On Sundays, Japan’s largest morning market appears on a wide quay, like runways, where I really went except Sunday but no one was there.
TEBASAKI sold out
Most of the things sold at the morning market are local seafood, vegetables, and prepared foods, but here you can find toys, DIY, sewing corners, fishing gear and much more.
handicraft
I wonder why they handle such things, but in short, it makes sense to think of it as a festival venue in the countryside. Anyway, it is in a chaotic state. Feel this energy !
beef skewers in market
Furthermore, since the morning market is held before dawn, everyone procures breakfast here. It is also pure to close one after another after eight o’clock.
market in front of station
Even if you miss the morning market(Tatehana-Ganpeki) on Sunday, you can enjoy it here because another morning market is held every day in front of the station. There is a table where you can gather your own food for 100 yen and eat breakfast.
Hachinohe Line
When you get on the Hachinohe Line, you can feel the endless beach and the blue forest (that is, the origin of Aomori).
Tanesashi Coast is not monotonous. There are reefs, sandy beaches, and green pine forests. And finally there is the natural turf, which is mistaken for a completely artificial golf course. Alpine plants grow along the coast because of the easterly wind blowing over the cold current from the north.
Panorama view from Ashigezaki (click photos)
ashige left
ashige middle not found hokkaido
ashige right
Root for 4 hours*
*)Community bus is available here and there on the root.
start from ‘Same’ station. Not the ‘same’ but shark in the meaning. Take a photo with the shark monument in front of the station. (walk next 15min)
Kabu island is occupied by a lot of black-tailed gulls and the sacred shrine on the top of the island was turned white due to their activity ! (45min)
Ashigezaki viewpoint is surrounded by reefs. It seems that Hokkaido can be seen if the weather is nice. (10min)
Nakasuka coast where It is unusual for various alpine plants to bloom (20min)
Osuka coast is like a tropical country with too long sandy beaches. (90min)
Yodo-no-Matsubara is green pine forest rising from the coastline. On the way huge remarkable round ‘white rock’ comes into view. ‘White’ came from activity of sea cormorants. (30min)
The natural turf suddenly spreads in front of you. I wonder why such a large lawn was created. (Goal !)
I stopped by Tanesashi Coast Information center near the turf to get certification for walking 10km on Tanesashi Coast and a pin badge.
Before going back to Hachinohe from Tanesasi Coast station, I charged energy with sea urchin bowl. Sea urchin is a food unique to this season and seems to be steamed rather than raw in this region.
How about taking public bath after walking exhausted. There are a lot of bathes opening in the morning around Hachinohe harbor, so the sailors can always take a bath after coming back on a long trip.
Each community in Tono city showcases traditional performing arts, for example, Kagura dance, Deer dance, Tiger dance, Sansa dance, etc.
We pay homage to the fact that many communities are maintained and traditional arts are inherited in Tono City, which has a population of only 30,000.
Let’s get mochi (rice ball) thrown from the mikoshi and deer hair after the deer dance for your good luck. Never overdo it.
The origin of Tono horseback archery (Yabusame in Japanese) is in Kamakura (Tsuruoka Hachimangu shrine). It was brought to Tono (Tono Hachimangu shrine) via Hachinohe (Kushibiki Hachimangu) in Aomori prefecture as well as ‘Kappa’ story. But the distinguishing feature in Tono’s is that the another warrior runs to see if the previous warrior hits the target successfully or not. If the arrow hits the target, he will yell out “Yo itariya (Good shooting) ! “, but it sounds like “Yo Italiano ! “.
Each warrior runs 3 times on the track and he shoots a bow three times on each run.
Preliminary preparation is essential to enjoy Tono truly. Tono Story is compiled by Kunio Yanagita for more than 100 stories told by mouth, but they are all unsatisfactory because of lack of succession. Am I the only one who feels like the story is cut off? Even so, when I came to this land, it was strangely convinced that such a strange thing happened.
<example1> God hides the child
At twilight, the girl disappeared suddenly, and thirty years later, when her relatives were gathering at her house, she suddenly reappeared, but she soon left somewhere……. So what happened then? I do not understand the continuation of the story.
<example2> Kappa
While washing the horses in the river, a kappa came out and tried to pull the horse into the abyss. Kappa, who was caught by a villager and said to kill him, apologized mysteriously saying “I’ll never be bad again”, so the villager felt sorry for him and letthe kappa go off. Then Kappa stopped playing mischief……… So what happened then? I do not understand the continuation of the story.
tono guardian kappa
Kappa is said to be apparition (ghost), abandoned baby, etc. Historically, there is a theory that the Lord moved from Hachinohe with Kappa living at Kushibiki Hachimangu Shrine in Hachinohe. At the entrance to the shrine, a dog is usually a guardian, but in Tono this is the kappa. The Tono Kappa likes cucumbers, and the Tono city issues a capture permission (This is true!).
<example3> an old man
In order to secure food for the family, an old man, over 60 years old, was moved to a land called Denderano. He not only waited for his death, but also went down to the village during the daytime to engage in farm work and live……. It’s a thought-provoking story.
