Heaven and Hell in Kyoto – Kiyomizudera and Fushimi Inari

On our first day in Kyoto we followed a well-travelled tourist route. Our first stop was the Kiyomizudera temple, one of Kyoto’s biggest and most popular, founded 1250 years ago. It was located closed to our house, and we found a little side street to get there through a different temple and then a cemetery.

Cemetery near Kiyomizudera — The back way to Kiyomizudera

The path was pretty and quiet, but when we reached the Kiyomizudera’s gates everything changed.

Entrance to Kiyomizudera — The Kiyomizudera temple’s entrance

The whole area was packed with people – tour groups, individual travellers, Westerners, Asians, Japanese. After the big empty spaces of Shikoku it was a big shock, and it was only 9.30 am. We fought our way through the crowds and made a rapid visit of the main temple and its famous wooden stage, which projects over a forest of maple trees that becomes a riot of red-coloured leaves in the fall. Normally at this time in November we would be seeing the beginning of this amazing spectacle, but sadly for us the weather had been unusually hot, and the peak season for autumn colours was still two to three weeks away.

Kiyomizudera-viewing-platform — The famous (and packed) Kiyomizudera viewing platform, taken from a safe distance

Just below the temple area there was the Otowa waterfall. It was split into three separate channels and visitors could queue up to drink water from one of them. The different streams supposedly grant the drinker longevity, love or success, with the last one being very popular with schoolchildren before their exams – as we saw.

We headed away from the main temple with its crowds, and up a small hill to another, much smaller temple whose name I forget. It was extremely pretty, with a mossy garden and great views. The very few visitors paid 100 Yen (about 50c) into an honesty box to enter.

small temple near Kiyomizudera — A small, forgotten temple near Kiyomizudera

Our experience at Kiyomizudera was repeated many times during our stay in Kyoto – we would visit a famous site, and jostle with crowds of other tourists – and then walk a couple of hundred metres to a different place, which would be almost as beautiful, but empty. There are literally hundreds of such small, less-visited, temples dotted around Kyoto.
We retraced our steps to Kiyomizudera, and this time took the usual route down through the popular Higashiyama area rather than the side street we had used earlier. Just as our arrival had been heaven – quiet and pretty – our return was hellishly busy. It was a narrow street lined with food stalls and souvenirs shops and crowded with tourists. Fortunately, we only had to endure this for a short stretch before we turned off, heading for the Kodaiji Temple. We met some smartly dressed Japanese people on the way – many visitors to Kyoto choose to wear traditional clothing, and there are lots of shops where you can hire kimonos.

Elegant visitors to Higashiyama — Elegant Japanese visitors in Higashiyama

Kodaiji temple was pleasantly quiet and also very beautiful, with its own small bamboo forest.

Our next destination was in the south of Kyoto – the Fushimi Inari Shrine, where hundreds of vermillion torii gates line paths that climb up a steep, forested mountain. We arrived at around 3pm, to find that this site is also on Kyoto’s “must see” list, and our “heaven and hell” experience repeated itself. This time, hell was arriving and joining the jostling crowds trying to squeeze through the first set of gates.

Crowded Entrance to Fushimi Inari — Hell on earth – entrance to Fushimi Inari

After fifteen minutes of ducking and weaving, we wondering what the big deal was – surely a set of medium-sized red torii could not be that interesting, not matter how many of them there were? Particularly if you had to spend your time trying not to be trodden on by larger human visitors rather than looking at the things you came to see.
However, after a bit more walking, the path branched and became less busy. Many of the visitors only come to mill around and take selfies at the lower part of the shrine, and don’t walk very far up. Soon we could even pose for our own selfies……..

The further up we went, the more we liked the place. In addition to two main paths going up, there were many branches leading to interesting small shrines or patches of forest.

maze of torii Fushimi Inari — A maze of torii gates at Fushimi Inari

Peaceful shrine Fushimi Inari — A small shrine at Fushimi Inari

We spent about an hour making our way slowly to the top – which turned out to be not a particularly interesting part of the complex. But to make up for this slight anti-climax, nearly all the visitors suddenly disappeared and, on the way down, we had the shrine almost to ourselves as the sun sank and a few scattered lights came on, throwing shadows of the torii onto the path. It was wonderfully atmospheric….and a bit spooky.

Dusk at Fushimi Inari — Dusk falls at Fushimi Inari

evening at Fushimi Inari — Shadows lengthen

We found a clearing where we could enjoy sunset over Kyoto, before continuing our descent in the dark. Surprisingly, the arrival of night saw more people coming the other way, climbing the mountain in the dark. The torii became even spookier.

night at Fushimi Inari — Night falls at Fushimi Inari

We finally arrived back at the main buildings at the entrance to the shrine, now shining bright red and white against the night sky.

