It seems that since the Edo period, common people have enjoyed ranking hot spring resorts with sumo-like rankings, but in modern rankings, Beppu Onsen is always ranked as the western “Yokozuna.” Beppu is like a collection of many hot spring resorts, but regardless of their ranking, there are small hot spring resorts all over Japan that have their own unique characteristics, for example Geto hot spring, Ginzan hot spring, Matsukawa hot spring and Tsuta hot spring.
geto retro hotel
ginzan hot spring
Matsukawa Hot Spring
tsuta hot spring
kannaw hotspring steam everywhere
Hot springs can be found everywhere in Beppu. When you climb up the hill and look out over the city, you can see hot spring steam rising from everywhere, and you can feel that the town of Beppu is built on magma underground. The best view point is the bus stop of Kan-nawa Hotspring East Exit or Steam observation deck with small parking space. (>>refer to the map below)
There are public hot springs all over the place with no frills, just a tiled bathtub in the middle. There is no caretaker at the entrance, and locals enter without permission. In addition, the steam bath with medicinal herbs inside the sauna has a relaxing natural scent. Takegawara Onsen, a splendid Karahafu hot spring near the coast, will test your mettle with its heat.
kannawa hotspring sujiyu1
kannawa hotspring sujiyu2 no charge for local people
kannawa hotspring sujiyu3 cat with cafe over there
kannawa hotspring public bath with steam
kannawa hotspring medicinal herbs sekisho
kannawa hotspring sauna with japanese herb sekisho
beppu takegawara hotspring
kannawa hotspring steam from the slit of road
The ultimate way to enjoy hot springs is to cook steamed dishes. You procure your own ingredients, arrange them in a colander, and cook them just over hot spring steam for the optimal time for each ingredient. Steaming with hot spring steam has a slightly different taste than steaming on a regular stove, probably because of the hot spring ingredients. The Yanagiya Inn we stayed at has an Italian restaurant that serves steamed dishes, as well as a kitchen where you can cook your own steamed dishes.
kannawa hotspring yanagiya1 entrance
kannawa hotspring yanagiya3 kitchen
kannawa hotspring yanagiya4 steam cooking
kannawa hotspring yanagiya5 before steam
kannawa hotspring yanagiya6 recommended steam time for each ingredient
otto e sette oita
otto1 amberjack salad
otto2 spagetti boiled by hotspring water
otto3 swallow genovese
otto4 hand made bread
otto5 ice
otto6 hell boiled dish
otto7 dish with vegitable
otto8 yellow powdered persimmon
otto9 pudding boiled hotspring
otto10
The best way to enjoy Beppu is to experience something a little different from the typical tourist route of visiting Jigoku Onsen (Hell Hotspring). Of course, I won’t forget to visit Jigoku Onsen.
Buddha statues are made of five types of materials: metal, lacquer, wood, stone, and earth, and the materials have changed over time. Naturally, costs, time, and techniques vary depending on the material, but it’s surprising that the old ones are superior in all respects. In the Asuka period, represented by Horyu-ji Temple, Buddha statues were made of gilt bronze, although they were small, but later on, lacquer was used to make them lighter so that they could be carried out in case of frequent temple fires caused by lightning. The Asura statue at Kofukuji Temple is a representative work.
shoujyouji kakushi (Source: website of village Yugawa)
Furthermore, as Buddhism spread, the demand for Buddhist statues increased, and people began to make Buddhist statues using wood, which was easy to procure and could be produced in a short time. During the Heian period, there were many Buddhist statues made of one piece of wood. There are more wooden Buddhist statues in Nara than in Kyoto, but the surviving single-wood Buddha statues are valuable because the Heike family burned down temples that sided with the Genji clan at the end of the Heian period. Therefore, the precious single-wooden Buddha statues surprisingly remain in the region. One of the representative examples is the Yakushi Nyorai statue, a national treasure, at Shoujyouji Temple in the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture, where Buddhist culture was flourishing.
When it became difficult to procure a single large piece of wood to carve a Buddha statue from, they introduced the method of marquetry and division of labor to enable mass production in a short time. This led to the development of the Kei-ha school, whose representative was the Buddhist sculptor Unkei. From the Kamakura period onward, muscular statues were made using marquetry.