Please find your mysterious story and favorite landscape in Tono countryside !
Gallery (click photos)
tono countryside
tono guardian kappa
tono Kappa abyss
tono hop
tono grapes
tono arakamisama in aozasa
tono denderano
tono konseisama
tono unstable stone
Roadside Rest Area ‘Wind Hill'(Welcome Festival event)
Here you can buy lunch boxes made by locals. Good assortment !
If you compare the ranking of hot springs to sumo wrestling, this is said to be Yokozuna (Grand Champion) in the east. There are many original hot springs along the blue-white river, and fresh hot springs spring from the bottom of the wild bathtub. The hot springs are said to deteriorate from the moment they come into contact with the air, so it’s ideal because they come directly to the bathtub without touching the air. On the other hand, however, some hot springs are ridiculously hot, so be careful not to burn yourself. Another point to note is that you have to go down to the riverbed every time you want to enter any hot spring, so you will be exhausted to enter the hot spring. It may be because this is Yokozuna !
geto hot spring
Hot spring cabin is dismantled before every winter so as not to be crushed by deep snow. Thank you for their hard work and enjoy the hot springs.
‘The Summer grasses / Of brave soldier’s dreams / The aftermath’
by Basho
Basho traveled to Tohoku district during the Edo period and left many famous haiku poems. One of them is the battlefield of the distant past. The view of the flowing Kitakami River where Basho wrote this haiku was impressed and too sad because this was just the place where Yoshitsune harmed himself being surrounded by his brother’s army and where the glory of Hiraizumi began to collapse. Almost the same fate as the one of Emishi was repeated.
Stories of Aterui and Yoshitsune in another post >read more
Motsuji Temple, World Heritage
motsuji temple pond
It was said that Hiraizumi had the same scale and brilliance as the capital of Kyoto during its Golden Age. Being far from the political center brought peace and prosperity to Hiraizumi. The garden in Motsuji Temple has been restored and remind us of Uji-Byodoin Temple in Kyoto.
‘Eary summer rains / Fall not here / Temple of light’
by Basho
chusonji temple basho
Basho traveled to Tohoku district during the Edo period and left many famous haiku poems. One of them is the Chusonji Temple, especially the golden hall. The hall was shining with a dazzling light, which seemed to have prevented the rain. It may have something to do with the discovery in Tohoku as a result of exploring the whole country because a large amount of gold was needed to manufacture the Great Buddha of Todaiji Temple in the Nara era.
chusonji temple oi
You can’t reach the golden hall unless you climb a fairly long slope. There are many highlights, so let’s save your physical strength. One of highlights I thought was the backpack ‘oi’ Benkei used when he came back to Hiraizumi to accompany his master Yoshitsune and escaped from the army of Yoshitsune’s brother Minamoto no Yoritomo. I was surprised that there was something like this. It was made of wood with ‘Kamakura’ carving. How ironic it is that the name of carving method came from the capital name where Yoritomo put the political center.
koromogawa saku
Here around Chusonji Temple is strategic region that have been important since ancient times. It was the forefront base when the Yamato Imperial Court was trying to expand its power to the north in Heian period, and it was also the forefront of Emishi defense. The captured leader of Emishi, Aterui, was killed in Kyoto, almost the same as the fate of Yoshitsune. You can look down on Japan’s oldest ancient battlefield from the place you climbed up, but the only trace is the lush river. Against this background, another Basho haiku has been created.
chusonji temple big treeschusonji temple basho haiku
The Kitakami Mountains have been land for a long time since the Japanese Islands were torn off from Russia by the plate movement. They are older than the volcanic belt that runs through the Japanese archipelago. Therefore, Geibikei was exposed to long erosion and a deep canyon was completed.
Until Edo period the villagers did not list the canyon on the map, fearing that many officials would visit it for sightseeing. Recently, tourism development was carried out as a boat excursion. Autumn leaves and snow boat excursions are also good, but the excursions in the calm atmosphere of the fresh green were exceptional.
In the canyon surrounded by cliffs, I could hear only the voices of birds other than the sound of the water flowing by pointing the river bottom with a rod, and the song of the boatman quietly soaked into the canyon.
Gallery (click photos)
geibikei entrance
geibikei approach to the end
geibikei named from nose
geibikei senryutan
geibikei stones
geibikei throwqing stones for lucky
geibikei boat
geibikei bird
geibikei boatman
Fun at the end !
geibikei stones
At the turning point of excursion, once get off the boat and enjoy the spectacular view for a while. At the end of walk, throw a stone toward the hole in the cliff and wish yourself good luck, or just try your own pitching control. The things written on the stone that became a strike will be fulfilled, so it is necessary to check the things before throwing !
This festival is held for 3 days in the end of August. Each neighborhood association(small town) competes for floats composed of the festival car decorated* by a lot of arts(dolls) based on classical subject and the following musical accompaniment. The decoration is like ‘Nebuta’ in Aomori.
*)Due to festival cars decorated only one side (left side in the direction of parade), pay attention to the trends of the locals so that you do not fail to pick up space(side) for seeing the festival parade.
