25.8.2018 - Day 10

There were two other small earthquakes (magnitude 1) during the night, but I slept through them. After breakfast we went on a short view of Morioka. It was hot and humid and I got drenched almost immediately. We headed to the castle ruins and from there got a wonderful view on surrounding mountains. At the center, where the kept used to be, was a statue pedestal. From a nearby board I figured out that there used to be a statue of someone on a horse. Apparently it was taken away in 1944, I’m guessing to support the war effort. Enjoying the castle grounds, now Iwaki park we walked around to Morioka museum and to a nice shrine next door. This shrine is build at the street level, but goes up onto the castle walls with its inner sanctuary and a smaller side-shrine.

As we were leaving a downpour cough us. We returned to the hotel a tad wet. After refreshing we headed to the train station where we boarded a train for Tokyo. For the first time I was on a red Akita Shinkansen train (E6 series). I have to say that this type is very nice. Since it goes on the narrow gauge it is smaller inside, having 4 seats in a row and is relatively modern and nice looking.

We arrived in Tokyo on time and checked into our lodging. It is through AirBnB in a standard Japanese home and we sleep on futon and tatami mats (to my great pleasure).

After cooling off and resting we went to Inari and walked to the top of the hill and finished the loop. Since it was at night it was a bit cooler and without the sun it was really nice. As always Inari shrine is beautiful no matter the time and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We even saw some large rodent, few cats and lot of insects. For some strange reason the walk gave me energy and I felt amazing. Even did an extra climb to another subsidiary shrine on one of the peaks. I’ve noticed that Zelma’s endurance isn’t as high as mine, which was the opposite of what I have expected given that she trains a lot more and harder than me,so I had to slow down to accommodate for her. Maybe the slow pace was the reason why I was so energetic…

Returning back we had a great night sleep.