Japan Sea Coast Kute to Hane

 

After leaving Kute, a line of small hills separates the road from the sea and inland a largish area of rice paddies.....

This was a brackish lake that has been drained by cutting an opening through the hillside allowing the land to be reclaimed and planted in rice. This was done quite a long time ago in the Kamakura Period.

I am not at all sure where the lake originally drained, but where it now reaches the sea is a spire of rock called Kakedo Matsushima.

It once had a pine tree standing on top of it, and maybe I am misremembering, but I seem to remember it was still there when I first passed by on a train more than twenty years ago.

It is very much a miniature version of Candle Rock, the iconic sight in the Oki Islands.

There is a small harbour then a beach and tucked up against the sheer cliffs the main harbour of Hane.

Hane was at some point a small beach resort and there are still a couple of ryokan operating.

The train line got here in 1912 so it may have started then, although it has the feel of the 1960s about it.

The cliffs are quite impressive and there is a lighthouse on top.

From here there is no access to the coast fo the next 5 kilometers until the mouth of the Tagi River, the old boundary between Iwami and Izumo, so I took thebtrain home from here and will start from Tagi on the next leg.

The previous post was on the previous section of coast from Torii to Kute.

Japan Sea Coast From Torii to Kute

 

Torii has a small harbour, literally a stone's throw from the much bigger Wae Port, probably the biggest port I had yet visited on this walk along the Sea of Japan coast in the Iwami region of Shimane.

Part of the rocky outcropping that makes the eastern edge of the harbour at Torii is a small natural arch or bridge creted by erosion.

After that the beach stretches away towards the next headland.

the narrow coast road heads over the headland...

... to another beach that curves towards the next headland...

Just before that headland is the settlement and fishing harbour of Kute.

The beach is well "protected" by lines of concrete tetrapods offshore....

It's listed as a park but doesn't seem to be a particularly popular beach as there are no eateries, shops, or lodgings nearby....

Kute is relatively large and the harbor is a decent size but just inland is a largish area of paddies so I think farming is at least as important as fishing...

The previous post was on the stretch of coast around Wae Harbour

Wae Fishing Harbour

 

March 21st, 2021, though technically the Spring Equinox, a winter storm had just passed through so the sea was choppier than usual, but the skies mostly blue.

This was the fifth leg of my deep exploration of the Sea of Japan coast, trying to visit every cove and inlet possible, starting at the mouth of the Gonokawa River in Gotsu and heading east.

I started the day at Isotake station my first stop was the sacred cave of Shizunoiwa and now passed a rocky headland.

Looking back down the coast in the distance was Isotake and its harbour, site of another myth.

I believe these are Japanese cormorants, sometimes known as Temminck's Cormorant, and native to East Asian coasts. They are the species that have been domesticated to fish for Ayu in rivers in the tradition known as ukai.

The Sea of Japan Coast is really quite spectacular. There are some nice spots on the Pacific side I'm sure, but that is where all the industry and population is, so........

Up ahead is Wae Harbour. I would have called it Oda Port, as downtown  Oda City is just a short distance inland, but officially it is Wae,

To teach it I have to cross the mouth of the Shizuma River. My guess is this is the biggest river I have had to cross since starting.

The Wae fishing harbour is also probably the biggest fishing harbour I have encountered since starting.

Lots of powerful lamps on many of the boats as squid fishing is one of the main catches.....

Around a small headland and another fishing harbour, the much smaller one at Toriicho.

Shizuma Shrine & Shizunoiwaya Cave

 

Shizuma Shrine is on a small road close to the coast in Shizuma near Oda in Shimane.

In earlier times it was located inside a nearby sea cave, but a storm in 1674 changed the topography of the cave and so the shrine was moved to its current location.

It was founded in the 9th century and enshrines Okuninushi and Sukunahikona and is based on a poem in the second volume of the Manyoshu.

The poem mentions a stone chamber used as a temporary dwelling by Okuninushi and Sukunahiko while they were "creating" the land.

However, a couple of other sites also lay claim to being the "stone chamber", one a shrine in the mountains upriver from me, and the other a place in Hyogo. As all the Okuninushi and Sukunahikona stories are set in the Shimane and Tottori regions, the Hyogo claim seems suspect.

A monument inside the cave memorializes the Manyoshu poem.

The cave has two entrances, although now they are roped off and no-one can enter because of the danger of falling rocks.

The cave is on the beach right next to the small fishing village of Uozu, just west of the mouth of the Shizuma River.

I visited at the start of the fifth day of my deep exploration of the coast of the Sea of Japan. The previous post was on Isotake Beach where I ended the 4th day.

Isotake Beach

 

Isotake Port is situated in small bay protected by a headland. On the seaward side of the ports residential area runs a narrow beach.

The beach runs up to a couple of small headlands. In the distance can be seen the Shimane Peninsula that I will reach in a couple of more days walking.

Inland Mount Sanbe is clearly visible. At 1,126 meters, it is the highest point in the former province of Iwami, and is actually classed as an active volcano, but has not erupted in historical times.

Like so much of the coastline of Japan, it has its fair share of concrete tetrapods protecting it, though to be fair on the Japan Sea side we have a lot of natiral coatsline left compared to the Pacific Side.

After these couple of headlands there is a long stretch of somewhat wilder beach.

This is called Isotake Beach and inland of it is the Isotake JR station and an agricultural settlement now cosidered part of Isotake.

The previous post in this series exploring the Sea of Japan coastline was on Isotake Port.