An important tool in Hanagasa Dance is a hat decorated with flowers. The flower is safflower, and it was very valuable in the Edo period as a raw material for dyes and lipsticks. ”Beautiful flowers have thorns.” It was said that the hands of the young women who hand-picked them were dyed red with thorns. Please refer to safflower stories in Yamagata at the botton below.
Go to safflower stories
Go back to the festival, many teams that make up the parade show off their unique dances from in traditional and elegant style to in brave and dynamic style. Television news programs often show dances in an elegant style, but in contrast to folk music, the force of moving the hanagasa hats violently in dynamic style cannot be conveyed unless you come to the site. My impression was that elegant dance and dynamic dance in the parade were half and half. Original dances were occasionally seen. Each team consists of communities, schools, and workplaces, and each of them appeals their own characteristics in their dance.
yamagata5 miss Yamagata
yamagata1
yamagata2
yamagata4
yamagata3 soba
It is held on the long main street at night. So, no need to keep a viewing spot in advance. Please enjoy Yamagata soba in between viewings. Yamagata Prefecture ranks first in the consumption ranking of soba. Please refer to soba stories in Yamagata at the botton below.
Go to white flower of buckwheat and soba storiesGo back to itinerary
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.
It is often said that beautiful things have thorns.
It’s not about women. It is safflower. ! Roses, which have almost the same origin in the world, have thorns, but safflowers belonging to the Asteraceae family are injured when harvesting.
There is a legend that the young girl who is harvesting safflower bleeds from her hands with the thorns, which makes the color even more crimson. They have the sadness that they cannot use the lipstick made from safflower for themselves because the safflower is the most important trade item.
Why do safflowers turn crimson color when they are blooming yellow? Actually, when I brought back the safflower to dry flower, the flower turned crimson without doing anything. It is said to turn crimson by melting yellow pigment off by water and then fermenting the remaining ingredients. Then the safflower shaped as rice cake was exported to Kyoto and Osaka via the Kitamae ship down the Mogami River. It seems that Mogami (Yamagata) brand safflower was as valuable as gold.
The Safflower Museum in Kahoku town is the former site of the building of a merchant who made a fortune in handling safflower, and you can also see the production of safflower.
There is Mt.Gassan 8th station at the end of the winding uphill. The Midagahara Marsh, ‘Heavenly paradise’, is spreading there. I feel like jumping into the Shonai plain overlooking the Sea of Japan. It takes 3 hours from here to the mountaintop shrine
Unfortunately, it is downhill to the five-storied pagoda, National treasure. But you can meet the 1000 year old grandfather ceder. In 2019, we had a special visit inside the pagoda. The octagonal core was tied to the surrounding skeleton with a kudzu vine. (>click photos)
five storied pagoda
haguroyama zuishinmon
old grandfather ceder
five storied pagoda
octagonal pillar inside
special visit inside
buddha on the roadside
Uphill surrounded by old cedars feels sacred air, not just forest bath. But it is hard to climb the 2446 stone steps at once. There is a traditional tea house in an exquisite place. And you can overlook the flat Shonai plain facing the Sea of Japan. If the weather is very nice, you can see Tobishima island over the Shonai plain. (>click photos)
stone steps start
stone steps start
stone step on the way
stone step upto tea house
chikaramochi and tokoroten
shonai plain
view tobishima island over plain
We finally reached the summit of Mt. Haguroyama. It took 50 minutes without a break from the foot. It is difficult to go to the other two mountains, so it is also secular that the three gods are enshrined together here.
It seems that the belfry was built as a thank-you for praying for the invasion of Mongolia during the Kamakura period. (>click photos)
shrine haguroyama
stone astep over tea house
shrine haguroyama
shrine arrival
shrine sumo wrestler
shrine sanzan composed
mirror pond
hydrangea
old belfry
god for healty foot
Only part of the stone steps are crafted with the playfulness of masonry worker. Find out, so you feel better.