Temple at entrance, Fushimi Inari, night — Back at the main entrance to Fushimi Inari

It had been a long day, and our phones told us that we had walked seventeen kilometres on our little woolly teddy and rabbit legs, including lots of climbing. We thought we were beginning to understand Kyoto – it has some amazing “must see” places, for which you need to plan your arrival time carefully if you don’t want to be crushed by fellow tourists. And it has hundreds of smaller places, many of which are nearly as pretty, but which are almost empty. Over the next few days we would try to combine visiting both.

Next Post: Nara – in search of enlightenment and coffee

Previous Post: Farewell to Shikoku – Ritsurin Gardens and Naruto Whirlpools

9th November 2024 9

Farewell to Shikoku – Ritsurin Garden and Naruto Whirlpools

Today we were due to leave Takamatsu and the island of Shikoku. Before we left, we took advantage of some sunny weather to visit Ritsurin, one of Japan’s most famous gardens. It lived up to its reputation, with a beautiful setting at the foot of a mountain…..

Ritsurin Garden bridge view — The most famous view of Ritsurin

Ritsurin lake — Ritsurin’s lake hosts popular boat trips in traditional costume

…..and many ponds containing voracious carp. The latter were very well fed by the visitors, who could buy rice sticks to give them from one of the park’s cafés.

Carp at Ritsurin — Ravenous Ritsurin carp

Feeding Carp Ritsurin — Don’t fall in Aki!

The carp were not the only wildlife in the garden; as we strolled around, there was an announcement over loudspeakers warning people not to approach a wild boar that had been seen entering the park from the mountain if they met it. At first, I misheard them and thought they said “bear”, which was worried everyone would run away from us…..

Ritsurin also had some unusual trees, like an evergreen Japanese oak which had sprouted from an acorn lodged 1.8m up in the branches of a now-dead pine tree, managed to put roots down to the ground and outlive its host. Its roots still start from the same height. There was also a pine that grown from a bonsai presented by the shogun to the local lord in 1863….

Finally the gardens had a pleasant tea room overlooking the pond, where ladies in kimonos performed the tea ceremony as they served us our matcha.

Ritsurin tea room — In Ritsurin’s tea room

After a couple of hours in Ritsurin we headed off, with an ultimate destination of Kyoto. At the very end of the island of Shikoku we visited one last attraction there – the whirlpools of Naruto. These are a tidal phenomenon that form twice a day when two sea currents, headed in opposite directions, crash into each other, and we were lucky enough to be passing at exactly the right time to see them. First, we set out in a tourist cruise, right into the middle of the foaming sea. I am not sure if we saw any actual whirlpools, but the sight of the sea foaming around was very impressive and a lot of fun.

Naruto Whirlpools under the bridge — A whirlpool and spectacular bridge, Naruto

Next we climbed on to the magnificent bridge that links Shikoku to the neighbouring island of Awajishima.

One of the bridges connecting Shikoku to the rest of Japan

There a viewing platform had been set up to view the “whirlpools” from above – including glass panels that let you look straight down onto the sea. It might have been the scary height, or the violent churning of the sea, but after a few minutes of looking at this, my head was spinning. Aki coped a bit better and managed to take some striking photos through the glass.

Making our own modern art – worthy of display in Naoshima?

Naruto's Whirlpools seen from bridge — Naruto Whirpools seen from the bridge’s observation deck

From the bridge we drove on, over the island of Awajishima and finally over another beautiful bridge onto Honshu, Japan’s biggest island. We were greeted by a first sight of Kobe, a city in Japan’s incredibly densely populated province of Kansai. From then on, the remaining two hours of our drive was through a dense urban sprawl along busy expressways.
It was a stark contrast with Shikoku, with its open spaces, clear roads and few tourists. We had enjoyed getting off the beaten track. Whilst Shikoku’s tourist sights may not quite match some of the most popular ones in the rest of Japan, the laid-back atmosphere, excellent value food and accommodation and friendly people made for a great week. Indeed, on several occasions local people had started to talk to us, despite the language barrier – something that had rarely happened in the rest of Japan.

Our arrival in Kyoto was inauspicious. We dropped off our hire car but then made the mistake of walking to our rental home, thinking that it would be a good way to get to know the city. Our route took us through some remarkable drab parts of central Kyoto. Surely such a famous destination had to be better than this? Tomorrow we would find out.

Next Post: Kyoto, heaven and hell

Previous Post: Naoshima

7th November 2024 6

Naoshima – an arty day trip from Takamatsu

On our third day in Takamatsu the rain finally stopped. We were woken by bright sunshine streaming into our room and decided to start our day earlier than planned. We took the early ferry from Takamatsu to Naoshima, a small island in the Inland Sea which has become famous for its contemporary art museums and galleries. The 1-hour boat trip gave great views of the sea, the many small islands, and back towards the mountains of Shikoku.

