We managed to do one fine hike on the trip, up a mountain named Yufu-dake (about 4500 ft high) between Beppu and the nearby town of Yufuin. The bus dropped us off at the trailhead, in the middle of a meadow on a saddle below the mountain. We started up through the grass, under a nearly-perfect volcanic cone just south of the main peak. The trail proceeds through a forest of cedar and other native woods, then up to a sub-alpine zone at about 4000 ft. Just as we approached the mountain's dual summits, the clouds became heavier. I took a few quick pictures while we still had a view, and we scampered down.
The west side of the mountain had a lovely series of grass-covered ridges that couldn't help but remind us of the Alps. We made it down to Yufuin and walked directly to a nearby onsen, housed in a thatched hut. Although this is the only "mixed" (i.e., for men and women) onsen we have found, the 5-6 men inside were clearly surprised to see a woman walk in and doff her clothes. After a tough 4-hour hike, we had earned it--and a thunderstorm hit just as we started sinking into the water. Rachel couldn't resist snapping a photo as I sat on the side of the inside/outside bath.....
The next day was literally a washout. Torrential rains made it impossible to do anything outside in Beppu--this was rain that made even a native Northwesterner surrender (it eventually led to flooding and several deaths in an area west of the city). So we stuck with our original plan and took the train to Aso, hoping that we could see the Nakadake volcano. The two-car train was charming and we arrived in about 2 hours. The small town of Aso is in the northern part of the ancient volcano caldera, which is roughly 13 miles across. In the middle of the old caldera lies a still active volcano named Nakadake and several relatively dormant cones that make fine hikes. We took the bus up to the volcano museum, hoping for the best....and finding visibility of about 150 ft, driving rain and a 30-40 mile per hour wind. Hiking was not to be. After a quick tour of the museum we had dinner and started the trip back to Beppu. Seeing this volcano will have to wait for the next trip to Japan....(the picture of Nakadake is from a blown up version inside the museum).
Our "hell tour" took long enough that we left Beppu too late to catch the shinkansen we wanted...so we detoured to Hakata....where it again poured down rain for several hours. After dinner the rain finally let up and we took a walk. Fukuoka/Hakata is a fine, modern city that takes advantage of its rivers. Somehow on our stroll we wound up in the city's love hotel district, epitomized by the prepositionally named With Hotel. (Funny--we noticed that none of the love hotels had windows that could be opened). The city was in the midst of its annual matsuri or festival, and in several locations in the city huge and elaborate mikoshi (portable shrines) were on display. During the festival the young men of the city pick up these shrines and race them around a course.
The next day we made it to our last stop, Miyajima island west of Hiroshima. Our friend and colleage Brian Breshnihan (who lived in Hiroshima for several years) had suggested this stop, and I'm glad we followed his advice. After disembarking from the ferry, visitors are met by friendly but demanding deer who will take anything---they will happily munch on discarded paper. We hiked to the top of the island's peak, Mt. Misen, up thousands of weathered stone steps that would make a great set for an Indiana Jones film. The haze was so dense that we could see very little from the summit.
The island is most famous for the Itsukushima-jinga "floating torii" that is set off-shore; at high tide the arch seems to be floating above the water. For hundreds of years the island was sacred and visitors passed through the gates of the torii enroute to the temple.
The highlight of the trip was our stay at the Yamaichi Bekkan, run by the charming Shinko Yamaichi. We played with her cat, Shiro-chan, and Shinko encouraged us to speak Japanese as we chatted with her.
The northern portion of the island has several fine temples and shrines. Our favorite was the Daishoin temple, tucked into a ravine below Mt. Misen. It has a series of superb small buildings, well designed grounds with lovely foliage, and fine views of the bay. Two of the finest rooms were difficult to photograph: the inside of a small building housing 1000 6-inch high bodhisattvas, and an underground room lit by lanterns. This was a fine place to end our touring on the island.
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