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.
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.
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.
First, write your name in the climbing record book at the management office at the entrance to the mountain trail. It takes about 15 minutes to reach the ridgeline, so you just keep going up the mountain trail with no views until then.
ginsendai 1 entrance
ginsendai 2
Once you reach the ridgeline, there are a series of spectacular views. A brocade of autumn leaves spreads across the huge flat slope.
ginsendai 4
ginsendai 5 forcus
Don’t be satisfied here, let’s at least go to Daiichi Hanazono (First Flower Garden). It’s less than an hour from the parking lot. The view of the sea of trees below is amazing from here, and you’ll want to dive with your whole body.
ginsendai 6 left
ginsendai 7 center
ginsendai 8 right
ginsendai 10
ginsendai 11
ginsendai 12
ginsendai 13 left
ginsendai 14 right
A little further ahead is a rocky area where pikas live. It is a small animal of the lagomorph family that survived the Ice Age and physically resembles a mouse. Listen carefully and look in the direction of the sound. They move quickly, and the bottom of the rocky area is a passage for pikas, so you can see their faces from various angles. This is also cute. There is a regular photographer with a telephoto lens, so it’s a good idea to ask him/her about various things.
For backpackers coming from Sendai, I recommend getting off at the next station, Nakayama-daira Onsen, instead of Naruko Onsen Station (2.5 hours by JR from Sendai). The reason for this is that you can briefly glimpse the core of Naruko Gorge that you are about to see between the tunnels passing through the gorge, and the walk from the station to Naruko Gorge is short (about 30 minutes) and there is a flat footpath.
naruko gorge from train (2)
However, as soon as you get off the train, you’ll see a quiet village that makes you wonder if you’ve made a mistake. On the way to Naruko Gorge, you can see the steam rising from the hot spring village where the hot springs are gentle on the skin. You can stop by on your way home.
walk from nakayamadaira station (1) hotspring
walk from nakayamadaira station (2)
walk from nakayamadaira station (3)
walk from nakayamadaira station (4)
walk from nakayamadaira station (5)
walk from nakayamadaira station (6)
Naruko Gorge suddenly appears at the end of the pine forest. When viewed from the top of a steep cliff, it looks like a series of folding screens of autumn leaves.
not just naruko cover photo
naruko gorge view point (1) left
naruko gorge view point (2) center
naruko gorge view point (3) right
naruko gorge upper (4)
naruko gorge upper (3)
naruko gorge upper (5)
naruko gorge upper (6)
naruko gorge upper (2) train
In the gorge at the bottom right, you can clearly see the railroad tracks that the train passed through earlier. Many photographers are ready to take pictures of the train coming out of the tunnel exit on the cliff covered in autumn leaves.
Feeling depressed about the prospect of climbing back up, I descended from the steep cliff for 15 minutes and arrived at the deepest part of the gorge surrounded by cliffs covered in autumn leaves (Kaiko Bridge).
naruko gorge deepest part (9)
naruko gorge deepest part (1)
naruko gorge deepest part (2)
naruko gorge deepest part (3)
naruko gorge deepest part (4)
naruko gorge deepest part (5)
naruko gorge deepest part (6)
naruko gorge deepest part (7)
naruko gorge deepest part (8)
naruko gorge deepest part (10)
naruko gorge deepest part (11)
naruko gorge deepest part (12)
Returning to the top of the cliff, you can see the deep meandering of the Otani River, which created Naruko Gorge, from the midway point of Ohfukasawa Bridge, which is located directly above the Kaiko Bridge.
naruko gorge from ohfukasawa bridge (1) panoramic view
naruko gorge from ohfukasawa bridge (2) left
naruko gorge from ohfukasawa bridge (3) left
naruko gorge from ohfukasawa bridge (4)
naruko gorge from ohfukasawa bridge (6)
naruko gorge from ohfukasawa bridge (7)
naruko gorge from ohfukasawa bridge (8) directly below
naruko gorge from ohfukasawa bridge (9) right
Beyond that bridge is the entrance to a quiet road that Edo period haiku poet Matsuo Basho wrote about in his travelogue on Oku no Hosomichi (about 45 minutes on the Ohfukasawa Promenade). There is “Shitomae barrier for defense” nearby.
ohfukasawa promenade (1)
ohfukasawa promenade (2)
ohfukasawa promenade (3)
ohfukasawa promenade (4)
ohfukasawa promenade (5)
ohfukasawa promenade (6)
ohfukasawa promenade (7)
ohfukasawa promenade (8)
ohfukasawa promenade (9)
ohfukasawa promenade (10)
ohfukasawa promenade (11)
ohfukasawa promenade (12)
ohfukasawa promenade (13)
ohfukasawa promenade (14)
ohfukasawa promenade (15)
ohfukasawa promenade (16)
“Shitomae barrier for defense”
The literal translation of the Japanese word naruko into English is a crying child. There is a theory that Naruko was named after the cry of a child that Minamoto no Yoshitsune’s wife gave birth to while he was on his way to Hiraizumi, and that the place was named “Shitomae barrier for defense” because the child urinated there for the first time.
