It was all worth it just to get this

I mentioned before about being hung over a cliff. I'm sorry to say I don't have any pictures of the place where it happened, my information will have to suffice.

I climbed up the 12-15 foot crag of rock where a small shrine was built for offerings. Here many people were resting and milling around. First timers to the mountains are allowed, for the price of 1000 yen, to purchase a large beautifully calligraphed and stamped bandana and be tied to a rope and held 1600 meters over the bottom of the valley. I was fatigued, I was drained, and mostly I was still scared. I had my back turned, resting up against a jut of rock, when one of my friends had the rope looped around his arms as he stepped out to the brink of the cliff, tied the bandana around his forehead and was lowered horizontally over the valley floor.

The priest chants, asking him if he will make his ancestors proud, and he will treat his loving wife with respect. They shake the rope, drop him a bit, and then haul him back up. Someone else in my group, I don't remember who, asks me if I want to do it, and I respond simply, without looking up, "that is impossible, completely impossible."

The thought of descent still fresh in my mind, I walked uneasily forward, down and up a little over the crags of rock back onto a path more clear and much less hazardous, up the last few hundred meters to the temple and summit, where I got my pilgrim booked stamped and sealed, and was allowed to a few pictures like these. They make the stress of the day completely worth it, and this one is my favorite.