In May, the
inland of the Kii peninsula is sunny and hot. Luckily the Kōhechi
Trail of the Kumano Kodō leads mostly through woods that give enough shade, but descending to a valley means suddenly diving into a much warmer climate. This valley
is less damaged by construction than the previous ones I had passed, and at first
I decide to walk all the way to Totsukawa onsen along the road. I meet some beautiful
orchids growing from the cliff beside the road, but soon the sun becomes too
stingy. I ask inside the local shop in a village called Nagai to make sure the
bus is coming. I have about fifteen minutes to wait. While I sit there, an old
lady hobbles around, very slowly. She is hunched, her back bent literally at a
right angle so that she faces the ground when she walks. She walks a few times
to the grocery shop and back to her house across the narrow street. Then she is
holding two oranges and I immediately think of eating fruit, I haven’t had any
in days, it is crazily expensive in Japan. She moves so slow that I almost
forget about her presence, and I believe she couldn’t have even seen me sitting
there because of her posture. But then suddenly she is in front of me, handing me one of the oranges. A true Japanese hospitality to pilgrims. I thank
her very much. It is apparently a local grown orange (I see an orange tree from
the bus soon after). I carry it in my my bag till the afternoon. I pass the the
village of Hatenashi and then I eat it, at a small shrine with a spring in the hills. A wild rhododendron sheds its blossoms all around. The fruit is
slightly dried out and a bit bitter, but it doesn't bother me. It is the orange from the magic old
lady.