Basho is said to have been suspicious of this barrier official when he was leaving for Yamagata, and he also wrote a poem in which he woke up to a horse urinating on his bedside in the stable of a private house where he was staying in the constant rain. However, it is said that this is just an exaggeration since they probably won’t be able to sleep in the stables. When I read that haiku for the first time, I believed it with all my heart.
Naturally, travelers planning to visit Suwa will have researched the Onbashira Festival, which is held once every seven years, in advance, so I will omit any details about it.
suwa shrine kamisyahongu8 haiden
Shrines with a long history or, more directly saying, with the enough funds, are rebuilt in different near locations every 20 years. Some people think of this as the rebirth of life, but I think it’s an exquisite way of thinking from the perspective of passing down techniques and connecting people in carrying out festivals. With the same idea of rebirth of life, you can think of Suwa Shrine as having the pillars at the four corners surrounding the shrine replaced every seven years, but without changing the location. Some people think of these pillars as a barrier that marks the boundary between the divine world and the human world. Furthermore, there are four Suwa shrines with the same name in this area, and Lake Suwa is in the middle of these four shrines.
suwa shrine kamisyamaemiya2 onbashira
suwa shrine kamisyahongu6 onbashira
suwa shrine simosyaharumiya5 onbashira
suwa shrine simosyaakimiya4 onbashira
Let me mention here that there are shrines with the same name in various places. Shinto shrines are translated into English as one word ‘shrines’, but in Japanese they are roughly divided into several groups based on their relationship with the imperial family, those with special pedigree such as historical figures, the centers of local beliefs, and etc. The Japanese names of ‘shrines’ also change depending on the relationship, for example, ’Jingu’ like Ise Jingu shrine, ‘Gu’ like Kitano Tenman-gu shrine, ‘Taisha’ like Suwa shrine. They are further divided into several groups depending on the purpose they are enshrined. For example, there are about 30,000 ‘Inari’ shrines for agriculture or business, about 40,000 ‘Hachiman’ shrines for military luck (The head of it is Usa Shrine.), about 12,000 ‘Tenjin’ shrines for academics, and about 25,000 ‘Suwa’ shrines for agricultural irrigation. This is why the same name ‘Suwa Shrine’ is also located in Nagasaki, for example, which is not only Suwa. Four Suwa Shrines in Suwa region are the head of the group.
Suwa Shrine Kamisha-Maemiya (Chino city)
suwa shrine kamisyamaemiya1
suwa shrine kamisyamaemiya4 natural water source
suwa shrine kamisyamaemiya5 water source
suwa shrine kamisyamaemiya3 front
suwa shrine kamisyamaemiya7 cosmos
Suwa Shrine Kamisha-Hongu (Chino city)
suwa shrine kamisyahongu1 side entrance
suwa shrine kamisyahongu0
suwa shrine kamisyahongu2
suwa shrine kamisyahongu3 wood carving
suwa shrine kamisyahongu4 dragon
suwa shrine kamisyahongu7 ochozu
suwa shrine kamisyahongu10
suwa shrine kamisyahongu9 sculpture
suwa shrine kamisyahongu11 looking back at approach
Suwa Shrine Shimosha-Harumiya (Shimo-suwa town)
suwa shrine simosyaharumiya1 point of dismounting horse
suwa shrine simosyaharumiya2 gate
suwa shrine simosyaharumiya3
suwa shrine simosyaharumiya4 sculpture
Suwa Shrine Shimosha-Akimiya (Shimo-suwa town)
suwa shrine simosyaakimiya1 wash your hands at hot spring
suwa shrine simosyaakimiya2
suwa shrine simosyaakimiya3
suwa shrine simosyaakimiya5 looking down at suwa lake
suwa shrines locatopn
express kaiji at chino
Although you will not receive any blessings if you do not visit all four Suwa shrines, you can visit them all in one day. You can get off the JR train at Chino Station and rent a bicycle to visit Kamisha-Maemiya and Kamisha-Hongu, then move to Shimo-Suwa Station and rent a bicycle or walk around Shimosha-Harumiya and Shimosha-Akimiya.
