Japan - Day 7, Part 3: Visiting Chuson-ji Shrine & Eating Okonomiyaki

Next we headed back to Ichinoseki to pick up cousin Konomi from her after school club and then out to another shrine.  By this point we had already seen many shrines (and would see many more on this Japan trip) but Shinobu thought he should take us here.

We walked around and saw the sights and were particularly impressed with the paid entry museum-like display cases of artifacts and the gold plated shrine inside (where we were not allowed to take any pictures).  Displayed were hair combs inlaid with shell and precious metals, writings, dishes, weapons, and even a few stone pillows.  I knew my samurai ancestors would have used things like these and so I was a little more interested here than I usually am at museums.

This image shows what I couldn't photograph from www.japantimes.co.jp

There were beautiful trails on the grounds as well.

At this portion of the trail, the tree roots are exposed and act like natural stairs up the hill.

Aunt Akemi stayed with Blake and I while Cousin Konomi and Uncle Shinobu walked ahead together and talked.  The trees in Japan are so cleanly beautiful.  I love this canopy of Japanese maple trees with their tiny leaves above.

This is zoomed in to the leaves directly above us.

I think the bib here shows this statue is dedicated to children who die young.

Here is a point in the trail that looks out over the whole area.

At the last minute on our way out of the temple grounds Shinobu found the brochure in English.  As I was reading it in the car on our way out, I realized that our Fujiwara clan ancestors founded the shrine.  There are even some of the Fujiwara leaders mummified there.  Read more about it on the Wiki page. It's a United Nations World Heritage Site and a Japanese National Treasure.  I asked Shinobu if I understood that right and he confirmed.  If only I had known these were actually artifacts from my ancestors (or, at the very least, their close relatives) I would have paused even longer looking at everything.  If we go back to Ichinoseki again with my children or my siblings I want to take them back here to learn more.

Although it was time for dinner, none of us were hungry after all the food we ate at Harumizu's home.  It was a unanimous decision that we would have a very late dinner instead.  We went back to Shinobu's house and relaxed for a little bit.  I think the Olympics were on and there were some friendly questions about which country I should be cheering for. 

Shinobu and Akemi decided to take us out for dinner that night.  I had only recently discovered Okonomiyaki (a Japanese vegetable and meat pancake) on a food blog back home and loved it.  So when they told us there are restaurants for Okonomiyaki I was surprised.  The fact of the matter is that my dad doesn't like Okonomiyaki and so he never introduced it to us growing up.  It's a shame because it's GOOD.

At the restaurant, the first thing we did was put our shoes into these lockers. 

After we ordered, the waiters brought us our bowls filled with the ingredients for us to mix ourselves.  One of our orders included tako (octopus).  Generally octopus is pretty chewy, but it totally worked in this.

After mixing up the batter, we cooked our pancakes on the grill in the middle of our table.

We have some fun videos of us flipping our own pancakes over.  I'm proud to say that I was the only one who flipped it without breaking it.  We topped it with sauce and bonito fish flakes and other toppings.  Delicious!  They also ordered for me my favorite childhood dish: yakisoba.  We were so full of okonomiyaki by then that we could barely eat the yakisoba.  It was a fun night.


When we came home this little fellow was on the wall of the house next to the car.  Kawaii (cute)!