Arriving earlier than last year, we catch the last rays of sun filtering through the approaching cloud. A fine drizzle has started by the time we reach the look-off point at the fifth station: the sun’s rays have already drifted far downwind and are lighting up the cloud layers around Hino-san.
At the summit shrine, the priest must be doing a roaring trade in snake figurines, but we abstain: the Sensei doesn't hold with snakes, whether in effigy or for real.
Instead we inspect the latest addition to the shrine’s facilities, a bell that you can use to ward off the coronavirus, as seasonally appropriate.
Just then, a youth attired in judo kit happens by – he’s run up here, through snow and slush, in his bare feet. The spirit of the yamabushi lives. He doesn’t hang around long, though.
With our own feet shod more comfortably in Wellington boots, we continue over a wooded col towards Monju’s third peak, the so-called Oku-no-in or inner sanctuary.
Walking round it to inspect the trig point (350 metres), we are mildly reproved by an elderly man who has materialised somehow without our noticing. Don’t you know you should always walk clockwise round a shrine, he asks with a glint of humour in his eyes.
Monju is admittedly a small Meizan, but there is always something new to learn there…
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