Both sides of the stone steps leading up to the Sanmon gate are decorated with hydrangeas, just like at Meigetsuin Temple in Kamakura. Once you reach the top, you’ll see a pond on the grounds of the main hall filled with floating cut hydrangeas, a very calculating or cunning display. Everyone will be uploading videos of this to social media. The ducks in the pond look very cramped.
Even when the hydrangeas are not in full bloom, many peacocks are free to roam. In Buddhism, they are said to have the power to ward off evil spirits and purify. I’m sure the pattern on its spread wings looks like eyes, which may intimidate monsters. According to a local photography enthusiast I bumped into, when surrounded by people, they spread their wings, either to get excited or to intimidate.
He showed me the footage stored on his smartphone, which was full of footage of peacocks spreading their feathers. Apparently, each peacock has its own unique style; some will raise their long wings vertically with great force, while others will spread them parallel to the ground and then slowly raise them. Naturally, the former is more impressive, but it’s hard to find one.
Find “the otaku” or the enthusiast and ask him to show you the video. The peacock’s feathers are reminiscent of the costume worn by Sachiko Kobayashi in the NHK Red and White Song Battle on New Year’s Eve, or the flashy floats at the Hachinohe Sansha Festival.
Finally, if you go up to the temple grounds at the top of the mountain, you can see the flat Kanto Plain in its entirety, which also reminds me of the flat Shonai Plain I saw at Dewa Sanzan.
Today’s Inn
It’s a very rural hot spring inn. For a moment I thought I had arrived at a mountain hut. The rice, miso soup and grilled sweetfish were especially delicious.
