Rainy days
The weather in Japan has gone a little bit crazy! After a beautiful sunny monday, the heavens opened on tuesday, and have not closed since! Today, there was lashing wind and rain, and even an attempt at sleet late this afternoon! Where is beautiful spring, a happy sun, and the much-anticipated cherry blossoms?...(hopefully I'll find them in Kyoto at the start of April!)
Yesterday, however, in spite of the god-awful rain, I decided to venture out of the ken, and take a trip to Tsuwano. I have bought a Seishun Juhachi Kippu (special 5-day train pass for school vacation times) for the spring hols, so I thought I should start to get my money's-worth out it! After an early train from Yanai, a change at Shin-Yamaguchi, and another one at Yamaguchi, I finally arrived in the town of Tsuwano, in Shimane prefecture. My first impressions were not great, as it was chucking it down, the sky was grey, and I appeared to be the only person wandering around, clutching tightly to my precious umbrella. However, I was determined to make the most of my time there, and headed straight for Taikodani-Inari-Jinja (shrine), which you reach by a walk up a hillside, through a tunnel of 1100 bright red toriis (shrine gates). Despite the rain, my mood started to lift when I began this walk up the hill. Just when I thought I had reached the end of the toriis, more appeared, snaking around and up the hillside. I didn't meet a single soul as I made my ascent, and I really did feel very relaxed and content, as I continued to follow the red route. Finally at the top, I had a wander around the shrine complex, jumping over puddles, and peering into temple rooms! I even had the great opportunity to observe some sort of prayer ceremony taking place in the main shrine room, complete with beating drums, and a fancily dressed priest. After taking some photos, and a general explore, I headed back down, this time actually seeing some other visitors / tourists. The sun even tried to come out for 10 minutes!
Then it was time to hit the shops! Of course, I bought a few things (mostly presents for people at home though!), and even managed to find a Tsuwano Hello Kitty charm. Sadly, I collect the keitai Kitty-chan danglers...the ones that are specific to prefectures or cities, and am succeeding in gathering a hefty collection (well, 15...but still!). Anyway, I love the Tsuwano Kitty-chan, cos it's actually made of paper!!! Tsuwano is famous for it's paper making, and all of the gift shops sell a vast collection of washi notebooks and products. Tsuwano Kitty-chan rocks!
I walked along the Tonomachi road, which has a channel of water along the side, full of brightly coloured carp! It really is quite bizarre...there's loads of them! According to Lonely Planet (my bible!), 'the 65,000 or so of these colourful fish outnumber the local population tenfold!' Whoah! After stopping at a few more shops, in which the people were probably the friendliest I have ever met in Japan, I headed back to the station. There isn't loads to do in Tsuwano, but it was a charming, pretty little town, even in the rain and mist!
I left Tsuwano at about 3pm....just as the rain stopped!
Yesterday, however, in spite of the god-awful rain, I decided to venture out of the ken, and take a trip to Tsuwano. I have bought a Seishun Juhachi Kippu (special 5-day train pass for school vacation times) for the spring hols, so I thought I should start to get my money's-worth out it! After an early train from Yanai, a change at Shin-Yamaguchi, and another one at Yamaguchi, I finally arrived in the town of Tsuwano, in Shimane prefecture. My first impressions were not great, as it was chucking it down, the sky was grey, and I appeared to be the only person wandering around, clutching tightly to my precious umbrella. However, I was determined to make the most of my time there, and headed straight for Taikodani-Inari-Jinja (shrine), which you reach by a walk up a hillside, through a tunnel of 1100 bright red toriis (shrine gates). Despite the rain, my mood started to lift when I began this walk up the hill. Just when I thought I had reached the end of the toriis, more appeared, snaking around and up the hillside. I didn't meet a single soul as I made my ascent, and I really did feel very relaxed and content, as I continued to follow the red route. Finally at the top, I had a wander around the shrine complex, jumping over puddles, and peering into temple rooms! I even had the great opportunity to observe some sort of prayer ceremony taking place in the main shrine room, complete with beating drums, and a fancily dressed priest. After taking some photos, and a general explore, I headed back down, this time actually seeing some other visitors / tourists. The sun even tried to come out for 10 minutes!
Then it was time to hit the shops! Of course, I bought a few things (mostly presents for people at home though!), and even managed to find a Tsuwano Hello Kitty charm. Sadly, I collect the keitai Kitty-chan danglers...the ones that are specific to prefectures or cities, and am succeeding in gathering a hefty collection (well, 15...but still!). Anyway, I love the Tsuwano Kitty-chan, cos it's actually made of paper!!! Tsuwano is famous for it's paper making, and all of the gift shops sell a vast collection of washi notebooks and products. Tsuwano Kitty-chan rocks!
I walked along the Tonomachi road, which has a channel of water along the side, full of brightly coloured carp! It really is quite bizarre...there's loads of them! According to Lonely Planet (my bible!), 'the 65,000 or so of these colourful fish outnumber the local population tenfold!' Whoah! After stopping at a few more shops, in which the people were probably the friendliest I have ever met in Japan, I headed back to the station. There isn't loads to do in Tsuwano, but it was a charming, pretty little town, even in the rain and mist!
I left Tsuwano at about 3pm....just as the rain stopped!
posted by Lauren @ 12:37 pm
1 Comments:
At 6:18 am,
Victoria said…
Isn:t Tsuwano great! I probably go once or twice a week because it:s only about 10 minutes from me and I think of it as the big city ;) Next time you definately try to go to the onsen and also there is a really nice sweets shop if you want to buy some omiyage for people back in your town. Give me a call next time you:re here and I:ll show you around
-Victoria
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