



On my way I saw a lot of interesting things as it was quite a rural area.



Then it was decision time .... a time check confirmed that I wouldn't be able to go the Saijo Inari although I really wanted to ;o; .....



So, the next stop on my way were the Tsukuriyama Ancient Burial Mounds.



It was quite boring, though. At least for me, BUT at least I got quite a nice view from up there ^^;



And the cherry blossoms up there were beautiful, too :)





On of my last stops was the Bitchu Kokubunji Temple (備中国分寺).



The temple was featuring another 5-store pagoda. Unfortunately the sun was in my way, so I couldn't get any good photos this time ;o; .... If you want to see good photos of it, go here :) (See? THAT'S how good photos have to look!!! So please stop telling me my photos are good, thanks XD)
There was an old man on a bike who was like ... taking care of the temple and he stopped to talk to me. I told him that where I come from there's a 5-store pagoda as well and blah~ ... he wasn't too surprised to hear that I'm not a foreign tourist, but that I actually live in Japan. Usually older people react a little bit strange to that, but he was really nice and telling me stuff about the pagoda's history and all ^-^;



Then I left for the station as it was already past 5pm. I stopped, turned around and took a few more photos of the far away pagoda.





Last stop was a really small shrine near the station. I had to hurry up, though, as I only had a few minutes left until the deadline for returning my rental bike XDDD
I met this cat and couldn't resist (*__*) ....soo cute!







Finally at the station. I managed to give back the bike in time :)



Back in the center of Okayama city and as I was REALLY hungry after riding that bike for almost 6 hours I got all that yummie tonkatsu (豚カツ)!!
It was awesome! ;o;



And Momotaro again ^-^



Good night, Okayama!



そば茶!!!!!!! New discovery!!!! It tastes great!! Luckily I was able to find it at a local supermarket here, too! ^-^
Soba is a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat and as you can see there's also soba tea and I like it a lot! You should try it if you have the chance to :)



And that was my time in Okayama. I wish I had one more day for the Kibi district in Okayama ... but that was my crappy planning and thus my own fault.
Next photos will be from Matsuyama in Shikoku


バイ(*^ヽ^) ンー……ヽ(*^・゜)ノ~チュッ♪