On the other hand, regarding stone making, large amounts of marble suitable for carving were produced around the Mediterranean Sea, so stone sculptures were produced in large quantities during the Greco-Roman period, but in Japan there was a lack of natural stone suitable for carving. As a result, 60-70% of the Buddha statues carved directly into cliffs are located in Oita Prefecture.
usuki2 amida
usuki3
usuki4 holes for scriptures
usuki5
usuki7 sannosan
usuki8
usuki9 kosono
usuki11
usuki13 torii at fukada
Usuki is home to many stone cliff Buddha statues that have been designated as national treasures, and are said to date from the late Heian period to the Kamakura period. Not only is the carving beautiful, but the colors remain as well. There are all kinds of Buddhist statues, including Amida Nyorai, Yakushi Nyorai, Dainichi Nyorai, and Jizo Bosatsu.
usuki12 black garlic famous for TV shopping
By the way, many of the souvenir shops here sell black garlic as a way to promote health, but I wonder why. I heard that you can make black garlic yourself by heating and fermenting raw garlic in an electronic jar for 20 days, as I saw on a Japanese satellite TV advertising program. It’s quite expensive to buy. All the souvenir shops reminded me that Japan’s satellite broadcasts are mostly commercials for health-promoting foods, jewelry, or bedding.
The next morning, the mountain road leading back to the Yamanami Highway was a tunnel of autumn leaves, shining brightly.
kuju highway0
kuju highway1
kuju highway2
kuju highway3 kuju hightland
kuju highway4 kuju mountains view
On the road to Taketa City, I come across a light truck with an elegant English Pointer on its back. The pointer on the loading platform does not look at me easily. He is balanced well on the carrier.
kuju highway5 wow!
kuju highway6
kuju highway7 eye contact
parabolic curve
Meanwhile, I arrived at Taketa. I didn’t have enough time to visit the old town (>refer to the post in the near future), so I headed straight to Oka Castle. This castle was the setting for “Kojo no Tsuki” (“The moon over the ruined castle” in English) composed by Rentaro Taki who spent his childhood here. It’s interesting that the admission ticket comes in the form of an old period scroll with a guide map of Oka Castle, but it gets in the way and is inconvenient when it comes to taking it home. Although only the stone walls remain of this mountain castle, the stonework is beautiful and draws a parabolic curve.
oka castle2 entrance
oka castle4
oka castle7 why need complicate design
Do not the same thing
Since there is no protective fence, you can sit on the protruding tip of the stone wall, but it doesn’t feel like you’re alive. It feels like my lower abdomen is falling out. Those with a strong heart can admire the beautiful Kuju Mountain Range from here. There are several castles in the sky floating in the morning mist in Japan, but Oka Castle, which appears out of nowhere amidst layers of mountains, is a true Ghibli castle in the sky.
I used to think that suspension bridges were built out of necessity, but seeing this made me realize that they were purposely built in places where they didn’t need to be built, just to make people feel scary. Many people walk on the suspension bridge, which looks just like a wide pedestrian bridge. Although the suspension bridge uses fairly thick wire rope, you can still feel some sway. There is a magnificent waterfall that can only be seen from here, but the scale of the view from the suspension bridge is so large that the waterfall feels small.
Once you cross the suspension bridge, you will see a building that looks like a haunted house at the festival venue. In front of the house, there was a crowd of people who seemed to be hesitating whether to enter or not. This place holds a spectacle where customers can touch and hold white snakes in hopes of attracting financial luck. I was reluctant to enter, but my companion was blinded by financial fortune and we decided to enter.
suspension bridge6 white snake named toguro
suspension bridge7 white snake named makitsuki
When I pay, the thick curtain in front of me opens and I come face to face with two white snakes. One of them is called “Toguro,” which coils itself on my hand, and the other is “Makitsuki,” which wraps around my arm.” No matter who holds them, these snakes maintain the same posture as their namesake, so these must be their favorite poses. The touch was unlike anything I had ever felt before, neither cold nor warm, and I was filled with the desire to return them as soon as possible. In the end, it was the people at the show booths who were lucky to make money.
Detour
Tonight we will be staying at Kiyasuya in Sujiyu Onsen, but Sujiyu Onsen is also home to a famous public bathhouse “Utase-yu.” The name Sujiyu originally came from the fact that the hot spring ingredients are effective for soothing tired muscles, but the public bath is an ultimate hot spring where the hot spring water is dropped from a height of about 3 meters to soothe the body.
It became famous after it was used in the filming of several tea commercials on TV. It was created by erosion after the eruption of Mt. Aso 90,000 years ago. It’s fascinating to go behind the waterfall. However, people accumulate there, so if you take a photo of the waterfall from outside, people will appear behind the waterfall curtain like ghosts. It seems like admission is now restricted by advance reservations online.
