Jun 23, 2014

Tokyo- Hokkaido: Day 6

Deep in the Shimokita Peninsula lies a Osorezan temple. A Buddhist monk found the place after years of trying to locate a worldly embodiment of purgatory. It lies in a valley alongside a lake. As you descend into this place the smell of sulfur builds in the air long before you arrive. 

In the Buddhist tradition it is an old man and women. One wishing to cross the red bridge that takes one to heaven must first take off their clothes to have them placed on the branches of a tree. Their weight upon the branches determines whether a person crosses the bridge to heaven, must wade across the river through purgatory to find heaven, or is sent to hell. 

"Purgatories Faint Road to Heaven" lies packed in fog saturated with the stench of sulfur. 

 Oma Port waiting to board the ferry to Hokkaido
Hakodate Port

Shimokita Peninsula & Hokkaido, Japan

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