Japan Day 13 - Pilgramige

Hitoyoshi, the town where Natsume Yuujinchou is somewhat based off of.
And they have embraced it. However I am getting ahead of myself.

First off we left Tensui in Amagase early in the morning and readied ourselves for a 4 hour track south to Hitoyoshi.

Now in all the trip this was the one place I requested.... I only got one day of the schedule for it but honestly more then enough.
So we get to the Inn (aptly named Hitoyoshi Ryokan) and the first thing i see when we walk in is a mini shrine to the show. Some plush nyankos, a huge paining and lots of little sketches from guests.... I knew we had to join in so we planned out day.

First hunt through the town for landmarks.
Second have dinner.
Third Rush to have a bath in the Onsen
Fourth sketch something for the shrine.
Fifth sleep and enjoy our one night here.

And that's exactly what we did. Only a few landmarks are near the Ryokan itself so hopefully we can get to at least one more tomorrow as we wait for our train to our next location. But still we got to see a bit from the second intro and there was a literal shrine turned into a Natsume Shrine and it made me so happy.
Afterwards we just wandered town till dinner. Dinner was a mixed bag.
A lot of local fish (to be expected) but also raw horse meat... so.... that's a thing i can say I've eaten now.
Actually complaired to other Ryokans this one had a lot of meet... Pork, Beef... uh horse.... but yeah it was all pretty tasty (though seriously wish that last one had at least been cooked.)
At the end of the meal i was completely full and i didn't even finish everything.
Then we rushed to the bath. This bath was way different from the other two. It had a far more sulphuric smell and you could see small particulate in the water.... plus I feel so soft getting out... i kinda wish we were staying another day cause even though it had the worst view... it was probably my favourite bath.
Then was the sketch, i did one of Natsume and Nyanko while y friend drew matoba enjoying a bath... it was fun and after we gave it to the front desk they gave us a map of the landmarks for the show.... could have used them earlier but we had them marked in google maps already.
And now we are heading to bed, prepairing for the long trek to our penultimate destination.
Only a few more days here, and while i will admit I am missing home i know it wont be long before i want to come back here...
Though probably not with 7 people.... i love them all but co-ordination has been interesting to say the least.