The Power

Arthur, Kazuko, Kazutoshi and I left the hotel at 09:00 and took a short walk to the Sumiyoshi Shrine, a few blocks from the hotel. The Sumiyoshi Shrine is dedicated to sumo wrestling. This statue is of an ancient style sumo wrestler, which tells me that the old style sumo wrestlers looked somewhat different to the sumo wrestlers of today. The palms of the sumo wrestler on this statue depict the kanji for power.

After returning to the hotel, Kazuko and I went out to do a little souvenir shopping when the shops at Hakata Station opened at 10:00. We then returned for everyone to check out at 11:00. We bought our bento lunches at the station and then caught the 12:10 Nozomi Shinkansen back to Shin Osaka. We arrived at Shin Osaka at 14:38, then took the local J.R. train to Osaka Station.

We said goodbye to Kazutoshi at Hanshin Umeda Station. He took the local train to Naruo while we took the Limited Express to Koshien and arrived home at 15:25. It's been a wonderful little excursion but it's also great to be back home, unpacked, settled and up-to-date with blips.