If you travel connecting Shirakami mountains and Hakkoda mountains or Lake Towada, going through Jougakura bridge is highly recommended especially in autumn season. The color around the bridge changes into red.
autumn leaves from bridge
You can walk on the bridge safely after parking at the edge of it. But strong winds on the bridge take away heat from the body.
center of bridge plate
Look down like a bird at the middle of the bridge ! Deep valley 122m below the bridge is trying to swallow you. The river is so acidic that no fish can live in it.
bird eyes
There is Sukayu Onsen(Hot Spring), the bath of which is made of Hiba wood and can accommodate 1,000 people at a time, but it is also strongly acidic and it makes you tingle when you take a bath, so be careful of people with sensitive skin. It is famous for mixed bathing, but there is a place to take it individually in the back.
On the way to Shirakami mountains (World Heritage), we drove through HIROSAKI city which is famous for apple production and Mt.Iwaki the shape of which is similar to Mt.Fuji.
The road connects many apple farms. Silver sheets under trees reflect sunlight and apples turn into red. The price of apples is rising due to typhoon damage nationwide, so be sure to buy fresh apples at the production area. It is said that “Apples don’t need a doctor.”
Mt.Iwaki (Tsugaru Fuji)
You can reach Shirakami mountains through this road seeing Mt.Iwaki named Mt.Tsugaru-Fuji with apple trees.
It is easy to approach the entrance to World Heritage, but places inside where a tourist could reach by himself were limited. Furthermore ‘Anmon Fall’* was closed due to typhoon damages. You should chose between to be satisfied with a glance or to spend all day. Next time I would like to challenge with a guide.
kumagera tapping the tree
*)There are many approach routes to the heart of Shirakami mountains. ’Twenty ponds walking course’ is easily accessible from the sea side with public transportation and you can feel variety of nature.
The remains of quarries are found all over Japan, but Takahata stone is a tuff made from volcanic ash accumulated and is easy to process and has a warm yellow color. It had been used in the horizontal-hole type mound tomb. Human power is great, because it cuts mountains vertically and excavates caves in a straight line and used to dig them by hand. The inside of the cave is kept at a low temperature, so I thought that it could be used as a storage for Takahata wine, which would lead to income for tourism.
Takahata stone2
Takahata stone1
groove dig
Former Takahata Station of the railroad, that used to transport agricultural products from Takahata Town, is preserved, but it was built with only warm Takahata stone. It has nothing to do with this, JR Takahata Station (called Taiyokan) looks like a fairy tale and has a day-trip hot spring facility inside, but I couldn’t understand what was the concept of these combination. Only the impression of strangeness remained.
Old Takahata station
Takahata train
Fairyland Takahata Station
Detour
Takahata Town is located on a large fan-shaped terrain. I learned at school that this terrain is well drained and suitable for fruit cultivation. That is exactly the case, and grape cultivation is particularly popular. I highly recommend tasting at the Takahata winery, but I bought something expensive. I realized that the technology of Japanese red wine has improved considerably.
Kameoka Monjyu-dou is one of Japan’s three major Monjyu Bodhisattva with wisdom.
Two heads are better than one.
There are similar expressions in each country, but in Japan, the three heads are said to be comparable to the Monjyu Bodhisattva. Is Monjyu Bodhisattva respected with three heads or is it lightly seen?
Abe Monjyu-in in Nara prefecture is the most famous and worth seeing as National treasure, but Kameoka’s is simple and friendly in the countryside. The sculptures of the monks studying along the approach of the tree lined with cedars welcomed us.
Kameoka sculpture2
Kameoka Monjyu in
Kameoka sub hall
Kameoka sculpture
I was surprised that there is a hierarchy in the world of Buddha. An enlightened person is called Nyorai as highest rank, and is usually accompanied by several Bodhisattva. Furthermore, there are many layers under the Bodhisattva. The world of Buddha is also tough.
No graffiti
By the way, Bonjyu Bodhisattva is a Buddha of wisdom who is an attendant of Shaka Nyorai. That’s why many examinees are visiting and the examination season is at the time of earning money at Kameoka Bonjyu-dou. Although I wasn’t in the examination season when I visited there, many children were worshiping in the hall with parents and I was impressed that it was a temple that blended into the area. On the other hand, the attention not to doodle on the Monjyu-dou was indicated, but “Your graffiti halves your wisdom”, or something that it should be written down on its attention with a little more wisdom ! When you go to the back of the hall, you will find water that gives you wisdom when you drink it. Drinking too much water halves your wisdom !