You won’t be able to see the waterfall until you have descended quite a bit from the entrance, so you can see the sunlight shining into the basin of the waterfall, which is beautiful.
nabegataki waterfall with sun rays
It’s difficult to talk about the beauty of waterfalls. First of all, there is no taxonomy of waterfalls, so each person imagines a waterfall in a variety of ways. There are waterfalls that fall in a dynamic straight line, waterfalls with many tiered basins, waterfalls that cascade down the rock surface, and waterfalls that flow delicately and quietly as if pulling a thread, each with its own unique charm. Under such circumstances, I wonder whose permission they get to decide on the top 100 waterfalls. There are wonderful waterfalls all over Japan, so I hope you find your favorite one by yourself. Here I will introduce my favorites, Snoopy Falls and Nametsu Falls.
miroku waterfall like snoopy
nametsu big waterfall2
Detour
There is a restaurant near the waterfall that serves my favorite lunch. Last time I stopped by, I bought a bunch of herbal tea.
I was finally able to visit the core of Aso. Last time, I couldn’t see the whole thing in the rain clouds, but there was a swell of sticky lava, exposed bedrock towering as far as the eye could see, and it looked like there were cordons like construction sites all over the place.
aso crater1 with sticky lava
aso crater2 focus
aso crater6
aso crater7
When you look at it, you can feel that it is a volcano that is still active. The most recent eruption occurred in October 2016. Crater regulation information is updated daily, so if you don’t check it before you visit, you’ll be missing out even if the weather is nice.
Shiroyama view point on the edge of somma
aso caldera1 left
aso caldera2 center from shiroyama view point
aso caldera3 right
Aso approach
aso highway4 thin and aso left
aso highway5 thin and aso right
aso highway1
aso highway2 kuju
aso highway3 aso view
aso pasture1
aso komezuka
aso pasture3 bright thin
aso kuju mountains on somma
aso moutain
Aso crater and Kusasenri (The grass stretches for a thousand miles)
aso crater and kusasenri
Aso cattle are grazed on the mountain path along the way. If you approach them carelessly, their eyes will turn bright red and threaten you. I have seen bullfights, and when the fighting instinct comes to the fore, the bull’s eyes become bloodshot. I’m looking forward to tonight’s beef steak.
Yabakei is an old volcanic plateau that has been transformed into a series of strangely shaped rocks due to erosion. There are places called this way all over the country (For example: Dakikaeri Gorge in Akita Prefecture), but they are concentrated in the northern part of Oita Prefecture. When Yukichi Fukuzawa, an enlightenment thinker and educator from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji period and a founder of Keio University, learned that one of these, his hometown of Kyoshuhou, was going to be sold, he apparently bought the land and protected it without using his name. It was the forerunner of the National Trust movement in Japan.
yabakei kyoshuho1 left
yabakei kyoshuho2 center
yabakei kyoshuho3 right
In addition, the priest of Rakan-ji Temple (Arhat Temple), whose temple complex clings to a gigantic rock wall, spent 30 years digging a hand-dug tunnel called the Ao-no-domon to enable people to safely pass through the difficult access points of this Yabakei to worship. This cave is located at the foot of Kyoshuhou.
yabakei blue tunnel2
yabakei blue tunnel3 hand digging
yabakei blue tunnel1
The writer Kan Kikuchi was inspired by this real story and created a masterpiece called “Beyond the Enemy.” The main character learns that the person he has found to avenge himself is actually a priest who is excavating the tunnel, but in order to achieve revenge as soon as possible, he helps dig the tunnel together, and when it opens, he abandons his desire for revenge. This is the synopsis of his novel. That’s why the title of the work is “Beyond the Enemy.”
By the way, the true story is that after the tunnel opened, Ao-no-Domon became the first toll road in Japan to collect tolls, but the money was used to pay for the construction costs of hiring masons, so it can’t be helped. The chisel and mallet used for hand digging are displayed in the hall next to the entrance to the chair lift that takes you up to Arhat Temple, so don’t miss them.
arhat temple1 entrance
arhat temple2
arhat temple3 real chisel and hammer for digging tunnel
arhat temple4 top of mountain
arhat temple5 using chair lift
arhat temple6
arhat temple8 thousand jizos
arhat temple9
arhat temple11 clouds
arhat temple13
arhat temple15
arhat temple16
arhat temple19 five hundreds arhats
arhat temple18 rice scoops save lives
I think Arhat Temple was also built so that it clings to a rock wall like that. If that’s the case, I wonder if it would have been better to build the temple in a safer place, without the need for tunnels, from the beginning. If that happens, all the good stories I’ve introduced here will be lost. In any case, there is something about Yabakei that moves people’s hearts.
Usa Shrine is the grandmaster of all Hachiman Shrines. Do you understand that there is a hierarchy in shrines, just like in human society?
