Meitsu Port is located halfway along the Nichinan coast. A banner reads, “This is the port with the largest catch amount of skipjack tuna in Japan using the pole-and-line fishing method.” Fishing begins at the end of February, and the lively bonito that arrive on the Kuroshio Current are traded at the fishing port market ahead of the rest of the country. It is said that a wide variety of fish are landed each season. At the port, boats with many fishing rods are preparing for tomorrow’s fishing trip.
meitsu fishing ship (2)
The restaurant at the portside station Meitsu opens at 10:30, but people start writing their names in the reservation book before then. There were clearly more locals than tourists waiting for their turn.
meitsu fishing port (1)
What you order here is a set meal of bonito marinated in soy sauce and grilled over charcoal by yourself. At the end, you ask for green tea and served it with bonito and rice. This is the only place where you can enjoy bonito dishes while looking out at the port where they are caught and landed.
meitsu fishing port (3)bonito
meitsu fishing port (4)grilled bonito
I bought bonito flakes as a souvenir at a portside station, but when I got home and took a closer look, it turned out to be from Makurazaki, Kagoshima Prefecture, and not even from Kochi.
Detour
Lion Rock is located in the open sea of Aburatsu fishing port. If you approach it from the south, it looks like a lion’s profile, but if you approach it from the north, most people will miss it.
The rows of Washingtonian palm trees planted along the Nichinan coast from Aoshima to Cape Toi make this coast the West coast. I’ve never been to the West Coast. . . . Probably like this. In Japan, cars drive on the left, so it’s best to drive from north to south for a comfortable drive along the sea side. Beware of distracted driving. Here we will introduce five of the highlights, starting from the north.
1. The biggest one of Demon’s Washboards widely distributed on the Nichinan coast. If you leave Aoshima and immediately take a side street on the left from main road toward Horikiri Pass, you will find the roadside station “Phoenix” with a symbolic Phoenix trees. The view of Demon’s Washboard from here is spectacular.
west coast (1)
west coast (4)phoenix
west coast (3)mango soft serve ice cream
2. Nanatsuiwa (Seven Rocks) seen from the Inozakihana observation deck. After passing Aburatsu Fishing Port and entering a side street on a small hill, there is a parking lot that may seem a bit worrying. From here, if you continue along the sidewalk, which makes you even more worried, you will come to a wooden observation deck.
west coast (7)seven stones
hashiguiiwa in wakayama
The seven steep rocks look like the remains of magma that has erupted from cracks on the ocean floor and solidified. This is similar to Hashigui Rock at Kushimoto (Wakayama Prefecture) in the southern tip of the Kii Peninsula.
west coast (5)
west coast (6)
west coast (8)
3. The beauty of the coast seen from the roadside station Nango. No explanation needed. The handmade sweets you can get from roadside stations shop are delicious.
west coast (9)left
west coast (10)center
west coast (11)right
west coast (12)
west coast (13)road station nango
west coast (15)
west coast (14)
4. White sand beach on the Ishinami beach. It is famous as a spawning ground for loggerhead sea turtles. That’s why the coast is beautiful. Let’s watch from a distance. On the opposite shore is Kojima Island, which is home to wild monkeys.
Udo Shrine is called “Jingu,” so it has a high status among shrines. The myth is a continuation of the story of Aoshima Shrine, where Yamasachihiko, who had a great time at the Sea Palace, formed a vow with the daughter of the Sea God. The origin of Udo Shrine is said to be that a birthing house for his wife was built in a cave that was created when the strata rose diagonally.
udo shrine (1)
udo shrine (2)
udo shrine (9)pocket monster
udo shrine (19)
udo shrine (20)
The name Udo was given because its roof was covered with cormorant feathers, and since the rabbit, which has the same zodiac sign as the pronunciation of cormorant, has been worshiped as a messenger of the Gods, rabbit figurines have been donated everywhere in the shrine. Japanese people really like playing with words. At temples, for example at Zenkoji in Nagano, there are statues “Nade-botoke”(Buddha being stroked) who heal people’s diseased parts by be stroked on the same parts of them, but this is the first time I’ve seen statues “Nade-usagi”(Rabbit being stroked) moreover at a shrine.
udo shrine (3)sculptures rabbit donated
udo shrine (4)please give me
udo shrine (11)rabbit being stroked
Now, the famous attraction here is the luck ball toss. If you can toss and place an unglazed ball into a 60cm square hollow on the back of a stone resembling a turtle at the bottom of a cliff, your wish will come true. If that’s the case, why do people visit shrines? Moreover, women are told to use their right hand and men are told to use their left hand. Although it doesn’t say that left-handed men should throw with their right hand. This is complete sexism. Who decided that? That’s strange!
udo shrine (16)luck ball thrown
udo shrine (17)goal
udo shrine (18)
By the way, the luck ball that goes into the hollow is later collected by the shrine staff, placed in an amulet bag, and sold for 500 yen. They charge you 200 yen for throwing balls, and sell them for an additional 500 yen, so you’re paying double. If someone does not realize this and is making a fuss and throwing luck ball, please think carefully about what he is doing.
geibikei senryutan
geibikei throwqing stones for lucky
geibikei stones
By the way, there is a similar attraction as above at Geibikei Gorge in Iwate Prefecture where you throw a luck ball into a hole in a cliff. There is no right or left hand restriction here. I got in 3 out of 5 times. Each ball you throw has a different letter engraved on it, which is supposed to help you read your fortune, but I completely forgot to check what was engraved before I threw it.
udo shrine (12)concr etion
Another highlight is the concretions, which are spherical calcified bodies of dead jellyfish and other creatures trapped in the sandstone, which can be seen all over the cliffs. The water that permeates through the ground contains lime and falls into the cave as water droplets, creating a structure similar to a limestone cave. Although it does not have icicles like a limestone cave, from a distance, the water droplets look like a mother’s nipples, and there is an explanation that says that these are the milk for the baby born in the birthing center. At shrines, these water droplets are collected and sold as milk candy.
udo shrine (10)
udo shrine (14)tits
udo shrine (15)mother’s milk of earth
The concretion at Udo Shrine is broadcast on the NHK program Buratamori, and the details are written on a signboard inside the shrine grounds. It’s in Japanese though.
