Chichibu

Oh, well, that's easy.

I've told this story on the podcast before, but when I went and visited Chichibu...

The train station.

Even my heart was broken because I might have got to fist it.

Ichiro had done the Hanyu card series.

All the leftover stocks from Hanyu.

And this was all partly funding Chichibu Distillery, which we're going to drink some in a bit.

And I was doing the first whiskey book.

People in Saitama Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, have launched homemade rockets in a traditional event to pray for a good harvest.

[firecrackers exploding] The Chichibu Yoshida no Ryusei ritual took place in the Yoshida District of Chichibu City on Sunday under clear skies.

The event is designated as an important intangible folk cultural property of Japan.

The gunpowder rockets, called ryusei, are made from hollowed out sections of pine trees and bamboo.

People in Saitama Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, have launched homemade rockets in a traditional event to pray for a good harvest.

[rockets blasting] The Chichibu Yoshida no Ryusei ritual took place in the Yoshida District of Chichibu City on Sunday under clear skies.

The event is designated as an important intangible folk cultural property of Japan.

The gunpowder rockets, called ryusei, are made from hollowed-out sections of pine trees and bamboo.

So let's keep it simple.

One is Mitsumine Shrine, located in Chichibu in Saitama Prefecture.

It's said to have been founded around 2,000 years ago and is associated with the Emperor Keiko.

And then there is Mitake Shrine, also in Chichibu, Saitama, on Mount Mitake, no less.

That one is associated with Emperor Sujin and founded before the Mitsumine Shrine.

However, there is a Mitake shrine located in Shibuya that is also dedicated to the wolf.

Then, just when all was its bleakest, along comes a white wolf, a god in disguise, to guide them out of the mountains.

Yamato Takeru was so grateful and moved by this divine animal that he told it to remain there, fight off evil, and become the Ooguchi no Makami, the true god with the big mouth.

And then the other walking challenge that I'm going to do is also about 100 kilometers.

So this is the, well, I'm calling this the Chichibu 34 challenge.

So this is another 100 kilometers.

But unlike what I normally do, this isn't like... one direction, right? It isn't like I'm heading north for 100 kilometers or east or west or whatever.

This is going to be a pilgrimage route that is 34 temples.

So there is this well-known Chichibu 34 Kanon pilgrimage in the Chichibu area of Saitama Prefecture.

So there are these 34 temples all dedicated to Kanon-sama, the Bodhisattva.

And well, every 12 years, they have a special pilgrimage.