To Kirara Taki

 

After leaving the cannons of Tebikigaura Daiba Park my route along the coast follows Route 9 and the railway.

This section of coast has a lot of rocks, many just a little submerged and makes sailing close to the coast quite difficult. While sailing with a friend in a yacht with a keel, we scraped rocks a couple of times.

the road and railway are quite high above the water for this section.

The cape of the Shimane Peninsula ahead beckons.

A little further ahead is the Tagi fishing harbour.

Back in the town at the mouth of the river is a harbour, and I often see huge floating cranes moored there, but this harbour further along the coast has the Japan Fisheries building.

Up ahead the two wind generators on the hill above Kirara Taki, the michi-no-eki.

Then, another small harbour. I actually know this one quite well as my friend had his yacht moored here.

The road descends slightly and I pass through what is called Oda.... Little Paddy, not Big Paddy.

The small Oda River empties into the sea...

And then the beaches begin...

The area around Kirara Taki, the largish Michi no Eki, literally "road station" , a kind of service area without gas stations...

In recent years they have developed the area as a beach resort....

The beaches don't really compare with the ones we have down in Iwami..... but most of the population of Shimane lives in this end of the prefecture, so its the best they have I guess....

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Japan Sea Coast was on Tebikigaura Park.

Manhole Fish

This is the manhole cover for Nishinoshima, one of the islands that make up the Oki Islands. I know a squid is not a fish, but its close enough.

Masuda down in the southwest of Shimane has the Takatsu River and I'm guessing these are carp.

This is from Taki Town up in Izumo and its hard to tell from the design exactly which fish it is meant to be, could be flying fish or it could be an Orca.

Fukuura is a village on the Shimane Peninsular and now a part of Mihonoseki. The fish is probably a Sea Bream (tai) as Kotoshironushi, popularly known as Ebisu, used to enjoy fishing for Tai here.

The draincover for Mihonoseki also features the Tai.

Another one from Masuda, and these look like Ayu, called Sweetfish in English. The Takatsu River is a popular place fro Ayu fishing.

Not sure which town this belongs to, but it was on the banks of the Shimanto River in Ehime, Shikoku. They might also be Ayu.

Hananba Matsuri

Every town in Japan has its own design of manhole cover. Usually the design reflects something of the towns traditions or culture. This one is for Tagi-cho in Izumo.
The design depicts a scene from the 2 annual festivals held in the middle of October at Tagi Shrine, and a few days later, at Takigi Shrine.
The men carry and pull a wooden horse covered in a giant umbrella composed of thousands of colorful paper flowers.

See more Japanese manhole designs

Kazenoko (windchild)

This may look like a sculpture, but it's not. It's part of a device to teach kids about the wind. Kazenoko is located just off Route 9 in Tagi-cho, Shimane, just underneath one of the wind generators in the area.

There is a large room with interactive displays for kids to play with wind, and several rooms where art and craft classes are held.
Kazenoko is located on the hill above Tagi JR station. Entrance is free.

Click here for more photos of Kazenoko