Yokohama

Today I went to Yokohama and met for the first time with someone I came to know on mixi (Japanese facebook like thing)
I'll call him K-san from here on.
K-san is an official guide for the 88 temple pilgrimage and has apparently walked the island 5 times so far.
He said he will be able to walk about the first week of the pilgriage together with me.
He showed me around Yokohama today.
After greeting him, we got a map from the information building and walked to see the sail ship Nipponmaru.

Some members of the public who had volunteered were opening the sails.

Yokohama's Landmark Tower

Minato No. 1 Bridge - steam trains used to cross this carrying cargo

After crossing it, we went to the red brick warehouse.

It was made as a bonded warehouse. It's now composed of lots of shops.

We went inside and checked out the shops.
We next went to the NYK(Nippon Yuusen Kaisha - Japan Mail Steamer) Maritime museum.

(If I understand correctly)
The government run Kyoudou Un'yu shipping company and Yataro Iwasaki's Mitsubishi Zaibatsu were competing and furiously slashing prices in the shipping business.
In 1885 when Yataro died, the government feared both companies would collapse amidst the Meiji Restoration and forced a merger.
It was the NYK which was created through this merger.

We next went to a rest area by Yamashita park, and I talked to K-san about the 88 temple pilgrimage.
He bought along his Byakue and Wagesa (the white robe and stole) and showed me briefly how to wear them.
He also gave me some useful pamphlets about walking Shikoku and one about Hokkaidou.

We left the rest area and walked through Yamashita park to the boat Hikawamaru.

Part of Yamashita park

The luxury liner Hikawamaru - presently a museum

I walked around the boat while listening to K-san's explanations.

Accoridng to K-san, Japanese boats normally have a Kamidana (household shrine)

Finally I got him to take me to see a Shinto shrine which was nearby.

Ise Yama Koudai Jinguu

After reading wikipedia, I found that this shrine was moved here from Ise in 1870 so that the main Ise shrine could be worshipped from afar. The reason to do this was to secure a place for the Shinto religion here after the port was opened to foreign culture such as christianity.

We also visited a nearby buddhist temple.

延命寺

K-san recited some sutra here. It was quite something. I wonder if I'll be able to remember this sort of thing as I visit the Shikoku temples.

We then ate preprepared meals from a convenience store and talked for a while. I also promissed to contact him before entering Shikoku so we could arrange to meet.