Takamatsu from the sea — View back to Takamatsu from the ferry to Naoshima

Arriving early turned out to be very wise. Naoshima was firmly on the main tourist route, and many foreign and Japanese visitors were milling around the port. We planned to hire bicycles to get around but found that nearly all of the rental outlets had sold out. Luckily, we managed to rent the very last pair of bikes available and set off to explore. Naoshima had a Mediterranean feel to it – the weather was hot, the pace of life was slow, and there were many beaches. Our bikes were electric and helped us climb a steep hill offering a wonderful view of the sea.

Naoshima Island scenery — Naoshima island has many great views

The first art we saw was at the bottom of the same hill – one of Yayoi Kusama’s brightly coloured pumpkins, whose yellow and black design contrasted pleasantly with the blue sky and sea. We had seen a slightly smaller version already at Kanazawa, and also one at London, so wondered if the artist mass-produces them.

Naoshima Pumpkin — Naoshima’s iconic Kusama Pumpkin

The pumpkin stood at the side of the road leading up to the Benesse House Museum, the first and largest art museum to be built on Naoshima. The Benesse corporation is active in the education and childcare businesses, but for the past thirty years has also been active in promoting art, especially on Naoshima. The museum had a small but diverse collection of modern art – as usual, we liked some exhibits but did not understand others.

Some of Naoshima’s art that we did understand

Our next stop was further down the road at the island’s only village, Honmura. There, various different artists have created installations in vacant houses. Most of these creations were pretty strange, begging the question – Why? Although the art left us cold, Honmura was still a nice place to stroll around and a good place for lunch.

After eating, we backtracked to a second museum run by the Benesse corporation, the Lee Ufan Museum, devoted to work by the eponymous artist. The collection was very small, and we spent more time outside admiring a graceful metal arch by the beach than we did inside looking at Ufan’s work.

Lee Ufan Museum on Naoshima — The three Benesse museums share the same brutalist concrete design by Tadao Ando

Arch, Naoshima — A much-photographed arch on Naoshima

Finally, we visited the Chichu museum, the third Benesse venture on the island. This also had a very small collection and due to its popularity sells tickets with a strict time slot. The first room of the museum was devoted to four pictures of water lilies by Monet. Maybe for Japanese visitors these were amazing, but we had recently visited the Musée Marmottan in Paris and so had seen more, and arguably better, Monet paintings of lilies. The second set of exhibits in the Chichu museum were by James Turrell, but a very long queue to see them had formed along a dark, uninteresting corridor. We worried that if we stayed, we would miss our ferry back home, so moved on to the final exhibit – a huge granite sphere by Walter de Maria, dominating a cathedral-like underground room. We thought it was a brilliant piece of work, which made up for the disappointment of the other exhibits. Sadly though photos were not allowed.

After a few minutes admiring the sphere, it was time to head back to the port to join a very long queue for the 17.00 ferry back to Takamatsu. The return trip gave us a nice sunset over the mountains of Honshu, and a surprising highlight of the trip – Takamatsu’s lighthouse, made out of bright red glass. This was probably the modern art highlight of the day!

ferry-Takamatsu-Naoshima — Sunset on the Inland Sea, ferry Naoshima-Takamatsu

Takamatsu-lighthouse — Takamatsu’s lighthouse – the best art of the day!

We had greatly enjoyed our time, even if we found the art museums somewhat underwhelming compared to what we could see back home in London or Paris. The real joys of the trip were the ferry rides over the Inland Sea and the exploration of the pretty island of Naoshima by bicycle – especially doing all this in bright sunshine after two days of rain.

Next post: Ritsurin Garden and Naruto Whirlpools

Previous Post: Shikoku – Iya Valley, Kotohira

7th November 2024 2

More Shikoku – Iya Valley, Kotohira…and a Typhoon at Takamatsu

Today our final destination was Takamatsu, on the coast of the Inland Sea on Shikoku. The road took us north, to the lower part of the Iya Valley. There were some nice viewpoints but at this altitude no sign yet of the autumn leaves that had dazzled us yesterday.

Lower Iya Valley viewpoint — View of the lower Iya Valley

We made one stop at a hotel to try their onsen, located at the valley floor far below. Access was via a cable car, and once there Aki and I both had our respective female and male baths to ourselves. The setting was idyllic, and since the water temperature was not too hot, we stayed for an hour enjoying the view.

Relaxed, and very clean, we set off again. The road finally left the mountains and arrived at the city of Kotohira, the site of Shikoku’s most popular shrine, Kompirasan, which is dedicated to seafarers. The approach to the shrine involved a steady climb up steep steps, initially past souvenir shops, cafés and food stalls, then more interestingly through torii and past hundreds of engrave granite columns.

After 785 steps we reached a very beautiful temple complex with views over the city and countryside.