It is said that there are eight million gods in Japan, and people believe that there are gods everywhere. Depending on the deity enshrined, shrines can be classified into 30,000 Inari shrines for business, 40,000 Hachiman shrines for military fortune, 12,000 Tenjin shrines for academics, and 25,000 Suwa shrines for agricultural irrigation.
Hachiman was originally an indigenous god worshiped by the local Usa clan, but it seems that he became the god of military luck after being told by the gods that he was the incarnation of Emperor Ojin, a master of archery. At Hachiman Shrine, there is a ritual called Hojo-e where living things are released into nature. Samurai (warrior) are destined to kill life, but Buddhism forbids killing. It is said that these contradictory concepts were fused on the Kunisaki Peninsula, resulting in a syncretization of Shinto and Buddhism.
Usa Jingu is the grandmaster of the Hachiman deity, and is positioned to bring together other shrines such as Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine in Kyoto and Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura. I think it would be interesting to visit the shrines while understanding their connections. The shape of the main building of the shrine is called Hachiman-zukuri(style) and is similar to each other.
usa gingu nanchu romon
iwashimizu hachiman gu
kamakura hachiman gu
Left: Usa /Center: Iwashimizu(Kyoto) /Right: Tsurugaoka(Kamakura)
worship method: 2bows, 4applause and 1bow again
However, when it comes to etiquette when visiting shrines, at most shrines you bow twice, clap twice and lastly bow once again, but at Usa Shrine you bow twice, clap four times and lastly bow once again. Even so, the grounds of Usa Shrine are too vast like U.S.A.
The Kunisaki Peninsula is a group of former volcanoes that jut out into the Seto Inland Sea in a generally conical shape. Because it is an old volcano, it has been eroded along a conical shape, with deep valleys radiating out to the sea. A Buddhist culture was formed by incorporating Japan’s ancient Shinto religion (the Hachiman faith at Usa Shrine) into Buddhism (Tendai sect), which was introduced from the continent, and training was carried out by walking on the harsh peaks of a group of former volcanoes that stood out in deep valleys.
uji byodo-in, the same national treasure
Fukiji Temple is an Amida Hall (national treasure), along with Uji’s Byodo-in Phoenix Hall and Hiraizumi Chuson-ji Konjiki Hall, and is the oldest wooden building in Kyushu, with its sloping roof evoking elegance. According to a local guide, it was a playground when he was little, so it was a luxury. Not only are the precious Buddhist paintings inside the temple fading due to exposure to ultraviolet rays, but the security is not at all worthy of being considered a national treasure, but is rather non-vigilant, making it hard to believe that it is one of the three major Amida temples. A statue of Amida Nyorai is carved out of a Japanese oak tree.
kunisaki fuki temple1
kunisaki fuki temple3
kunisaki fuki temple2 black cat
kunisaki fuki temple4 amidadou
kunisaki fuki temple6 kaya with antiseptic effect
There is also a temple called Magi-Ohdo nearby, where many simple Buddhist statues remain. There are so many temples and large Buddha statues carved into cliffs that you will have to stay for several days to see them all over the place.
kunisaki scarecrows to increase population of depopulated village
Detour (Four seasons’ vegitable restaurant)
There is a home-cooked restaurant called Shikisai (Four seasons’ vegitable restaurant directly translated in English) in a place overlooking a rice field called Tashibu-no-sho, which was the manor of Usa Jingu Shrine during the Heian period. During the rice planting season, you can see the beautiful green terraced rice fields. This was my first visit, but they serve elaborate dishes made with unexpected ingredients. I want to stop by also next time.
Before the shuttle bus group arrives, take a lecture at the Brown Bear Information Center about how to climb the mountain. The important thing is to know what to do to avoid encountering a bear, and I have hardly ever thought about what to do in case I do come across one. Even if you wear a bear bell, it will be drowned out by the sound of the river around the stream. If you are a certain distance away from a bear you encounter, you will back away while looking into the bear’s eyes, and if you are attacked at close range, you will protect your neck with your hands under your backpack, but what would you do if your hands were bitten by bear? All you can do is decide not to think about encountering such a thing. The exit from the center is also on your way home, so make a donation or buy some goods from the center to show your appreciation for the safety efforts.
brown bear info center
brown bear info center explanation of precautions
Now it’s time to tour the swamp. One circuit clockwise takes 5 hours, but the second half is downhill so you will need some climbing equipment. If you turn back at Kogen-numa(swamp) just before the deepest Sora-numa, you won’t need any mountaineering equipment and can return in 4 hours round trip. If you look at the map, you can see that this is a place where the mountain collapsed and created swamps, but it is a fairly long mountain trail and should not be considered a hike. It is better to at least wear mudguard spats on your foot.
