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I discovered this old stone resting beside a trash burning pit on a deserted beach in Shimizu, Japan near the end of the Miho peninsula. Though I am not certain, the stone appears to be either an old grave marker or highway marker. The area where I found the stone was once the site of a very old fishing community where the artist Hiroshige Ando described enjoying a pleasant meal of baked salt fish. This famous artist would come to this site to view and produce art images of Mt. Fuji for use in his famous woodblock prints. He once described the area around this beach as the best location in Japan for viewing Mt. Fuji.
This mountain is located in Japan between the cities of Shizuoka and Yaizu. I climbed this mountain with three teachers from the elementary school where I work. The climb was made to examine the terrain and plan the course for a later climb with our school’s fifth grade class. Such outings are a common and popular event with grade school children who are taken outdoors to learn about nature and enjoy the changing seasons. My thanks to senseis Watanabe, Mochizuki and Sugiyama for inviting me along on this fun and interesting outing.
Emily, Yumiko and I enjoy an afternoon of fun at Zaza Beach (Emily’s name for the place). Emily was getting really good at handling the swift water and practicing diving for pretty rocks (which she stored in her bikini bottom). Later in the afternoon we were attacked by many Japanese Horseflies (Abu).
One of the more delightful of the many forms of Japanese bamboo craft are stilts called takeuma (bamboo horse). The stilts are made from lengths of bamboo outfitted with special wooden footrests. It takes some skill and experience to know how to secure the footrests such that they may bear the weight of a rider as large as an adult.
My father-in-law (Suzuki Hiroshi) made 15 sets of stilts for use at our local elementary schools 100 year anniversary festival. Being a retired woodworker (shoji door and window maker) he has much past experience making bamboo and other wooden toys for his four children and two grandchildren.
Apologies: In the video I inaccurately describe the stilts as takeume which means bamboo plum instead of the proper name takeuma. I also mention at the beginning of the video that my father-in-law will be making bamboo helicopters called taketombo. While he did make the taketombo I sadly did not have a chance to film this and was unable to include any promised footage in the final video.
Sumatakyou is a beautiful mountainous region far up the valley of the Oigawa river on the east coast of central Japan. Emily, Yumiko and I enjoy a fun, relaxing (and wet!) day trip to this region. The highlight of the trip (besides the lovely intermittent rain showers) were the exciting footbridges we enjoyed crossing at various points along the way. This area is famous for tea and the area has many popular hot spring resorts.
An alternate title for this video could be how to keep a kid happy during a solid month of rain. The Japanese use the word tsuyu (alternately baiu) to describe the early summer weather pattern of extensive rain which affects most of the Japanese islands. In most areas the rainy season begins in early June and lasts until mid July although regional variations do exits. Though it does not typically rain every day during the rainy season it may certainly seem to be the case after many long days of intense downpour. The term tsuyuu literally means plum rain and this name is significant as the rainy season does normally coincide with the time when plums are ripening on the trees.
I met Brian and Eric via YouTube and was excited to learn that they were coming to Japan. I offered to give them a tour of Shizuoka and was delighted when they accepted my offer and we made arrangements to meet. We began the day with a visit to one of the more beautiful and famous Shinto shrines in our area followed by a brief tour of a bonsai tree nursery. We then left the city and headed for the hills where we enjoyed lunch and swimming at a lovely little river and hiking in the deep mountains. We explored several small villages and met some very nice locals who treated us kindly and shared about their life in the Japanese countryside. The day wound up with a dinner party at my in-laws home where my family was happy to meet and spend time with our new friends. It was a real pleasure to spend this day with Brian and Eric and my family and I hope they will return soon.
Video notes: The shrine at the start of this video is the Kunouzan Toushougu jinja located near Suruga Bay in Shizuoka city. The river is a tributary of the Abekawanakakochi river, and the village is called Kuchisenmata. This small community is located in the mountains between Shizuoka City and the town of Ikawa near the Japan Southern Alps. Its a very small community on a lonely little road which has little traffic or visitors.
My destination was the old and historic community of Yui, located just over the Satta Pass from Okitsu and nearby Shizuoka city. Yui is a small and charming seaside town and one of the original 53 stages of the old Tokaido highway (as are Okitsu and many communities within Shizuoka). My interest on this day though was not the town of Yui itself, but instead the historic old pass which crosses over the once treacherous Satta Pass. The original Tokaido route over Satta Pass is regarded by many historians as having been one of the most dangerous sections of the old highway. The danger was due to the precipitous slopes as well as the many remote and lonely stretches which were once the haunt of bandits. I had hoped to cross Satta Pass on the original route between Okitsu and Yui which is today quite safe and a pleasant place to hike and explore, with several stunning vista points offering spectacular views of Mt. Fuji (when the clouds and weather permit).
I knew a direct route through Shizuoka and Okitsu to the start of Satta Pass, though as I was eager to leave the city I opted to enter the mountains at a location I was only mildly familiar with. After a while I became convinced that the small farm road on which I was riding might in fact be an alternate route over the mountains to Yui. I encountered two dead-ends before finally summiting the mountains and beginning my confident descent into Yui. Upon reaching the canyon below I was surprised to discover a small village next to a fairly large (for the area) river. The sea was nowhere in sight and I could only assume that I had become disoriented and lost while traversing the mountains. I elected to follow the river to the sea from which point I was sure I could regain my bearing. I realized my mistake after reaching the sea and could see the Okitsu side of Satta Pass nearby. I had, in fact, never been on Satta Pass and had instead been wandering through a small range of mountains I had previously never explored. In the end though I was disappointed in my mistake I was happy to have found a new and very interesting area ripe for exploration and discovery. The road to Yui, however, must wait for another day.
Though I will forever be a foreigner here, Japan is where I am most at home. Come walk with me through the city and countryside and see the sights and events which fascinate me and meet the wonderful people who make this corner of the world so interesting.
Though I will forever be a foreigner here, Japan is where I am most at home. Come walk with me through the city and countryside and see the sights and events which fascinate me and meet the wonderful people who make this corner of the world so interesting.
