Kouya Hijiri: CHAPTER 2

As the train rumbled through Gifu carrying us along under blue skies, we passed through Maibara Nagahama, whose northern skies made famous by poets were now cloudy. When we reached Yanaganse it was raining. As night fell it began to snow. Pointing to the window I said "Look. It's snowing."

"So it seems." He said, but his mind was somewhere else. I pointed out to him an ancient battlefield and the great scenery of Biwako, and he nodded politely.

At last we arrived at Tsuruga. One of the annoying things of Tsuruga, are the "pulllers-in", the aggressive hucksters of the local inns. On this snowy, cold evening the station was filled with "pullers-in", holding out lanterns and calling out the advertisements for their inns. They surrounded the passengers, and some even took the luggage straight from your hand before you could stop them. For some reason they ignored this monk. He drifted through them as unseen and unobtrusive as a ghost, and I followed after him, invisible in the wake of obscurity that trailed behind him.

We had the deserted streets of falling snow all to ourselves as we passed the darkened townhouses. After some time we came to the Katori-ya inn.

This was an old inn, simple but with a large pillar and impressive Irori fireplace. The master of the inn was a silent man with a shaven head, but his wife was cheerful and served us a hot dinner. They seemed quite intimate with the monk and made us both feel at home.