{"id":4773,"date":"2017-10-20T02:53:32","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T09:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=4773"},"modified":"2017-10-20T02:53:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T09:53:32","slug":"moments-with-dragons-hososhima-japan-10202017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=4773","title":{"rendered":"Moments with Dragons \u2013 Hososhima, Japan \u2013 [10\/20\/2017]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Days are made of moments all are worth exploring Many kinds of moments None is worth ignoring All we have are moments Memories for storing ~ Into the Woods<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes the most magical days are the ones that are not planned at all. Sometimes you stumble on the most amazing things when you have no idea your path is leading you there.<\/p>\n

Sometimes there are these\u2026moments.<\/p>\n

Hososhima is a port we do not normally call at, we only called here because we cancelled our calls in South Korea (perhaps understandably), and so we had no real idea what to do here. This isn\u2019t like Tokyo, where Amras and I had had plans for months in advance. This\u2026was definitely spur of the moment. So much so that we were still looking up options only a few minutes before we left the ship. With a general idea in our heads of finding the best-known shrine in the area, but no real idea of how to get there\u2026we boarded the shuttle bus to the local mall and then started to walk. Relying for the first time on the built-in GPS system in my phone which showed us that \u2013 far from being a long walk \u2013 the journey to our destination was a flat level 20-minute amble from the mall. We ran into not a single other soul, it was as if everyone else had decided that \u201cit\u2019s too far away\u201d without actually bothering to check proper distance.<\/p>\n

There were two entrances to the shrine when we arrived there, one that looked\u2026shrine-like, and one that looked\u2026forest-like. We took the forest path, which if I am honest with myself, I was very hesitant about because it felt like distinctly the wrong way. Never have I been so glad to be wrong. Yes, it was the back way, but it was beautiful<\/em>, winding its way along the coastline past crashing surf and vast horizons such as I had never seen before even though I spend my childhood within a stone\u2019s throw of the ocean. Standing there, you feel so small. Even the little tiny red crabs that skitter all over the edges of the paths seem to have more significance than you. Of course it wasn\u2019t just crabs that were scattered all about\u2026there were also spiders\u2026we won\u2019t go into how I felt about the spiders. Let\u2019s just say I let Amras\u2019 take point as we made our way up the steep and slippery stairs leading through and around the dripping woods.<\/p>\n

At this point I was utterly convinced that we were lost. Not that that was really a bad thing, but I was thinking that would have been nice to see what we set out to see. Then we went down one more (very slippery) set of stairs and found ourselves on a main path with shrine arches at either end.<\/p>\n

Pretty sure we just found it<\/em><\/p>\n

Passing under the arch we found ourselves at the mouth of a cave unlike any I\u2019ve encountered. Obviously a tidal cave, the water frothed at the edges of the rocks as though it were held back by an invisible hand, waiting only for the right moment to rush forward and kiss the edges of the red shrine that stood in the depths of the cavern.<\/p>\n

It was unbelievably beautiful, and peaceful.<\/p>\n

Japanese legend says that a dragon once lived here, and there is a formation inside the cave that is still known as the Dragon\u2019s Egg. Standing there, on the salt-soaked rocks, with my fingertips reaching out to touch the water\u2019s edge, if you close your eyes and still your breath I swear you could still hear that dragon roar. The air here feels still, as though if you listen closely enough you could hear wisdom on the salt winds.<\/p>\n

Magical.<\/p>\n

We have a history, Dragons and I, it is a term I have long used to describe fears so insurmountable that they seem to have great gnashing teeth and seductively glimmering scales. But there\u2019s something that I often forget, for all that dragons are sometimes vicious, in most cultures \u2013 Asian cultures most especially \u2013 they are some of the wisest beasts on earth. They exist to protect and defend, and to teach lessons. Perhaps I needed an actual dragon cave to remind me of that\u2026<\/p>\n

Sadly, you can\u2019t stay at a dragon cave forever if you aren\u2019t a dragon, so we climbed back up the steep steps to the main path and ultimately made our way back out the way I had originally thought we were going to be coming in. Finding ourselves in a vast gravel-paved courtyard edged by the sea on one side and the forest on the other, where we ritually washed our hands in honor of the temple and felt the muscles in our shoulders relax. We left that shrine feeling much lighter than when we came in.<\/p>\n

Are you happy?<\/em><\/p>\n

Amras asked me as we made our way through the twisting forest path. Only one answer came to mind, and the words aren\u2019t mine, they belong to Peter. S. Beagle, and Smendrick the Magician, and the Last Unicorn, but they remain very very true none the less<\/p>\n

Well, people do not always know when they are happy but\u2026I think so.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Days are made of moments all are worth exploring Many kinds of moments None is worth ignoring All we have are moments Memories for storing ~ Into the Woods Sometimes the most magical days are the ones that are not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[98,12,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grand-asiaaustralia-2017","category-historical-sites","category-ports-of-call"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-1eZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4775,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4773\/revisions\/4775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}