It takes place on 2nd Saturday of June. Iwate, especially the north of it, named ‘Nambu’ has been a horse production ares. A pair of sculpture in front of shrines as a guardian ae sometimes changed from dogs normally to horces. Humen and horses live together under the same roof in the countryside. Humen pray their health and safe and the road of pray had became the parade from countryside(Takizawa village) to Morioka city of more than 100 horses dressing up which are nurtured with care in each house.
chaguchagu4 rest
*)It takes almost half day on foot(14km) when you follow the parade, so it is a good idea to stay ahead of the curve using trains(st.Aoyama,etc). The parade takes breaks on the way several times and then nursing baby horses get milk from their mothers.
chaguchagu6 morioka city
At last, poud parade groups marches through Morioka city and Sansa Dancing welcomes them early in advance the festival season without controling their impulse.
It appears in front of you the moment you turn the promenade. There is no doubt that it looks snoopy no matter what you look at. I recognized this waterfall when watching TV program casually a few years ago. The official name is Miroku Waterfall, which come from Buddhist thought. Certainly, I felt that way because it suddenly appeared after turning the promenade.
I was planning to make a detour* on the way back from Lake Towada on 2nd day but the sunset was early in the deep mountains, so I gave up to stop by and next day challenged.
*)It is on the way down from Lake Towada to Iwate prefecture through the southside of Aomori prefecture. Entering from the main road**, it is at the end of a dead end road. No gas station nearby around Lake Towada. Be careful !
**)Takko Town is located along the main road. The garlic in Takko Town is famous for its quality, which makes it possible to revitalize the town.
Japanese style of bullfight is completely different from Spanish one. It’s a fight between bulls and
like Japanese wrestling ‘SUMO’ with a table of ranking.
Fights are held about 10 times according to the ranking.
bullfighteyes return red
Judgment of winning or losing is decided naturally with the breath of “Aun” and may sometimes be settled by face confusion !
Bull eyes turn red from fighting spirit. Indeed, the Yokozuna, Champion of bullfight, won by its face and red eyes without real fight !
bullfight venue
Bullfight festivals are held 4 times a year on Hiraniwa Heights in Iwate prefecture. According to the web page the starting point of bullfighting is to match the cows in order to decide which one to lead the caravan of transporting salt from Sanriku coast. So Hiraniwa Heights is located near Kuji city on Sanriku coast.
On the way to Matsukawa Hot Spring village there is a local but famous attraction that tourists miss in the countryside.
Columnar joint with autumn colors decoration welcome you when getting off on the river. It is located on the east side across the river, so it would be better in the afternoon to take a photo of shining autumn colors with columnar joint under the sun. Near here the view from “the big bridge of forest ” is also recommended.
Surrounded by Mt.Hachimantai and Mt. Iwate, the Matsukawa basin is a countryside full of autumn colors. It is the best place to enjoy autumn in Tohoku.
Main tourist area is the flat top of Hachimantai mountains with alpine plants and panoramic view around the tourist road named Hachimantai Aspite Line. The mountains are volcano formed by lava with low viscosity. That is why the top is flat. > > read more about volcano story
The origin of the name is told to come from God of battle luck ‘Hachiman-sama’. ‘Hachiman’ is a symbolic icon related to ‘Genji’ that created the first samurai society in Japan.
There are many hot springs in Machimantai volcano. Matsukawa hot spring village, very attractive one of them, is located in the south of Hachimantai and it seems to be floating on the forest sea, especially autumn colors sea. The big truss structure bridge, 5 mins abover the village, has been left due to the cancelation of the traverse road construction plan reflecting natural environment movement and now it fortunately became a great view point !
Panorama View from the bridge (click photo)
panorama left
panorama center
panorama right
Left: toward the flat peak of Mt.Hachimantai
Center: Matsukawa valley (Matsukawa Hot Spring)
Right: toward Mt.Iwate
Matsukawa Hot Spring watching autumn colorsexplanation on the way
A walking tour with a guide (no charge) is held every morning at the hotel ‘Kyounso’ where we stayed at Matsukawa Hot Spring of Hachimantai. Extensive explanation and stories over one hour before breakfast made us feel rich nature of Hachimantai. The following stories, for example, are very attractive !
find water passage on the beech tree surface
<Story 1> (photo 14)
Each beech tree is stored 8-tone water under the ground through the mechanism of the shape of a leaf and water passage on a trunk . So landslide or wildfires do not occur in the beech forest, and they are naturally digested even if they are bonfired or left in the forest. It would be an overstatement to not extinguish the bonfire.
<Story2>
Why is the beech tree growing straight and thick, but not suitable for building materials? It has the property that it cannot grow easily because it is covered with bamboo grass when it is small, and it grows all at once when the bamboo grass dies in about 50 years. As a result, the beech grows straight and large, creating a genuine beech forest like the Shirakami Mountains. Therefore, the center of the annual ring is dense (that is, hard), and the outside of the annual ring is sparse (that is, soft), so it is not suitable as a building material. It is the only building material used in the main hall of Yamadera, Rissyaku-Temple, in Yamagata Prefecture, so be sure to take a closer look before heading to the summit if you go there.
walking 9 Mori-Utsuri
<Story3> (photo 9)
The raw material for Japanese paper is said to be Kozo-mitsumata, but glue is required to bond the fibers. It can be collected from the tree “Nori Utsuri”(see photo 9 below), as the name literary “glue transfer”.
walking 10 Kuromoji
<Story4> (photo 10)
The “Kuro-moji” tree (see photo 10 below) is a material for high-class toothpicks used when eating Japanese sweets in the tea ceremony. Kuro-moji tree is a relaxing fragrant tree and is said to relieve the tension of the tea ceremony.