miya river1
The two Shimosha shrines are similar in structure, so if you don’t have time, you can lie and say you visited both shrines even if you only visit one. Only God knows! If I was really short on time and had to choose one of the four shrines, I would choose the most rustic Kamisha-Maemiya. There is another reason to chose it, Matsuki Agar Industry is right in front of it. Being an agar-producing area means that there are harsh winds in the winter, but the factory here lets you try plenty of samples, and you can get agar at a cheap price.
suwa shrine kamisyamaemiya6 yatsugatake from shirineagar factory direct sales store at chino
You can make delicious milk agar at home using just canned pineapple, granulated sugar, and milk. First, soak one stick of agar in 300ml of water, heat until it dissolves, add half of the canned syrup and 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar, heat further, turn off the heat, and slowly pour in 500ml of milk. Sprinkle finely chopped canned pineapple in a container, add melted milk agar, and serve.
daiya sake brewery1
daiya sake brewery2
dropping point1 of big tree stem on onbashira festival
dropping point2 looking down
dropping point3 demonstration
dropping point4 at harumiya
The Onbashira Festival is a series of events in which a pillar of a fir tree weighing 10 tons is cut down from the mountain, dragged by hand on the road, descended down a steep slope with many people straddling on the pillar, and finally placed at the four corners of the shrine. Therefore, if you don’t come across it once every seven years, you can find it on a dragged road (Onbashira road, especially the sharp curve in front of the Tamagawa post office), on a steep slope (Kiotoshizaka, near Toda Sake Brewery of Chino, Daiya-Kiku) or on the flat side of the dragged pillar in shrines. You can think about the grandeur of the festival by looking at them. There is also a demonstration at Onbashira-kan near Suwa Shrine Shimosha-Harumiya where you can ride a pillar and feel going down a steep slope, so be sure to try it out.
Onbashira Festival （source: suwataisha.or.jp）
suwa shrine simosyaakimiya1 wash your hands at hot spring
Also, at the entrance of the shrine there is a place to wash your hands to purify yourself, but I was surprised to find out that the water at Suwa Shrine is hot spring water.
Detour 1 (Ghibli World near Shimosha-Harumiya )
Manji’s stone Buddha statue reminds you of the robot soldiers in the world of Ghibli, “Laputa: Castle in the Sky”. There is a legend that when trying to put a chisel into that stone while making the torii gate of Shimosha-Harumiya, blood spilled out. So the stonemason used that stone to carve a stone Buddha.
laputa in the sky1 approach
laputa in the sky3
laputa in the sky2
Detour2 (Real hot spring)
The old road from Shimosha-Harumiya to Shimosha-Akimiya remains. Spring water is everywhere, and most of it is hot spring water. There is a public bath called ‘Tanga no Yu’ with hot water being poured of 52 degrees. The hot springs are colorless and transparent, but once you dip one foot in, you’ll be hesitant about putting the other foot in. It’s more than just a good bath, it’s a test of patience. When I came out, I felt the woman at the reception desk look at me, as if to say, oh, you’re already here, you’re early. Someone please look back. By the way, one person who appeared to be a local was soaked up to his shoulders! Brave !
suwa town1 hotspring water
suwa town2 turtle shell pattern
suwa town3 dedicate rice to a shrine
suwa town4 too hot spring public bath tanga
suwa town5
suwa town6
suwa town7 hotspring public bath in the town
Detour3
There are various places to view Lake Suwa in its entirety, but if you are driving, the best option is to go up the narrow road that leads to the back door of Suwa Lake Service Area building (used mainly by employees) without entering the expressway. You can take fine photos with the sun behind you.
suwa lake1 suwa service area
suwa lake2 yatsugatake
Takashima Castle is located on the eastern shore of Lake Suwa, and the cherry blossoms surrounding the moat are spectacular in spring. There is a record that it once faced Lake Suwa, but the special feature is that the roof tiles were broken due to the cold climate, so at that time the roof was changed to shingled roof. The famous historical building with shingled roof is Ginkakuji Temple in Kyoto.
Once upon a time, safflower was a big trade product for lipsticks and dyes. Yamagata was famous as a production center, and the decoration of the cap of the Hanagasa Ondo (dance) is safflower. However, the southern part of Miyagi Prefecture was also a safflower production area, and Murata Town became a trading center. Then the merchant who made the fortune set up the warehouse. Historical warehouses remain miraculously because the main railway and road has passed another route.
kenkon-ichi murata
One of these warehouses is now my favorite sake brewery. It was a pity that the day I visited to buy something it was close.
Detour (Togatta Hot Spring overlooking Mt.Zao)
zao mountains from togatta hot spring
There are many really good hot springs around Mt.Zao, Togatta, Aone, Gaga, etc. You can feel free to use the public bath to ease the fatigue of your trip.
aone hot spring on the way to togattaGo back to itinerary
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.
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.
