Night at the Jinja

I stayed at the hotel attached to Mitsumine Shrine in Chichibu this weekend for some quiet and some nature.


They give you a yukata, and a futon that you lay out yourself. My room was across the hall from their big communal hotspring bath.

There is a thermos of hot water and a teapot and box of green tea in the room. And a cookie. I went for the no-meal option, so the stay cost only 40 bucks. The meal is a fancy, fussy spread in a separate private tatami room, which is no fun alone. I planned to grab something from the cafeteria in the lobby. I didn't know it closed before 5. I made do with souvenir food from the gift shop - walnuts, spicy fried gobo sticks, and huge sweet black beans. And a vending machine yogurt.

This room would be a squeeze for three people, but couldn't be more perfect for one.

At 6 am there was a gong from the temple hall outside, followed, if I am not mistaken, by an electronic version of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring broadcast over the hallway loudspeakers (special for Easter?). This was replaced by a recording of tinkling water and chirping birds as background sound effects for a hypnotically repetitive suggestion that everyone enjoy some delicious coffee at the coffee shop.

The nearby mountain is called Kumotori, or "cloud grabber." Like the Smokies, it does what it says on the tin. The sky was bright white by six, but the actual sun didn't poke through the cloud cover til it was pretty well over the mountain. I got up to take a look from an ornate scenic overlook platform near the shrine, and there was a photographer already there, a middle aged Japanese man, who'd slept in his car nearby to set up his tripod to wait for the sunrise. He wanted me to know he was using American Kodak film.