Rainbow of the covenant which I saw at “Yura no Sato”

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Thank you very much for visiting this blog.

Today is the last article of my trip to Oiwa Shrine and Mt. Oiwa, and I climb Mt. Oiwa this time.

This photo above is a stone pillar on the very top of Mt. Oiwa.
I mentioned in a previous blog that an astronaut of Apollo-14 found a pole of light standing on the earth, and later he found that the place was Oiwa Shrine and Mt. Oiwa.
This stone pillar is the origin of the light.

…… A guide at Mt. Oiwa told me something like that.
To describe the guide’s story more accurately, the stone pillar was used as an image of the story of the light.

On that day, I received a ceremony of purification at the shrine, and then climbed up Mt. Oiwa.
After that, I visited a spa which was a little far from the mountain.
From now, I’d like to write about what happened to me on Mt. Oiwa.

Contents

To Mt. Oiwa

After the purification, the participants including me were to receive amulets from Guji (the chief priest).
Before he gave them to us, he asked us, “Is anyone going to go up Mt. Oiwa from now?”

Another group of people and I raised hands, and Guji said to us,
“Then, we will keep your amulets at the shrine office. Please visit the office to get yours after you came back from the mountain.”

My plan for that day was to walk back to Hitachi Station after Mt. Oiwa directly for exercise.
I did it 2 years before, which took me 2 or 3 hours, and my body became lighter especially around my belly maybe because I lost my fat a bit.
Therefore, I planned to do the same thing.
It would take me 1 more hour if I didn’t receive the amulet before the mountain for coming back to the shrine after I climbed down the mountain.

Most people would not think of climbing up a mountain with a big amulet.
Walking the distance which was 20 minutes by taxi is crazy.
But I’m a type of person who think of such things, and I almost said to the Guji that I would receive my amulet then and I’ll take it back all the way by walking.

However, maybe my sense worked well thanks to the purification on that day.
I said to myself, “It’s not normal to climb a mountain holding an amulet! Don’t do it!”
I changed my plan, and decided to go back to the shrine after Mt. Oiwa.

I said thank you to Guji and Miko (shrine maiden), went out of Haiden (a building for praying), and went back to Sanshuden.
I put my shoes on, and headed the starting point of the trail which was back of Sanshuden building.

The trail way of Mt. Oiwa and “Kabire Jingu”

At the back of Sanshuden, there was stone monuments.

The left one was Fudo Myo’oh, and the right was Hachidai Ryuo Jin, which are guardian deities in Buddhism.
The left side of these monuments were like this in the next photo.

I went over the path, and looked right.

It was the starting point of the trail way of Mt. Oiwa.

The white letters on the sign says “Kabire no Mine”, which is the old name of Mt. Oiwa.
As I mentioned in a previous article, an old history book of this area, “Hitachi Fudoki”, mentions “Gods rest in this sacred mountain, Kabire-no-Takamine”. (source: Oiwa Shrine’s website)

Like you can see in the photo below, the day was perfect for mountain walking with moderate sunshine and temperature.
Thanks to the purification, my heart was refreshed, and I walked up the trail with bright mind enjoying the tender spring green.

After walking on the trail in the green, I came to an opened area.

There was a shrine called Kabire Jingu.
It’s “Okumiya” of Oiwa Shrine, and the enshrined deity is Amaterasu Omikami (Japan’s greatest ancient god).

“Okumiya” means a shrine which locates far back of the main Haiden.
When the shrine has Okumiya, the main Haiden is often called “Hongu”.
It’s described as the picture below.

The red gate is Torii (front gate of shrine), the middle building is “Hongu”, and the upper building with mountain in the back is “Okumiya”.
I worshipped at Kabire Jingu, and walked further along the trail at the right side of the building.

To the mountaintop

After Kabire Jingu, the trail became rough.

You might think that the trail around a shrine should be constructed to be easy for visitors to walk, and the hill shouldn’t be so steep.
However, this trail was originally a place for priests’ training, so it was very steep, and the ground was natural with original soil and rocks, which was sometimes not easy to walk on.
It must be hard for people who are unfit.

The mountaintop was not so far from this point in the photo below.