Another 583 steps (making 1368 in total) took us to the temple’s inner shrine, which was disappointingly simple compared to the main temples lower down.

more steps Kotohira — Kotohira: Up and Up again….

top temple Kotohira — Kotohira – The rather simple inner temple

Our hike down was fast, and we arrived at the bottom just in time to visit Kotohira’s kabuki theatre before it closed. It is the oldest surviving one in Japan, and it was very interesting to visit all around – the place where the audience sits, the stage itself, and backstage.

Kabuki theatre Kotohira — Trouspinet on stage at Kotohira’s kabuki theatre!

From Kotohira it was another hour by car to reach Takamatsu. As before, finding our Airbnb flat required some time, and we had to message our host to say we were lost. She lived in the flat below and came out to show us the way. It was another very comfortable and large flat – which was just as well, because over the next two days the remnants of a typhoon passed over Japan and it rained hard continuously.
There are many things you can visit with Takamatsu as a base, but sadly most of them require good weather. We ventured out once under the rain to see the city’s small castle, before deciding that it would be better to invest our time catching up on email, washing clothes, exercise – and this blog.

In the evenings at least we had some great indoor entertainment – sampling Takamatsu’s famous Udon noodles. Good food is always the best answer to bad weather!

Udon Noodles Takamatsu specaility — Noodle Feast in Takamatsu!

Next Post: Naoshima

Previous Post: Iya Valley

5th November 2024 6

The Iya Valley – Nagoro Scarecrow Village, Vine Bridges and Tsurugi-san

Iya-Valley-autumn-colors — The beautiful Iya Vally in the Fall

We woke up and were treated to the typical multiple course ryokan breakfast, which we ate whilst keeping an eye on the weather outside. It had stopped raining, but was still cloudy. However, as we finished our tea, we suddenly saw a patch of blue sky. Perhaps we would be lucky.
We set off in our car on a road following the Iya river, climbing up the remote and sparsely-populated valley. We saw very few people in the settlements we passed, but after a few miles we came across a village that at first sight appeared to be teaming with life.

Nagoro Scarecrow Village — Finally some people!?

On closer inspection, the “people” were dummies, more usually used scarecrows for scaring away birds. They were everywhere – harvesting in the fields, waiting for a bus, working on the road, even engaging in a tug of war in the sports hall of a disused school.

Scarecrows-waiting-for-bus-Nagoro — Meeting the locals at Nagaro

Consulting our guide book we realised we had arrived at Nagaro village. The scarecrow story started when a woman moved to the village to look after her aged father. To occupy herself, she made a scarecrow in his likeness, which was so realistic that fellow villagers would say “good morning” to it as they passed. She made more figures, many using local residents as models, as way of relieving boredom and loneliness – the area is suffering from depopulation as older residents die and younger people move to the cities to find better jobs. Other people followed her example, and now there are around 350 scarecrows in the village, which has become a tourist attraction. When we visited we saw around 100 scarecrows, two human tourists and one dog – but no local people. So although the initiative has put Nagoro on the map, it has not solved their depopulation problem.
A few miles down the road there was another, more famous tourist attraction – a pair of “vine bridges”. These structures are made from planks of wood tied together with natural vines and were originally built hundreds of years ago, no one is quite sure by whom or why. There were originally many such bridges over the Iya river, but now only three remain, of which two were here, almost side by side – the larger one is nicknamed the “male” bridge and the smaller one, “female”.

Iya Valley Vine Bridge — The “male” vine bridge

I cautiously stepped across on the male bridge with my little teddy legs, leaving Aki, who does not like heights, behind me to film my progress. The gaps between the planks were quite big, and I think even a human could have slipped between them into the river, clearly visible under my paws far below. Certainly a little teddy could fall through and disappear without trace into the water. I finally made it across and let out a big sigh of relief. I used the “female” bridge to get back, and fortunately this was shorter and lower, and less of an ordeal to cross. With my adrenaline rush over I could relax with Aki to enjoy the wonderful scenery around the area.

Iya Valley Female Bridge — The “female” bridge

We continued our drive up the valley, steadily gaining altitude. As we rose, the vegetation changed and we found ourselves driving through mixed forests, including many spectacular maple trees, their leaves a bright red. The mountains were a patchwork of greens, yellows and reds, and very beautiful.

Autumn Colors in Iya Valley — Iya valley colours

We arrived at the chairlift station taking hikers up to the starting point for trails leading to the various mountains surrounding us. The chairlift ride itself gave wonderful views of the forests’ autumn colours, even if it was a little scary, since the chairs lacked any protective barriers to stop you falling off.

Tsurugi Chair lift — A spectacular but not very safe chair lift

The most popular climb in the area is Mount Tsurugi, the second highest mountain on Shikoku island. But we decided to climb the very slightly smaller Mount Jirogyu, which the Iya Valley tourist information website said offered even better views. We paused continually on the way up to take pictures of the wonderful views in a mix of cloud and bright sunshine.

