Over the Mountains to Susa

 

After leaving Utago I pass by the relatively famous Sogogawa Bridge.

Built in 1932 it is 189 meters long with a slight curve, and carries the Sanin  Rail Line across the mouth of the Sogo River. Each time I have passed by, there has been a few train enthusiasts who travel from all over the country to snap shots of trains passing over the bridge with the sea as a background.

It's quite a buzz to travel over it by train too....

Now the narrow road heads over the high country before dropping down into Susa Bay.

There were many examples of the concrete grids that replace mountain slopes that have slipped. many were quite new indicating there were some storms recently.

Right at the high point before the road starts to wind down to Susa, was a single farm. No other people lived along the road.

Susa Bay is delightful. On the west side of Mount Takayama, the bay is formed of numerous inlets.

Mount Takayama is the highest mountain in some ways up or down the coast, and according to the curator at the local history museum, it was the landmark used by Susanoo as he sailed up the coast to Izumo on his trips to and from Korea. This is the origin of the town's name.

Across the bay in the mouth of a small inlet is an island with a substantial shrine on it. The island's name is Nakashima, and a gentleman walking his dog told me Benten is enshrined there.

The main harbour and port of Susa comes into view.

In the town, I stop in at a Miho Shrine. Enshrining Kotoshironushi from Mihonoseki, a secondary shrine has Susano as the kami. In the early 20th century with the "shrine consolidation" program, Sugawara Michizane, Konpira, and Ryugujin shrines were added.

The shrine building dates to 1984 following a major storm that destroyed it in 83.

The previous post in this series on day 31 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the shrine in Utago, the last settlement before the walk over the mountains.

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