When I was walking there, rain started to fall suddenly.
I looked up the sky, and noticed that the sky which was very clear before was cloudy, with dark clouds.

The trail would be slippery and dangerous if it became rainy, and there could be slip drop or other bad accidents.
When I was thinking which to take, keep going or going back to the bottom.

I noticed that I had an umbrella which I bought at a convenience store near the station. At least, I could avoid getting wet.
I thought that I would be in the rain on the way back any way, so I chose to keep going to the top.

Soon after that, it started to thunder next^^;
Thunder is “雷 (Kaminari)” in Japanese, and it can also written “神鳴り (神=Kami=God, 鳴り=Nari=sound)”.
Thunder is a sound which gods make……
I wondered if I did something wrong before the gods.

After climbing for a while,

Over the hill, the bright area was the mountaintop.

The top of Mt. Oiwa

The direction over the board in the photo above is the east, and there was the sea in the direction.
Unfortunately, it couldn’t be seen from that point because of the trees.

The opposite direction, the west, was a rocky area.
The view was so clear because there weren’t trees to obstruct the sight.
This is the view from the rocks.

This beautiful wide scenery blew my tiredness away.
Also, the dust in my heart was gone by then, too.
The reason why I go there many times is this purification of my soul and body.

On that day, I saw a local guide on the top for the first time.
I climbed up the rocky place of the view with the guidance of the guide (Of course, I knew that there was such a place).
The guide said that he was there because the day was a national holiday so there were many people.
Also because the weather was bad in the morning so the accident could happen more easily.

When I was at the top, the weather was dodgy and the people there were better to climb down soon.
Therefore, the guide was telling the people where to see and how to see them efficiently.
After I took photos of the wide view from the rocks, the guide led me to the place beneath.
The next photo is the place.

It’s the stone pillar at the first of this article.
The first photo was processed with Photoshop to make the stone pillar stand out more, because the composition of the photo was not good enough to show “a mysterious pillar”. The second one above is the original one.

A strong energy which could be seen even from the space is coming out from the stone!!
…… People who are sensitive to spiritual things may feel that +｡:.ﾟヽ(*´∀`)ﾉﾟ.:｡
but I’m not.

I couldn’t feel that something filled up my body, or my soul and body got purified…
Well, it might have been because I had to hurry to climb down the mountain, and I was concentrated on taking photos too much then^^;

Following the guide’s advice, I begged the enshrined deity of this small shrine to excuse me for taking photos, and I took some pictures.
After that, I went back to the sign of the mountaintop.

Thunder and hail

When I went back to the sign at the top, the sky was even darker.

It started to thunder, and big raindrops started to fall.
When the weather is good, I usually stay there for about 30 minutes, and I climb down the mountain after receiving Mt. Oiwa’s power even though I cannot feel it.

However, on that day, the weather wasn’t likely to get better and it would be more dangerous as it was going to be darker.
More than that, the guide instructed me to go soon, so I started to climb down the mountain as soon as I went back to the top sign.
According to the guide, Mt. Oiwa is a place where lightening often strikes, and it’s dangerous to stay at the top.

As soon as I started to go back to the bottom, the rain became even stronger.
Thunder was roaring.
Because the trail was covered with trees, leaves protected me from being wet.
I hurried to the bottom without using my umbrella.

Time passed more, and the sound of the rain changed.
It sounded like something hard was hitting the trees, leaves, and the umbrella I had.
It was Arare (hail).

To see this photo above, the hail was rather big, so it might have been Hyo. (In Japanese, hailstone up to 5mm in diameter is “Arare”, and if it’s bigger than 5mm we call it “Hyo”.)
In a roll of thunder, it was hailing hard, and the trail got covered with hailstones.

I was hesitating to use my umbrella because thunder was striking, but being hit by hailstones was also dangerous, so I decided to use it which I regretted buying at first because the weather became clear as soon as I got it.
There is a Japanese saying, “Ningen Banji Saio ga Uma (in literally translation, whatever happens in life is like horse of the old man in a border town)”, which means “fortune is unpredictable and changeable”.
The situation was exactly what the saying wants to say.