View Tsurugi area — Views on the way up Mount Jirogyu

But as we neared the end of the climb and with our goal in sight, clouds blew in from the west, obscuring the summit.

Mount Jirogyu Summit — Mount Jirogyu summit beckons as clouds rush in

We climbed up all the same, but all that we could see at the top was thick cloud.

on Mount Jirogyu — Shame! The “view” at the top.

Out of the sun, it was chilly and windy, so we hurried back down. Below the clouds we could once again enjoy the autumn foliage.

View mount Tsurugi — Views on the way down

We drove back to our ryokan to have a hot bath to warm up, after our exposure to the cold mountain air and damp clouds. It had been a brilliant day but could have been perfect if only we had started maybe an hour earlier so that we could enjoy the view from the summit of Mount Jirogyu . That will have to be a plan for another trip – we liked the Iya Valley so much that we will try to come back one day.

Next Post: More Iya Valley, Kotohira and Takamatsu

Previous Post: Kochi (Japan), Shikoku

4th November 2024 4

Off the beaten track in Shikoku – from Matsuyama to Kochi via Uchiko

Today we set off deeper into the island of Shikoku. First stop was a small old town called Uchiko, many of whose buildings date from the Edo period (1603-1868). It was a laid-back sort of place, with a slow pace of life, which we enjoyed as we strolled around. We ended up spending much longer there than planned.

Uchiko Kabuki theatre — Uchiko’s kabuki theatre

A courtyard in Uchiko — Courtyard in Uchiko

After a coffee for the road, we set off through Shikoku mountains and forests to our next destination, the port city of Kochi on Shikoku’s south coast. The road twisted and turned upwards, through dense forests – sometimes of pine, sometimes of bamboo.

It then followed the path of a pretty gorge, turning into a single lane road, in places barely wider than our small car. Driving was quite tricky, but Aki handled it well, as I navigated.

Fortunately, we were the only people on the road and never had to deal with a car coming the other way. We had chosen a very pretty, but also very slow route for which Google had calculated a hopelessly optimistic travel time. As a result, we arrived in Kochi after night had fallen. We parked our car in the tower recommended by the hotel. Being Japanese, Aki has seen these before but for me it was a complete surprise; She drove into one of the tower’s four entry bays, parked the car on a sort of platform at ground level, and we got out. I was wondering what would happen next and how this could possibly be a car park, when the platform rotated 90 degrees and rose up into the air, disappearing up the shaft of the building. It was a fully automated system where a computer places your car into one of the available spaces deep inside the block somewhere. The attendant told us the tower could hold 200 vehicles. He gave us a ticket and impressed on us the importance of not losing it!

parking tower in Kochi Shikoku — A new experience – a parking tower!

We checked into our hotel – it was one of only two modern-style hotel rooms we had booked for the whole trip, and seemed to be used mostly by business travellers. Our room was small, but comfortable enough. After unpacking we set off straight for dinner. Like any port city in Japan, Kochi is known for its seafood and its speciality is seared raw tuna. We ordered some and got a huge plate for a price that back home would have got you one small tuna steak in a supermarket.

All this (plus one piece we already ate) for 12€ in a Kochi restaurant!

The next day we explored more of Koch. First stop, as always, was the castle, which I liked, even though it looked very similar to the others we had seen in Japan. The view from the top was particularly impressive, looking north, I could count no fewer than eight successive mountain ranges, one behind the other.

view from Kochi castle — One of the views of Shikoku from the top of Kochi castle

Back in Kochi town we stopped for brunch in the market, treating ourselves to fish, oysters and sea urchin – the latter being one of the few expensive forms of seafood here.

We checked out from our hotel and recovered our car, which appeared from the depths of the tower as if by magic – this time facing forward, towards the road, ready to be driven off. Our next destination was the Iya Valley, deep in the Shikoku mountains, but on the way we visited two attractions on the outskirts of Kochi. The first was the Makino Botanical Garden, named after a famous Japanese botanist. It seemed to be a spring and summer garden, with no flowers in autumn.

Makino garden in Kochi Shikoku — In the hothouse of the Makino Garden

The Chikurinji temple next door made up for the slight disappointment of the gardens. It grounds radiated harmony and peace, and would have been a good place to sit and meditate, if we had had time. Shikoku is home to a famous circular pilgrimage that includes 88 temples dotted around the island and is 1,200 km long. Chikurinji is temple number 31 on this route, and we saw some pilgrims, dressed in white, praying at the shrine.

Chikurinji temple Kochi — The atmospheric entrance to Chikurinji temple

pilgrim approaches temple Kochi — A pilgrim enters the main gate

It was now time to head on into the mountains. The scenery became rugged and would have been very impressive, had it not been raining. We arrived at our destination – a basic ryokan – in the late afternoon and spent the time before dinner catching up on admin. This included anxiously checking tomorrow’s weather forecast……there would not be much to do on a rainy around here. Fingers crossed for tomorrow…..

