Late Autumn in Mori-machi (2) - Daitoin Temple

From Okuni Jinja, I walked further toward the next destination Daitoin. It was about 4.7 km from Oukni Jinja, and the road sometimes became steep. It was really a lonely mountain road. If it had not been for a walking event, I couldn’t have walked there alone. At least, I could always see a few people walking behind or in front of me on my way to Daitoin.

Daitoin is a temple famous for the grave of a gangster Mori-no-Ishimatsu who lived in the 19th century. It is believed that you can have a gambling luck if you cut the gravestone and keep the fragment of it. But in front of the gravestone, there was a notice saying that the temple sells amulets containing a fragment of the gravestone and it is forbidden to cut it by yourself to take the fragment home.

As in Okuni Jinja, I could enjoy the glowing color of autumn leaves.

The old building for zen meditation had a quainter atmosphere than in other seasons.

Mori-no-Ishimatsu and his boss Shimizu Jirocho welcome you all year round.

This is a sculpture of a dragon on the wall of the main building.

I went down the stairs. The trees looked better from beneath.

I didn’t know what this stone and the plant beside it were, but the red color was beautiful.

It was a luck that the walking event in Mori-machi was held just on that weekend as we could enjoy autumn leaves both in Okuni Jinja and Daitoin. We still had to walk 4.4 km, however, I was very satisfied and continued to walk to the residential area of the town. On our way to the goal, Enshu-Mori Station, there was a shop selling gelato. According to the map, they make their original gelato according to the seasons.

At first, I didn’t feel like eating gelato at this time of year. However, I got curious as many people went inside the shop and ordered various kinds of gelato. They had a popular set of five kinds of gelato that you could choose from many options. I chose strawberry, Mikkabi mandarin orange, chestnut, green tea, and persimmon gelato. The major ingredients were from towns in Enshu or western Shizuoka Prefecture. Mikkabi mandarin oranges were from the north of Lake Hamana. Chestnuts were from Kakegawa, and green tea and persimmons were from Mori-machi. I started eating from the persimmon gelato with a spoon. I had never eaten one before but found it very delicious. Each of gelato had its original strong taste of the ingredient, and I thought they were the best gelato I had ever eaten. The last one was green tea gelato. It was good to finish with the rich bitter taste of tea from Mori-machi.

The name of the shop is Aria, and it was about 1.5 km from Enshu Mori Station. Even after the walking event, I keep the map so that I can visit there again on some other occasions.