Shigaraki

Shigaraki is a town famous for its ceramic pottery and statues of the famous little mischief-maker, the tanuki, or "raccoon dog." These little guys, who are both cute and creepy, play an important role in Shinto mythology and are usually depicted with giant, round eyes, and large genitalia. I think it's obvious to those who know me well that an entire town devoted to pottery is one that I'd really enjoy. And I did. Hope you do too :]

Such innocent little tanukis...

and more tanukis

and more tanukis

o and SAMURAI tanukis. yeah.

Add some owls for good measure... 

and some lucky cats! And now you've got 90% of the souvenirs in Japan.

Beautiful pots 2 - 3 feet tall.

Udon noodles: my delicious lunch :3

Samara giving me the evil eye in the Udon shop

His apron says "Udon"

The traditional-style, sliding-walled udon shop. Oishikatta!

Public bath?

Stephanie being cute.

Awesome shop full of pottery.

This seesaw was on the side of the shop and was mechanized to tip up and down,
and the little figurines rattled whenever they came down.

Shigaraki

Up this hill is a pottery museum, giant kilns, and a "forest," as denoted here on the street.
森, or "mo-ri" means forest.

Directions to various pottery shops and studios. And a gangsta frog.

These neon-green-splotched spiders are everywhere. Be afraid.

The museum's architecture was interestingly unique.

It says "denki," or electricity. This kanji combines "lightning," "heart," and "spirit."

Beautifully groomed hillsides and gardens.

GIANT TANUKI.

These little pots were everywhere once you got to the top of this hill.

So far up...

Pandas! 

Molly's a creepy badger/tanuki thing.

Back down the hill

Shigaraki is surrounded by mountains and forest on all sides. It's awesome.

Biwako Island Temple

Lake Biwa (or Biwako) has a few rocky islands jutting out from its middle, and one of the largest is covered entirely in temples and shrines... with a few souvenir shops littering the entry to the staircase. It is absolutely awesomely mystical and ancient-feeling, and almost made up for the $40 it cost us to get there... But! Natalie and Molly and I got to watch people pray, smelled the incense and even met a monk who was admiring our picture-taking and appreciation of the flowers.

The shore was all cliffs and rocks except at the dock

Maybe the dorms where the monks stay

Mushu! Dragon that spit out the water for hand-washing

Molly and I looking very engaged in something

O yes. I climbed those steps.

Temple 1

It looked like a graveyard to me, but I'm not sure...

The pathways from temple to temple were impeccably groomed
and arranged with bamboo and stones.

A monk!

More temple 1

It looked like a really worn-out, bony Ghandi to me.
I think all those papers are prayers.

An old offering-place. The wood and paint was all chipped and ancient.

A prayer wall: people write their prayers on these special slips of paper
and tack them on the wall.

Some of the stones on these steps had really old, worn kanji carved into them.

Bamboo next to the shrine.

Steeeeeeep. And Molly.

It looked so fiery in the sun

A lot of the trees were held up by these structures
to make them grow in a particular direction.

Natalie said this guy is a Buddhist god that punishes wrong-doers
with his purifying fire. His fangs were facing in opposite directions too.

The biggest temple and Natalie in front of it

You can see the dock and the boat we came over on.

This pathway crossed over a small valley into an area being remodeled (maybe? there was definitely construction happening). If you looked out of those slats, you saw trees all around.

Beautiful.