Thunder and severe hail.
The mountain guide said that it was unusual that the weather changed so quickly at Mt. Oiwa.
Because it happened after I received the purification ceremony at Oiwa Shrine, I couldn’t help thinking that the weather was the divine punishment for my bad behaviors which I did in my life.

While I was thinking such things, I looked down the hill.

Then, I found that sunshine was coming in, even though the hail was still falling.
I was surprised because the sky was covered with dark clouds and I didn’t expect that the weather would recover.

It was when something like hope flooded into my heart.
I went my way step by step on the steep trail, walking on hailstones and rocks, and once helping a woman who slipped right in front of me.

Gods miracle

After walking for 5 more minutes, I arrived at just over Kabire Jingu.

The sky was blue.

I thought that I was such as unfortunate man having the worst condition for climbing down a mountain such as thunder and hail, but the worst weather made the blue sky even more beautiful.

Something looks like despair can be hope from a different point of view.
Whether it’s good or bad depends on how you look at it.
When night comes to the end, the sun comes up next.
Everything is up to me!

My heart gradually became clear, and I felt that my future opened.
The next photo is the one I took soon after I came to the thought.

The only thing I did to this photo is to reduce resolution.
The belt of light wasn’t there when I took this photo.

I believe that it was made by water in the air reflecting the sunshine, and it appeared like this in the photo.
But it looked more mysterious because I had many unusual experiences by then.

I went ahead the light, and went back to the bottom of the mountain.

The rainbow of the covenant at “Yura no Sato”

After Mt. Oiwa, I went back to Oiwa Shrine to receive my amulet, and then took a bus to Hitachi Station.
I went to a public spa called “Yura no Sato” near Hitachi Taga Station which was next to Hitachi Station.

There is a Roten Buro (outdoor spa) where you can see Pacific Ocean, and I always visit it when I come to Hitachi.
I wanted to show how it’s good on this blog, but I wasn’t brave enough to take my smartphone into the bathroom.
Therefore, I just put a link to “Yura no Sato” here.

I remember the time I arrived at the spa was about 5 in the evening.
I got there by walking from the station.
The sky was clear, but it was dark with rain clouds again by the time I started to walk. I walked about for 20 minutes in the cold rain.

I had a bath in the outdoor spa with a wide view of the ocean, and recalled the events on the day.
I had many interesting experiences today… it’s like there is really a god in Mt. Oiwa…
I thought about many things, and saw the view of the Pacific in front of me in the bath under a light rain.

I looked right for no reason, and found a pale rainbow.
It was nice to see a rainbow while having a bath.
After a little, the color of the rainbow gradually became clear, and finally made a beautiful arch.

It was my very first experience to see a rainbow in an outdoor bath!

And then, the rainbow became pale again, and nearly disappeared.
The water temperature of the spa was not so low, and I was feeling dizzy a little.
But I wanted to stay in the water to see the rainbow’s end.

Then, the rainbow started to become clear, and made an arch again.
Next, I found another rainbow outside of the first one!

The second rainbow stretched the arc, and finally became a rainbow bridge of 2 lines!!!

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera or smartphone with me, so I made an image with Photoshop.
The rainbows were there in the sunset sky like this above.
When I saw these rainbows, a passage from the Bible appeared in my mind.

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant for all ages to come which I made between me and you and all other creatures with you.”
“I place my rainbow in the clouds. This is the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

Japan Bible Society, The Bible, the new interconfessional translation, from Genesis, Chapter 9, section 12

The rainbow is the sign of the covenant between the god and humanity.
I asked the god, “Please take my bad luck away and bring good luck, bring a success in my business, and bring a chance to meet a good partner.”
I thought that the god received my requests, and the rainbows were the sign which the god showed.

On that day, I had the purification ceremony at first, climbed Mt. Oiwa which is said to be the strongest “Powerspot” where gods live, got caught in thunder and hail which was like the sign of the god’s appearance, and then met the rainbows.
Every event can be explained scientifically, but the truth which all happened in this timing can be said a miracle.
I’m not a religious person, but I couldn’t help thinking that gods really live in Mt. Oiwa recalling all the event.

I felt that gears of my destiny started to work.
I stayed in the water of the spa having such a feeling, until the rainbows disappeared.