This time, I bought a one-day pass for Enshu Railway + Tenhama Line (eastern route) for 1480 yen. It provides unlimited rides between Shin-Hamamatsu and Nishikajima and between Nishikajima and Kakegawa.
I left Shin-Hamamatsu Station at 7:48, changed the train at Nishikajima, and arrived at Totoumi-Ichinomiya Station at 8:49. It was cloudy, and the distance of the walking course was 13 km. The first destination was Okuni Jinja, the highest-class shrine in western Shizuoka Prefecture. It was about 4 km from the station, and we walked mostly in rural landscape. When passing by some fields, I saw two men cutting cosmos along the fields by machines. Before they were completely cut, I managed to take pictures of them. It was unexpected to see cosmos in December.
When I came to Okuni Jinja, I wondered if I could really see colorful leaves in the shrine.
But my expectation grew as I walked further inside.
The view around the pond was gorgeous.
Glowing red leaves were simply wonderful.
I thought I was very lucky to come there on that day. It was also nice that there weren’t many people even in front of the main building. I imagined how it would be crowded on the New Year’s Day.
After making a prayer, I went out from the exit on the right. There I found the most beautiful leaves I had ever seen!
Along the both side of a brook, there was a walking trail. It may have been the best time to stroll under the trees, with strong contrast of colors. I went over a small bridge.
The colors were as gorgeous as on the other side.
I enjoyed the view to my heart’s content. After that I visited Kotomachi Yokocho, a small area in front of the shrine where you can buy some sweets, drinks, etc. One of the shops was selling oyaki or buns stuffed with turnip greens and adzuki bean soup that are suitable snack for vegans.
I just drank hot amazake or a fermented rice drink. It is always very sweet, but I like it.
In Kotomachi Yokocho, you can find many traditional Japanese sweets. There was also a shop selling fresh warabimochi, jelly-like sweets made from bracken starch. They were sold with kinako or soybean powder, or macha or powdered green tea sprinkled on them.
In front of this shop, there was a rest area with tables and chairs. I had a seasonal snack consisting of warabimochi and daigakuimo or candied sweet potato. It was 500 yen, and I thought it was too expensive for its small size. But fresh soft warabimochi was very good. Daigakuimo was well fried outside and soft inside. It wasn’t too sweet and was also good. I bought a small pack of warabimochi additionally to take home and proceeded walking.
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