Diary: Tokaido Trail – Day 7 | Shizuoka – Miho no Matsuba | 18.08.2019

09:00 wake up

At the Eiri juku side I only found this sign as a landmark but that should suffice.

Today shall be my sightseeing day. I proceeded to walk to the Miho no Matsuba which is a famous sightseeing spot to get a good shot of Mt. Fuji but on my way I already knew that Mt. Fuji would be not visible today. The beach is not a sand beach but mostly pebbles with some areas of small grained pebbles (sand like) where you could sit comfortably. The pine Forrest is quite chill and invites for a stroll. Best would be to come by car though since this place is quite remote.

The next stop would be Kunozan Toshugo. It was the first resting place of the first Tokugawa Emperor which marked the Edo period(toshugu.org) . Later on the third Tokugawa Emperor relocated the grave to Nikko but some of the remaining spirit has been left at the old shrine (wiki). The entrance was 500 yen and to be honest since I am not too familiar with Japanese history I didn’t felt like it was worth it. Although quite shiny it stands in no comparison with the shrine in Nikko. You can get there either by ropeway or on foot from the south. The stairs are not as difficult as some articles suggest. However only every some hours does a bus arrive at the south of the mountain.

17:00 I checked in my hostel and unloaded my backpack. The next stop would be the Sunpu castle. In his childhood the first Tokugawa emperor spent his time here as a hostage, though still he got one of the finest education possible as well as spent his last years here which is why he also wanted to have his grave to be in this area. As many other castles the Sunpu Castle also got dismantled in the Meiji Era. Zoomingjapan has a great more in depth article about this castle. Today there are some remains left and it is a huge free greenery area. Funny enough today was also the last day where they held a Summer festival in this area which was visited quite heavily.

18:00 and my last stop would be the sengen shrine which are a group of 3 shrines and actually consist of a lot more structures making it one of the largest shrine area in Japan (hisgo.com). That being said to be honest I already saw a lot of shrines and it was getting dark which is why my excitement shifted from the shrines to the actual mountain Forrest thing where the shrines are located. As it seems it is a much huger mountainy area within the city which you can hike up. It was very fascinating to be on a mountain surrounded by trees but still be able to hear the nearby cars so clearly. However since it got dark I did not dare to go in much deeper and ended my discovery tour after 15 minutes in.

Although I wanted to have a more relaxed day I ended up walking quite a bit. My feet are hurting in alternate mode. Today it was mostly my right foot whereas yesterday it was my left.

Steps:39443 (26.03 km) – 1 Station only

Spendings: 2360 hostel, 2000 food, 1000 transportation and entrance fee

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