Yoshiwara - 14th Station of Tokaido (Part 2)

The next day was a beautiful day.  The day I head towards Kambara.  The first important mark was the "Joya-to" (lights that are lit throughout the night)  I have never seen them, so I have no clue what they look like - so I almost missed it!  The Joya-to has been there for centries, so they are worn down by time - you expect a lantern, but it is more like a "mass" that has several "masses" sitting on top of one another.  So, I missed it and went back and forth trying to find it!

This Joya-to is the marking where the modern road parts with the old road.  Then the road enters the residential area, and I see no marks - nothing...just had to trust my senses to travel down the right path.  The old road goes out of the residential area and merges with the modern road that takes me to the Fuji river.

The fuji river is a large river, so there were no bridges in the past, just boats.  Now there is a long bridge that crosses the river - much quicker and convenient!

The Fuji river is a beautiful river - I was attracted by the beautiful scenery and had not been paying much attention on where I was going.  So 2km after I left the foot of the bridge, I was walking by a shopping center - that doesn't exist on the map.  Darn!  Back I go, 2km, walking the length that I did not need to walk if I had paid attention.

Back on the right path, I was looking for the Ichirizuka (4km mark).  I found it, took a turn, once again moving forward looking for Joya-to (lighting).  This one bore the mark of Mt. Akiba.  I have no clue what that was, but the ladies walking by told me this was the Joya-to I was looking for, and also showed me the corner where I should turn to head towards Kambara.  They also told me it was the Sakura Shrimp season, and suggested I dine at Kurasawaya in the town of Yui.  Good information!

I left the two ladies, still talking about how surprised they were meeting a female walking down the Tokaido alone.  Well, I soon learned why they were surprised.  I moved on, and the path led into the wilderness, less and less houses, and then I saw noone...Yes!  I am perfectly ALONE!  

Having realized some of the paths were pretty dangerous, I hurried on...across the river, up the hill, walked side by side with the freeway, until I saw a man!   A man taking an afternoon walk alone, heading towards me.  Releaved I said "Hello" as I passed him.  He looked annoyed - me disrupting his happy solitude - but so what.  I was happy to see him.

I crossed the freeway on a very old and rusted bridge (also scarey!)  and walked into the next residential area.  The path went down...down the hill to the seaside.  But it was also getting very hot, and with my heavy load I had to stop at the middle of the hill to rest.  Concrete roads - they gather heat and throughs it back at you.  One day we need to find a way to make these roads more natural - or else, with the pace at which we are paving wider and wider roads, we will make whole of Japan a heat island.

Once I hit the bottom of the Hill, I was at Kambara, one of the most beautiful old towns I have run across during my Tokaido walk.