Typical Shikoku mountain scenery on the way to the Iya valley

Next Post: Iya Valley , Shikoku

Previous Post: Matsuyama, Shikoku

3rd November 2024 4

Almost off the beaten track – Matsuyama

We arrived in the evening in Matsuyama where I had booked an Airbnb. These seem to offer great accommodation options in Japan, if you are prepared for the difficulties of finding the address (or communicating it to a taxi driver). The place we had reserved proved to be worth the effort, with a wonderful host. We had a large downstairs living room, with small but beautiful Japanese gardens on two sides, and a large upstairs sleeping room.

bedroom Matsuyama — The bedroom of our Airbnb in Matusyama

After settling in we set off to find dinner. We were in a residential area, far away from the centre of Matsuyama, and the options were all very traditional Japanese. An outside light and sign would indicate the existence of a restaurant, but to see what one was like, you had to slide open the door – more or less committing yourself to eating there if they had space. On our first night we were lucky and ate very well, and very cheaply.

restaurant Matsuyama — Local restaurant in Matsuyama – slide the door

After a good night’s sleep, we set off to explore. Matsuyama is the largest city on the little-visited island of Shikoku. It is almost, but not quite, off the beaten track for western tourists, with a few making a short trip over from Hiroshima. First we saw the inevitable castle. Matsuyama’s version was bigger than the others we had seen in Japan, and offered good views over the surrounding area….but we were beginning to think that all Japanese castles look pretty similar.

All the same, a fun highlight of our visit was the opportunity to watch human tourists dressing up as samurai (unfortunately they had no teddy-size costumes to offer for us).

From the castle we headed to the spa town of Dogen, now a suburb of Matsuyama. It had a completely different atmosphere, with a wonderful retro train station, many shrines, several quirky attractions and one very famous one.

Temple in Matsuyama, Shikoku — Steep steps to this Matsuyama temple!

Amongst the off-beat things you can do here is tasting citrus fruit juice. We found a bar where they had around 20 varieties of mandarin juice on tap – you fill up small cups yourself and pay according to the number of samples and the varieties chosen. The bar gave helpful guides to the sweetness and acidity of each choice, and a genealogical chart showing how they were related.

You can taste around 20 varieties of mandarin juice

The famous attraction here is Dogo Onsen, Japan’s oldest and probably most famous onsen, and supposedly the inspiration for the bathhouse in the Ghibli film “Spirited Away”. Records document people coming here as early as the sixth century, and legends tell of gods visiting well before that. The current structure dates from the 1890s and is a wonderfully elegant building.

Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama — Dogo Onsen, Matusyama, from the outside

We bought tickets for a private room, got changed into the yukatas provided and were treated to a typically Japanese experience. A maid in a traditional kimono brought us tea and a snack and explained which areas we could visit, with much bowing and many “arigato gozaimasu” (thank yous). We enjoyed our tea before trying the separate male and female onsen reserved for the private room guests.

The bath itself was a bit of an anticlimax – an elegant enough room, but fairly small, and on the inside with no natural light. The water was a hot 40°C, so even the experienced Japanese visitors did not soak for too long. We retired back to our room to cool down, and then made a tour of the building, of which one of the highlights was a private bath reserved for the emperor.

Emperor's Room Dogo Onsen — The Emperor’s changing room

We had one more, short, final dip in our own bath before our ninety minute visit time was up and we had to leave. The joy of the experience was more the atmosphere, the building and the ceremony rather than the actual bath itself.
On emerging outside we found that it had started to rain, so we headed back to our flat and then out to eat. The restaurant we had enjoyed the night before was full, so we tried another and were less lucky. It seemed to be a place where people came to drink more than to eat, and half the seats were already taken by a group of three drunk locals. They were very friendly but also noisy. The owner continually topped up their glasses with whisky from one of the bottles kept behind the counter; in places like this you buy your own bottle, which they write your name on.

Bottles for frequent visitors to the restaurant

We retired back to our flat. It was still raining, but we opened the sliding doors to our Japanese gardens and enjoyed listening to the raindrops falling on the plants outside. The sight and sound were hypnotic and peaceful, and the prelude to a great night’s sleep.

Japanese garden in Matsuyama — One of our Japanese gardens at night

Next Post – from Matsuyama to Kochi, Shikoku

Previous Post – Magical Miyajima

2nd November 2024 5

Magical Miyajima

From Hiroshima we took a short ferry ride to the small island of Miyajima. On arrival, the area near the ferry terminal was quite touristy, with restaurants, cafés, souvenir shops, lots of visitors – and many deer, who roam around freely. The more domesticated ones hang around the town, trying to beg or steal food from the tourists (no unattended snack is safe from them); the wilder ones roam through the forests of the island. I had splurged on a treat for our accommodation – a night in Iwaso, one of Japan’s top ryokans (traditional inns). We found the place easily, but at reception they very apologetically told us that they were overbooked……..and would regretfully have to upgrade up to a private cottage. It was probably the best room in the whole place, located right at the end of property, next to a small stream. We lost no time in settling in and enjoyed the view and pleasant sound of water cascading over rocks.

