SW - D7 Obuse to Nagano

Route: Obuse - Nagano
Bicycle: 40 km

Riding time: 3:19h
Average speed: 12 km/h
Total ascent: 391 m
Weather: cloudy and some light drizzle, 20 C

The weather forecast for today was better than reality… it started with rain in the morning in Obuse and ended in rain in the afternoon in Nagano. 

My first “stop” was the Hokusai museum a few hundred meters from my hotel of the night. The hotel actually looked nicer on pictures and from outside than the room itself. All the clothes I had washed yesterday evening where still as wet as when I had just washed them. Not even my gloves had dried, so I cycled without. Not very comfortable…

I had been in Obuse in early 2017 by train on my way to Shibu Onsen to see the snow monkeys…

… back then I didn’t go to the Hokusai museum, although it seemed that everyone else who had come to Obuse was interested in nothing else but this (well and omiyage obviously). So I had a new thing to do in Obuse. The Museum is okay. Probably the most interesting exhibit is actually not an original from Hokusai but rather a new print showing how many steps (in this case 11) were needed to print one view of the Fuji. 

While for the first 4 days in Tsunan I had kind of a plan what to do, for these later days I had none. So yesterday evening I simple entered “Sightseeing” in Google Maps to see what it would come up with, and I found a temple in a nearby valley that seemed interesting as well as some castle remains in the next valley. 

I only made it to the temple though, but it was a nice temple with a bit of a thrill. In order to go to the upper part of the temple I needed to enter bear territory, or so it seemed judging by this fence around the entire mountain. 

But no bear, luckily, just a temple at the end of a steep and winding road.

After visiting this temple, I reconsidered my plan for today, also because it was starting to rain a little bit more, and went to Nagano directly and to the Zenkoji temple. And here in the rain were all the tourists I hadn’t met in the last week.

The most interesting bit of the temple was the visit to an underground , pitch dark space below the “altar”. We crept forward little by little, holding onto the wall and every now and then bumped into each other. All in search for a hidden noisy “door” contraption. Not really sure what it was supposed to be, but everyone else was very excited when they found it in the dark. 

The temple itself is at the end of a huge “temple approach road” and behind the mountains start, only that today all this was in the mist of rain. 

 While yesterday night my bike  had to sleep outside on the veranda, today it is sleeping right in front of the reception in the dry and warmth. 

 

I had reserved this hotel, the DormyInn on recommendation of a fellow poster on the Japan Guide Forum, which is the hotel in Nagano she always recommends. It is a business hotel but with a few extra quirks: a small super sento including rotenburo and sauna, free ice cream, free apple juice & coffee in the lobby and a soup at night. Also the rooms are slightly bigger than your normal business hotel.