It had taken me two days to walk across the Kunisaki Peninsula from west to east. For this third day my route would be south and then southwest down the coastline. There were a lot of shrines, many of them with banners flying indicating matsuri time..... it was November and the rice had been harvested..
At one shrine a handful of older men and a priest were preparing for some ceremony. Usually just a small group of men, usual village elders, attend these. I have been several times to my local shrine. It is generally agreed it is not for women, though I have never received a satisfactory answer why.
One shrine, Shiraishi, was among the sand dunes. Shiraishi means white stone and refers to a stone pulled up from the sea by a fisherman. It is said the stone was a dragons head, and so the shrine enshrines Ryujin, the undersea Dragon King. People pray here for rain during droughts.
There were a lot of smaller Ebisu Shrines, either in the grounds of bigger shrines, or more often, there own little roadside shrines. All the little villages along this stretch of coast had fishing boats hence Ebisu.
After passing Oita Airport I arrived in the castle town of Kitsuki where I had a room for the night.
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