World Heritage Site: Leaving Ainokura

As we were leaving I noticed there was a stamp at the entrance. I wasn't with Papa when he went to pay. There was no one in the buidling as we were leaving.


Another stamp opportunity. My children weren't interested in getting a stamp at each house. They would have loved this a few years ago. They enjoyed their time here, though.




I took this picture of the sign for the village with the thatched roof houses as we were leaving. The buildings here have typical tile roofs.

It is difficult to take pictures from the car! I saw several bus stops that I wanted to photograph, but it was impossible to stop (narrow roads) and impossible to do from the car (bad angles at speed). The bus stops were small buildings where people could stand out of the road and out of the weather. I imagine they are much appreciated in the snow and the rain!




This is Main street in the town outside the village.

Temple in a Small Town in Niigata Prefecture

Before standing in front of the temple to pray, you wash your hands here. There is watering flowing from the head of a dragon at the base of the statue into a huge hollowed stone. The water is flowing over the sides of the stone between the moss.



This is a candlebra next to the place to wash your hands. There are two of these on either side of the stone basin. If I had moved the camera a little to the right I would've gotten the head of the dragon. I was too busy talking to my friend! In Tokyo, if I mess up a picture I can just go back and take another one. I have to be more attentive when I'm traveling.



I was standing at the water basin looking down toward the path people take from the entrance to wash their hands before praying. The big white structures were put there for obon . They represent candles. The names of people who donated money are written on them.



This is the temple. People stand at the bottom of the stairs at the entrance, ring the bell, and pray. There are the white "candles" along the front for obon.





There is a trail of thirty prayer sites on this hill behind and above the main temple. At each one you can use a stamp like this one.

Another Stop Along the Way

This is the welcome table at the entrance of a rest stop along our way. On the wall is a device that is used for people who are having heart trouble or a heart attack.




Each area has its specialities and each rest stop sells them as souvenirs. Each item has the name of the place printed on its packaging. There are boxes of cakes and cookies neatly wrapped. This is a small rest stop so the selection is not very big.



This is a local sweet wrapped in a dried leaf. This picture was taken at a food stall like the one in yesterday's post. These sweets were sold individually. Later on our trip I saw these at a grocery store. They were all tied together and sold as a bunch.

Peel away the dried leaf and you find a green mochi, glutinous rice, with anko, sweet adzuki bean paste, inside. Yummy.




At rest stops along the highway and at some tourist attractions, you can use a complimentary stamp in your own notebook or a souvenir stamp book. It looks like a lot of people practiced here before stamping their books.




There is no charge for using the stamp. It's a nice souvenir and collection. We usually go back to Texas in the summers and rarely travel in Japan by car so we haven't done this.