It was now late afternoon and we set off to explore, first following the sound of traditional Japanese music drifting through the forest. We came across a performance of traditional Japanese dance, representing two priests overcoming two demons.

It was a wonderfully colourful spectacle, but it seems there not so many ways that demons can be vanquished, and after half an hour it got a bit repetitive. Since it was nearly time for sunset, we left the dancers and hurried to see the famous torii, the gate to the Itsukushima shrine, which at high tide appears to be floating on the sea. Despite the crowd of other tourists, we found a free bench on the seashore to watch as the sky turned from blue to orange to red to purple. As it grew dark, lights came long to illuminate the torii, which shone a bright red in the night. I had to discipline myself to stop taking photos and instead sit back and simply enjoy the beauty.

After that, it was time for dinner at the ryokan. The hotel had provided traditional Japanese clothing – a yukata (a casual form of a kimono) and a haori jacket to wear on top. They were very comfortable and when we arrived at the restaurant, we were glad to see most guests had opted to wear them. Dinner itself was a feast with many courses, which we chose to accompany with sake. Returning to our room, we found that the staff had prepared it for bed time by setting up two futon beds in the middle of the room.

Well fed and watered, we settled down on our comfortable beds and listened to the sounds of the stream outside until we fell fast asleep. We awoke for another sumptuous meal – breakfast this time. There were so many small bowls of food set out on our tray that the hotel provided a sort of map to tell us which was which.
Suitably nourished, we returned to enjoy our cottage for the remaining time left to us before check-out. We left Iwaso with a heavy heart, depositing our bags at reception and setting off to explore the island. First we returned to the Itsukushima shrine. It was now low tide, and the famous torii could be approached across the wet sand of the beach.

The torii is in fact firmly anchored to the ground

Legends say that the first torii on this site was built in 593, when the shrine was established. Over the years the torii has been replaced many times, and it probably took its current form in the 16th century. The torii we see today dates from 1875.

We dragged ourselves away from the beautiful, harmonious structure of the torii to take the cable car up to near the top of Mount Misan, Miyajima’s main mountain. We then walked the short remaining distance to the summit for some great 360 degree views over the Inland Sea, forward to Shikoku and back towards Hiroshima.

We decided to walk down rather than take the cable car again, which turned out to be a lucky decision.

We chose one of the many different possible paths at random and after passing through dense forest, arrived by chance at the mighty gates of the Daisho-In complex, which turned out to be an unexpected highlight of Miyajima, with some unusual sights quite different to what we had seen already in other temples in Japan.

…and striking features inside the temple complex

It was now time to leave magical Miyajima. We picked up our bags at the hotel, and their shuttle service dropped us at the ferry terminal. Our day ended with pleasant cruises across the Inland Sea – firstly back to Hiroshima port, and then by “jetboat” on to Matsuyama on Shikoku, the fourth largest island of Japan’s archipelago. The day and a half on Miyajima had been truly memorable and one of the highlights of our trip so far. Once you get away from the crowds around the ferry terminal, the island emanates a sense of peace and harmony, of which the beautiful torii is the ultimate expression.

Onwards to Shikoku – Cruising the Inland Sea

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1st November 2024 8

An Unexpected Lesson from Hiroshima

Sunset from the Prince Hotel (it really was this colour)

Today we said goodbye to Kanazawa, a city we had really enjoyed. We took a bus to the station and went by train to Hiroshima, a trip that took about five hours, including a stop in Osaka to buy tickets for the second leg of the journey. Our hotel was the Prince Hotel, located some way out of town centre on a peninsula near the port.

The hotel had hosted the meeting of the G7 in 2023 and seemed very proud of this fact. We visited the table where the world’s leaders had lunch (by special arrangement, the hotel can offer deep-pocketed guests the same menu as served that day).

Vote for Trouspinet and Aki! (at the table where the G7 had lunch)

By the time we had checked in, it seemed a bit late to do anything in the city so we enjoyed the hotel’s onsen, which looked out onto the Inland Sea, the stretch of water separating Honshu (Japan’s biggest island) from Shikoku (the fourth biggest). It was a great view, and as the evening drew near, we got dressed to go to the top floor bar to see the spectacular sunset shown above.

The next day we started our exploration of the city with a pleasant walk around the peninsula we were on, which gave us more views out towards the countless small and large islands of the Inland Sea.