<Story 5> (photo 13)
A maple designed for Canadian flag colors the forest as autumn leaves. The size of leaves in Japan are small and the Japanese name ‘KAEDE’ came from a flog(‘KAERU’)’s hand(‘TE’), ‘KAEru-no-T(D)E’.
walking 17 Honoki
<Story6> (photo 17)
“Honoki” (see photo 17 below) is a material that is neither hard nor soft. Therefore, it is used as a material for cutting boards that do not lack the teeth of kitchen knives and clogs (wooden shoes) with good cushioning.
I was told a lot of plant names and useful stories, but I couldn’t remember them because of the capacity of my brain.
I learnedin high school that Hachimantai was a mountain with the shield of a medieval knight lying beside it. Therefore, I remembered it as Aspite (shield) volcano, but recent volcanic studies have called it Konide volcano (stratovolcano) because of its formation process rather than its appearance. The tourist road that crosses the summit was named Hachimantai Aspite Line, but it might be difficult for locals to accept the results of this research and it has not been renamed.
Sea of trees
In any case, it is a gentle mountain, and the vast sea of trees spreads below you, making it comfortable to drive. It is also ideal for trekking because the road is not steep. However, the only drawback is that there is no clear peak, so you cannot get a sense of accomplishment. For that reason, a half-timbered observatory suddenly appears among the Todomatsu(pine) and bamboo forest, telling us that this is the peak!
peak of Mt.Hachimantai
There are ponds around the flat summit, but they became ponds after the steam explosion. Among them is an emerald green ‘Dragon Eye’ that appears in the snow thaw for only two weeks at the end of May. I want to see it even once.
Sanriku suffered Tsunami disasters many times. Each time, a stone monument was set up at the highest point where the tsunami reached, and lessons remained for individuals to run away in isolation, regardless of their families, it is said ‘Tendenko’. In the Great East Japan Earthquake, this lesson was put to good use, and about 600 students of elementary school and junior high school took the lead in evacuating to the hills at Unosumai region in Kamaishi City, saving many lives including residents. It is said to be a miracle of Kamaishi. The Unosumai Stadium, the venue for the Rugby World Cup 2019, was built on the site of the schools swallowed by the Tsunami. Test match Japan vs Fiji and World Cup match Fiji vs Uruguay were held with full audience.
rugby and unosumai stationline out in test match Japan vs Fiji
Sanriku is still on the way of recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Also, the speed of recovery varies from region to region. It is also influenced by topographical factors. As I mentioned the post of ‘Kita-Yamazaki cliff’ (>read more), the northern half of Sanriku is a raised coast and the other is a sinking coast, that is the real ‘rias’ coast with deep natural coves and natural good ports. The tsunami becomes huge toward the cove and the damage is great.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake, the houses in small fishing ports were moved to higher ground and the lands of towns in the cove were raised, but if the scale was large, the construction took time, and the evacuated residents could not return anymore when the land was cleared. I feel sad when I see vacant land here and there…..
vacant space in Otsuchi town on the raised land
If you finally went to Kesennuma at the southern end of Southern Sanriku, please drop by at the Kesennuma Memorial. The school building of Kesennuma Koyo High School, which was affected by the earthquake and tsunami, remains as it is. The tsunami that rushed up to the 4th floor, the car that had flown into the classroom and turned over, textbooks and upper shoes scattered on the floor are left as they are. I feel a strong will not to weather and forget the memory of the disaster. Come once.
car crushed by tsunami on the 3rd floor at Kesennuma Memorial
For those who directly return to Morioka from Miyako
In Morioka, try jaja-men(noodles) and after that not forget to order chi-tan-tan(egg soup) using the leftovers of the jaja-men. Morioka feels continental culture in food and festival costumes.
The Pure Land of Jodoga-hama means the paradise of that world. I don’t know because nobody has seen it, but it seems to be associated with the appearance of the Buddha in line from the row of eroded rocks.
jyoudoga hama 1
What I would like to pay attention to here is the exploration of the blue cave by a small boat(Zappa-sen). Naples may be famous for the blue cave, but in another sense, exploring the cave here is interesting.
Since a small boat enters a narrow cave, you may hit your head with the waves, so you must wear a helmet. However, I find that this helmet is used in different ways.
zappa boat with birds
When the small boat departs, black-tailed gulls gather for the “Kappa Ebisen”(feed) that was given to the customer in advance. In short, it’s feeding the black-tailed gull. The black-tailed gull catches the feed thrown in the air
bird on the helmet 2
without directly picking up the feed that the customer has, but it is well placed on the helmet worn by the customer, waiting for the opportunity. It’s a completely annoying story and a lovely time.
blue
I almost forgot to report the Blue Cave. It seems that the sea in the cave looks blue at the timing of the ebb tide in the morning, but the color of the sea suddenly changed to blue as I entered the cave.
Finally, it goes without saying that the coast of Jodoga-hama is also dominated by children chasing black-tailed gulls !
This is the first time for a limestone cave to go up and down so much. The cooler seems to have worked hard and it is comfortable in the summer, but the amount of exercise seems to exceed that. Unexpectedly, I’m more interested in the deep and endless transparent underground lake than the grown stalactite.
The water of the underground lake is rich in minerals such as calcium, and the residents of Iwaizumi who can drink it every day are envious. I love the Iwaizumi yogurt that uses this water.
