Inhaling Wisteria and Yakisoba

Go bury your nose in the nearest wisteria even if it means climbing a barbed wire fence and facing down a Doberman. Assuming you survive the Doberman, you will thank me for this advice. (And if you don't survive the Doberman, I'll be consoled knowing that thoughts of me were among your last.)
Today's adventure took us to the village of Koshigaya, about 90 minutes and just one train transfer north of Yokosuka. Hisaizu-jinja Shrine was our specific destination and we had no trouble finding it. We just followed the trail of wisteria along the canal bank. Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff. Aaaaaah.
Like many bridges in this country, the bridge we took across the canal was a work of art. Many manhole covers are works of art too. The people who work on neighborhood revitalization at the Department of Housing and Urban Development ought to try to sneak more whimsy into public projects in our country . . .

While we're wending our way to Hisaizu-jinja, I'll share some snippets from my guidebook, "A Flower Lover's Guide to Tokyo" by Sumiko Enbutsu.

In 1837, nearly 200 years ago, a rice farmer named Kawanabe Kunizo moved a 50-year old wisteria by boat from a village 20 kilometers away and planted it at Hisaizu-jinja shrine to express his gratitude to a famous scholar, Hirata Atsutane, who shared his extensive knowledge about classical literature with area farmers on his frequent visits to the shrine.

The shrine itself, which sits within a sacred forest of pine and cypress, is believed to have been founded in the 12th century.

Kawanabe planted his wisteria on the edge of a pond. We'll stroll to the other side of the pond in a minute to get a panoramic view.

Let's see what the trunk of an almost 250-year old wisteria looks like. Pretty much what I expected. How about you?
Oh, the view from across the pond is quite lovely. The only problem is I can't smell the wisteria from over here. Sniff, sniff. The scent is too delicate to carry this far. Sniff, sniff. I am starting to look like a Mississippi bloodhound tracking an escaped convict through a swamp.
Check out the miniature shrine on the tiny island in the middle of the pond. Egad! Shades of Shomyo-ji, there are at least two dozen turtles piled up on the left side of that island. I think I'll admire the festive lanterns instead and follow them to the food stalls along the path to the shrine. The food stalls and lanterns only appear when the wisteria is blooming. This is my lucky day!
Look at that enormous lantern! How can I give my readers an idea of the size of that thing? Oh, good, that lady is trying to get her two little dogs to pose in front of the lantern. Now you can see that it's definitely larger than your average lantern.

This is where I was going to insert the obligatory group picture but my pants look really stupid with my shoes so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Time for lunch. Would anyone care for a fishstick? I thought not. For the first time in my life, I tried yakisoba. Remember how Goldilocks tasted Baby Bear's porridge and she ate it all up? That was me and the yakisoba. Then we couldn't help but notice Jane moaning as she nibbled on a pancake shaped like a hockey puck so we all got one of those for dessert. They were piping hot, filled with custard, and really did taste like pancakes.

My only regret is that I talked myself out of tucking my knitting into my bag when I set out this morning. The trains weren't nearly as crowded as we were warned to expect by the official Navy Know-It-All(s) so I could have added an inch or two to my sock-in-progress. And Mary Beth could have borrowed one of my needles to poke the drunk who sprawled next to her between Tokyo and Koshigaya.