Akutsu Hachimangu1
In Takahata Town, there is another old shrine that should not be overlooked. From Akutsu Hachiman, I think it is a historical shrine of Genji.
There was a magnificent thatched main shrine at the back, but for some reason there was a triple-storied pagoda of Buddhist architecture at the shrine.
The meat in the beef stew I always eat at home is pork ! That’s because beef is expensive and not so good for the price. However, the price of brand beef is different, but the taste is also different.
I remember eating beef steak in Argentina once, but it was very tender and delicious. When I asked to the waiter if they were exporting, he told that they were all eaten by the Argentines, so they were not exported. The export volumn of Argentine wine is also low for the same reason. That’s why I try to find Argentine wine first in Japanese wine shops.
The Japanese beef (Wagyu) gene was brought overseas and became a global brand, but Japanese beef still stands out. Moreover, it is west high(ex. Kobe Beef, Matsuzaka Beef, Ohmi Beef) and east low in Japan. Kyoto seems to have the highest per capita consumption of beef in Japan, but I was wondering if they were eating only vegetarian food. Among these circumstances, the Yonezawa beef in Tohoku is doing its best. Enjoy yourself slowly with local sake.
Shirabu Hot Spring1
Shirabu Onsen has a retro hot spring inn with a thatched roof. Hot springs always overflow from the bathtub like a flood and are always fresh. Since it is a retro, the voice of the next room will leak, but do not hit the wall one by one. I was hit by a nervous foreigner in the next room. Then I want to tell her not to stay in a retro inn.
Shirabu Hot Spring4
Shirabu Hot Spring2３
Shirabu Hot Spring5
Shirabu Hot Spring2
Shirabu Hot Spring from edo period
Shirabu Hot Spring water
Unfriendly poster cat
She did not let me take a frontal photo at Nishi-Ya inn.
Sasano Kannon is one of the 33 Kannon pilgrimages in Okitama area, but it is especially admirable because the lord of the Yonezawa domain had visited it repeatedly. The roof is very large compared to the lower structure, and the sculptures under the eaves are rich and detailed.
sculpture of dragon and crane
good foot prayer
Kannon aims to relieve people’s suffering by changing 33 forms and faces, so 33 Kannon pilgrimage routes had been established in various areas, and it is interesting that industries such as local specialty products are flourishing there.
entrance gate of Sasano Kannon
facade of Sasano Kannon
In Sasano Kannon, lord Youzan Uesugi encouraged the hawk carving by only one engraving tool, and its technology has been passed down to the present day near the Kannon.
The hawk’s carvings made from the Enju tree, Japanese Pagoda tree, have a reddish exposed core that forms part of the design (see below left). It is said that Enju is good for longevity and success in life because it is written in Kanji, Japanese character, that the life span extends. Japanese people like these word games !
Hawk sculpture1
Hawk sculpture3
The famous saying* is displayed (see above right) because the store name is ‘Youzan’, which President Kennedy had respected. >Please read detail another post.
*)”If you try to do, it can be achieved, if you don’t, it will never be achieved. Achieving nothing is due to one’s own intention to not try.”
Hawk sculpture0 shop
Hawk sculpture2 workplace
I found something valuable in this shop. It’s a basket woven from mountain vines and sells for $3,000 to $4,000 per department store in Tokyo. See for yourself how much is here.
By the end of the 19th century, British travel explorer Isabella Bird called the Okitama area including Yonezawa basin ‘the Arcadia of Asia’.
The place name of Okitama is not familiar to modern Japanese people, but it is based on the Ainu language. It is a large granary area surrounded by deep mountains. Perhaps she was impressed by the green land spreading in front of her after crossing a difficult mountain. But that’s not all for the arcadia.
Okitama area had been dominated by the Uesugi family in the Edo period. Everyone knows that a pioneer warlord of Uesugi family, Kenshin Uesugi, had ruled Niigata area, not Okitama area. In addition, every year during the cherry blossom season, the Kawanakajima battle between Kenshin Uesugi and Shingen Takeda (actually done at Nagano) is reproduced in Yonezawa !
