Port 09 Shimizu, Japan

Aratemete go aisatsu! Greetings once again!

We arrive in Shimizu, Japan, early in the morning on 26 March, 2024! The sun tries to break through the clouds on the horizon.

The ship arrives at the port under gloomy skies and passing bands of rain. Whah!

Shimizu is a lovely little port! A small, protected harbor sits not far away from the cruise terminal and hosts the city’s ferris wheel. These are becoming the norm rather than the exception!

Once we are in the cruise terminal this beautiful sign greets us! I cross my fingers and pray for a break in the clouds!

We have a tour to see the Mt Fuji Highlights! We first go to a Shinto shrine that forms the basis for much of the ceremony around climbing Mt Fuji. We arrive at the Fuji Sengen Shrine. An impressive tori gate greets us!

 

Inside the gate, serenity begins to assert its control over the street noise. Lovely ponds on either side of the walk welcome us with their lantern islands. And the rain comes down.

A statue of a samurai archer astride a galloping horse appears. Theirs was a masterful art that few practice anymore.

We arrive at the “temizu-ya” or “chozu-ya”. This is a pavilion in which a basic washing ritual is performed before a Shinto believer enters the shrine.

 

 

The trough of water in the temizu-ya is the “chozubachi”. There are ladles presented. The ritual involves dipping the purifying liquid from the basin and doing two things: 1) rinsing out your mouth – the water is spit out outside of the basin, not back in, and 2) washing your hands. Well, there is a third step – allow the water to run down the ladle handle to wash your pre-washed hand contact, then return the ladle to the resting position. After this the worshipper is allowed to enter the shrine.

However, there is a more immersive ritual called “misogi” that those wishing to climb Mt Fuji perform. They fully immerse themselves in this pond prior presenting themselves for a blessing on the climb!

The Shinto Shrine sits at the back of the compound, a lovely structure, even in the rain!

The cherry blossoms are trying to come out, but the cold weather has delayed their efforts. We’re bummed!

As we drive to Miho No Beach to see the Pine Grove, black sand beach, and majestic Mt Fuji, this is how our weather is looking… pretty crummy, huh?

We arrive at Miho No Matsubara – the ancient pine grove with access to the beach!

This ancient pine needs a lot of support, as do several others!

Nabe-san stops in front of this tree, and tells us a tale.

There was a poor fisherman who walked in this pine grove every day. One day he found a beautiful feather cloak hanging on that branch in this tree. He thought it was amazing! “I’ll take this home!” He picked up the cloak and began walking home.

As he started to walk away a beautiful woman ran out of the ocean, yelling, “No! Stop! Wait! Wait!” The fisherman turned around. The woman explained, “I am an angel from Heaven. That garment, that feather robe is mine! I took it off to bathe at the seashore! If you take my robe I cannot return to Heaven!” Please return my feather cloak!”

The fisherman said, “This is my cloak! I found it. It is mine! I’ll take it back home.”

The woman pleaded, “Please! Please give it back to me.”

“I will not give this cloak to you! It is mine! I found it!”, exclaimed the fisherman.

“Please, please, return my cloak!” begged the angel, and she began to cry. “Please! Please!” Tears ran down her face.

The fisherman began to feel sorry for the angel. He finally conceded to her pleas. “OK, I will return you cloak under one condition.”

“What?” asked the angel.

“I want you to sing and dance for me the Song of Heaven,” said the fisherman, “If you agree to sing and dance for me, I will return your cloak.”

The angel agreed, and the fisherman handed over the cloak. The angel put on her feather cloak, and began to dance and sing! She sang of Heaven and the other angels. Her dance was mesmerizing! She sang a song that made the fisherman gasp in wonder! As she sang and danced she began to rise up into the sky. She continued to sing and rise higher. She waved goodbye to the fisherman as she ascended to Heaven. He waved back, amazed he was being sang to by and angel! Soon she was gone.

This is the tree (or the child of the child of the child of the tree) that the angel hung her feather cloak on as she bathed in the ocean’s waters.

This is the statue of the fisherman as he watched the angel ascend into heaven.

Then we walked out to the beach. Nabe-san told us where Mt Fuji would be seen. We watched and waited for a glimpse.

Here is a website photo of what we hoped to see. Mt Fuji in all its glory rising over the trees of Miho No Matsubara’s pine grove.

Here’s what we saw… I think you will recognize the black sand beach and the tree line.

Here is a photo of us looking at Mt Fuji taken by a shipmate. She liked our colors!

OK, we had to turn around for her! If you look closely you can see Mt Fuji beginning to appear! Just kidding! Rats!

As we leave the beach, I turn and catch this photo of the pine grove branch against the black sand beach. This pine grove has a history far beyond my life, but not nearly as far as the majestic Mt Fuji has lived! I’m sorry we didn’t see it. As my Mom would say, “Dame, ne? So sorry.”

Before we have to climb on the bus, we have a chance to enjoy some matcha ice cream! This soothes the loss we feel  from not seeing Mt Fuji just a teeny-weeny bit. For those who don’t know, matcha is green tea powder. It’s used in tea ceremonies and to make green tea ice cream, aka match ice cream!

We have a chance to take a selfie in an intersection mirror! This is the end of the tour.

I don’t know that I ever done this, but here are some photos from our evening show! We have a world-award-winning balloon artist on board! This is Syan!

His balloon creations are largely created before he gets on stage – they are cocooned in beachball-sized package. He pops a few ballons and the cocoon opens up and reveals awesome creations like this dragon!

Here is my favorite of his many creations – a samurai warlord!

Syan’s creations are wonderful and he put on a beautiful show set to various Japanese songs! He gave several balloon creations to the guests, and these are NOT your run-of-the-mill balloon wiener dog or crown!  His dragon was articulated. He went around the Lounge biting people’s heads! Supposedly, being bit on the head by a dragon brings good luck!

This brings my Shimizu report to a close! It was an educational, but disappointing day.

Next stop – Osaka (Kobe), Japan! (I’ll explain that in the next post!)