Source Excerpt from the Ministry of the Environment website
(Source: Excerpt from the Ministry of the Environment website)
Final descending time for each of the three major swamps is announced, and instructors are always on standby there regardless of the weather. I felt that it was hard work for the instructors to call out to every climber, but since they were standing all the time without even ringing a bear bell, so I thought that calling out to them was also a measure against bears. (I’m sorry.) Early morning and evening are prime times for bears to be seen.
red demon will catch you
At this time of final descent, few people will associate it with the red demon of the Mt. Rokko traversal competition (Kobe City). I once participated in a competition where I ran 48 km of Mt. Rokko from Suma to Takarazuka in one day. A red demon will chase you from the last place, and at each checkpoint it will display how many minutes it will take to arrive, and if you are overtaken by this, you will be told that the race is over and you will not be able to complete the race. Furthermore, when you finish the race, you will receive a small shield to prove your completion. The next day, my body was in shambles.
Now, go back to the tour. For the first hour, you walk through wetlands dotted with skunk cabbage that looks like it’s been devoured by bears,
to dohyo-numa (1) skunk cabbage eaten by bear
to dohyo-numa (1)
to dohyo-numa (2)
to dohyo-numa (5) surveillance camera for bear
to dohyo-numa (6) bear feces
to dohyo-numa (8) yanbe tappu stream
to dohyo-numa (9) yanbe tappu stream
to dohyo-numa (11) caution for bear
to dohyo-numa (12)
If you’re lucky, you might be able to spot the brightly colored wild bird, the Ginzanmashiko,
to dohyo-numa Ginzanmashiko (2)
to dohyo-numa Ginzanmashiko (3)
to dohyo-numa Ginzanmashiko (4)
to dohyo-numa Ginzanmashiko (5)
to dohyo-numa Ginzanmashiko (6)
to dohyo-numa Ginzanmashiko (7)
to dohyo-numa Ginzanmashiko (8)
dohyo-numa
basho-numa
And then you arrive at Takimi-numa. There are many temples in Kyoto with wonderful gardens, but Takimi-numa surpasses them in its ultimate natural beauty. The exquisite balance between the close-up view of the swamp and the distant view of the colorful autumn leaves arranged like a folding screen on the slope is out of this world. You can enjoy it on both sunny and even rainy days.
takimi-numa 2
takimi-numa (1)
takimi-numa (3)foggy
takimi-numa (4)foggy
takimi-numa (2) foggy
Midori-numa, which appears next to Takimi-numa, has an open landscape and is one of swamps with final decending time set. Each swamp has a completely different look.
midori-numa
midori-numa (2)
midori-numa (8)
midori-numa (10)Please bring your own toilet waste container
midori to yuno (1)bear feces
midori to yuno (2)wooden path materials
midori to yuno (3)
midori to yuno (4)small river crossing
midori to yuno (5)
midori to yuno (6)
yuno-numa
kamo-numa
After a while along the mountain trail, you will come to Ezo-numa. It appears to be a swamp formed like a terraced rice field at the edge of a slope, but the end of the break in the trees in the middle seems to be a waterfall over there, and the reflection of the autumn leaves on the water’s surface is nothing short of beautiful.
ezo-numa (1)
ezo-numa (2)left
ezo-numa (3)left-center
ezo-numa (4)center-right
ezo-numa (5)right
When you walk further, you will see the cliffs of Takanegahara and Shikibu-numa where the reflection of the autumn leaves on the water’s surface is also beautiful.
ezo to shikibu (2)
shikibu-numa (1)left
shikibu-numa (2)center
shikibu-numa (3)right
As you climb further, Daigaku-numa appears at the foot of the cliff.
daigaku-numa (0)
daigaku-numa (1)
daigaku-numa (2)
The turning point, Kogen-numa, will be just around the corner. If the weather is good, you can see Mt. Midoridake over there look like the mountain is wrapped in red sashes of autumn leaves. Time is up here. Before I knew it, the light rain had gotten heavier, so I turned back.
kogen-numa
return point (2)
return point (1)
return point (3) looking over at daigaku-numa
return point (4)
go back to midori-numa
daisetsu kogen onsen ramen after swamp tour
It took about 5 hours round trip as I went slowly. After eating up some warm ramen at an inn in Daisetsu Kogen Onsen, I headed straight to New Chitose Airport. There was no time to stop by to see the Sounkyo waterfall. The road along the way is covered in terrain full of columnar joints.