We arrived at the port, and I checked our onward boat connections, before we caught a tram to Hiroshima’s most famous and most visited site – the Peace Park, which contains the Peace Memorial Museum. We went around the latter first. It was a harrowing experience, starting with immediate impact of the first use of an atomic bomb.

At the start of the museum – Hiroshima before and after the bombing

The first part of the exhibition focussed on a large group of school children who had been mobilised to demolish wooden buildings and who were working near the place where the bomb exploded. They suffered horrific burns, which were shown in graphic detail in photographs, and either died immediately or later, in great pain. Next there were exhibits of some of the victim’s belongings like singed clothing or charred watches, and then a description of the longer-term suffering of people that survived the initial blast but died later of various illnesses caused by radiation or burns. It was harrowing and shocking material, leaving a visitor sad and angry. Later floors of the museum were a bit easier to visit, being devoted to the development and reasons for use of the bomb, testimonies from survivors and the efforts to rebuild the city after the war.

Outside the museum was a complete contrast. There was a beautiful park, with several monuments promoting peace.

Memorial to schoolgirls killed in the Hiroshima bombing

There was also the Peace Memorial Hall, with a display of a view of the city after the bombing as seen from the hypocentre (point where the bomb exploded), and a sculpture representing a clock showing 8.15 – the time of the explosion.

A bit further away was the Atomic Bomb Dome – the ruins of a building that was the only thing left standing near the centre of the blast. The dome itself was made of copper supported by iron girders; the heat of the explosion melted the copper but left the iron standing.

After seeing the sites in and around the Peace Park, we went for a stroll around the city centre. There were few other classic tourist sights, but it had a pleasant feel, both relaxed and busy at the same time, and a remarkable location – sandwiched between mountains and the Inland Sea, with its countless small islands. As we headed to the port to catch the ferry to our next destination, we contemplated the contrasts between the utter devastation after the bombing and the thriving city that exists today, with its friendly people and peaceful vibe. Perhaps there is another important message to be taken from Hiroshima, in addition to the evils of nuclear weapons. It is one of the triumph of the human will in the face of suffering and adversity – in the form of the thriving and pleasant city the Japanese rebuilt from the ashes of Hiroshima.

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30th October 2024 7

Takayama and Ainokura

Today we hired a car to make a day trip to two interesting destinations which seemed to be fairly close to Kanazawa.

The first was the village of Ainokura in the mountains, famous for its gassho or “praying hands” style thatched farmhouses – so called because the triangular shape of the steeply slanted roofs resembles two hands pressed together in prayer. This design ensures that large amounts of snow cannot build up on the roof in winter – a big problem in the area. After a coffee in the village’s only café, we strolled around and took a few photos.

Ainokura was a cute, quiet place, well worth a stop on the way to our main destination for the day – the small city of Takayama. It looked like a short distance on the map, with the driving being mostly on motorways that ran through mountainous terrain – probably a nice drive. However, it turned out that the road ran nearly entirely under the mountains, in dingy, very long tunnels with an insultingly low 70 km/h speed limit. Occasionally there would be a brief burst of natural light as a tunnel ended…..only for a new one to come immediately into sight ahead of us. It was probably the most boring stretch of road I have ever driven.

We finally reached Takayama and parked the car. The centre was similar to the geisha district of Kanazawa – old wooden houses converted to shops, tea rooms and restaurants – only with more tourists. Aki was happy browsing the shops for souvenirs, but I was feeling rather grumpy, annoyed that Takayama did not seem to be worth the long and boring drive.

However, my mood improved when we left the centre and dived into some quieter side streets, where there were antique shops that interested even me. Aki was even happier and made a few small purchases.

We wandered on and found a pretty area with temples where there were also a couple of museums. One was the intriguingly named Takayama Festival Floats Museum. It turned out to house several of the huge, colourful floats used in the famous Takayama Festival, which takes place twice per year, in spring and autumn. Most floats have wheels and are rolled manually by team of people in colourful costumes, but one had to be carried by two alternating teams of strong men (and weighed 2.6 tonnes).

The second museum was rather bizarrely devoted to a carved wooden scale model of the shrines at far-away Nikko – why they were on display here in Takayama was not explained, but it still made for an interesting visit.

After that we strolled until we reached the main river that runs through the city. This, surprisingly, contained some of the large koi carp that you usually only see in ornamental ponds. We could not understand what stopped the fish escaping up- or down- stream or how they didn’t end up being eaten by the herons we saw perched on the riverbanks.

Feeling better about Takayama we regained our car and made the long drive back to Kanazawa – which was even more boring this time because we drove it one go, completing the last hour in the dark.

We rewarded ourselves by returning to the restaurant we had visited by chance on the first night. The chef recognised us and greeted us enthusiastically. We again gave him a budget to work with rather than try to understand his menu, and again we were treated to another inventive feast of top-quality sea food.

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30th October 2024 4