At the end of the Warring States period, Kenshin’s successor ruled Aizu under the order of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, but after Ieyasu Tokugawa took power, the Uesugi family, his hostile, had been moved to Okitama, which had a low rice production. The Uesugi family and chief retainer Kanetsugu Noe did not dismiss their subordinates and developed cultivated land.
150 years later, Youzan Uesugi, the new lord appeared to save the financial difficulty by educating people instead of dismissing them and creating new industries that continue to this day.
“People belong to the nation, not the king.”
This is what he advocated and is exactly the idea of modern democracy. President Kennedy reportedly raised Youzan Uesugi, Yonezawa lord, as a Japanese politician he respected in his inaugural interview. There are many Japanese who do not know this person, but the following sayings, rather than as a poem written by him, have been heard at least once .
“If you try to do, it can be achieved, if you don’t, it will never be achieved. Achieving nothing is due to one’s own intention to not try.”
What the two reformers had in common was that they value people and thought that people were property. The arcadia may have been created by people who were carefully protected in this countryside.
By the way, Kenshin, a successor Kagekatu and Youzan in Uesugi family were not related by blood but adoption. It’s cool !
Yonezawa castle3
Yonezawa castle2
As you walk along the Yonezawa Castle Ruins, the center of Arcadia, imagine the history of hardship. If the time is right, you can see the Rakuchu Rakugai folding screen (National treasure) donated by Nobunaga Oda to Kenshin Uesugi. Incidentally, Masamune Date has been moved to the northern part of Miyagi Prefecture from the Okitama area by the order of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Therefore, at the battle of Sekigahara, Date was attacking Uesugi as an excuse to side with Tokugawa. Places like each other.
On the way to Namegawa Hot Spring in Yamagata prefecture, I have been searching mobile radio wave to book an event ticket that starts from that day through the Internet. There was poor wave among deep mountains between Fukushima prefecture and Yamagata prefecture and I found a route sign of ‘Mountain Pass Station’ when the intensity of radio wave became strong. I recognized that mobile phone access point should be located at this station because passengers getting on or off the station can use mobile phone.
Mountain Pass Station1
The unmannedstation, the name of which is ‘Mountain Pass’, looked like a storage yard surely as a measure against deep snow but nobody seemed to use it. I heard the chirping of wild birds and felt the presence of wildlife outside the yard. A place left behind in the real world. Suddenly an alarm sounded in the yard and the Yamagata Shinkansen(High Speed Railway)* ran through the yard in a moment. And it returned to the original silence.
I felt a mysterious feeling that I could slip through the world of reality and fantasy in an instant.
*)Shinkansen transit times and local timetables are displayed in unmanned stations. It is rare for this station to meet a local line. There are rarely any places where you can see the Shinkansen passing by at the height of the tracks up close.
Mountain Pass Station3 plate
Mountain Pass Station4 and Highspeed railway
Before the Shinkansen passed, the local line seemed to switch back here and climb the mountain pass. The trace of the switchback can be seen from the photo below. You can also find the railroad crossing when the Shinkansen passes !
switch-back trace
Detour (Namegawa Hot Spring and Waterfall)
Please be careful when driving until you reach the hot spring. About one hour from the retro hot spring, there is a large waterfall that runs down onto a monolith 80 meters high. The suspension bridge on the side of the inn has collapsed, so you need to wear boots and cross the river yourself. I missed the chance due to no boots at that time, so photos in gallery are not Namegawa Waterfall.
I tried translating the name of this gorge into English without permission, so it became like this title. So, please do not search seriously with this name. Anyway in the old days, you couldn’t pass each other without hugging each other.
River Tamagawa flowing through this gorge is cobalt blue. It flows from Tamagawa Hot Spring* around Mt.Hachimantai, but since the strongly acidic water contains aluminum as a basic ion, the light with a short wavelength is scattered by its particles and the surface of water appears blue. For the same reason, the water in Lake Tazawa looks blue due to injection of water of River Tamagawa long ago.
If you go sightseeing near here, you will definitely go to the famous Kakunodate with old samurai residence, but as a countryside lover, you should definitely visit the gorge that makes you feel the traces of a volcano.
*)A hot spring that warms your body with geothermal heat while wearing clothes in a sulfur-rich crater is worth a try. Simply lay a straw rug on the ground and lie on your back. You can also enjoy a bathing style where you just put your head out of a box filled with steam.
