Koizu Inari Shrine & Sansha Shrine

Koizu Inari Shrine & Sansha Shrine

At Koizu fishing port I headed over to see what seafood was being dried in the baskets, only to discover it was nets.

Okidomari Port & the Ginzan Highway

 

I started day 38 of my walk alog the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage at Okidomari, the small port that serviced the Iwami Ginzan silver mines. The port and the mines as well as the road I am taking, the Ginzan Kaido, are all part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For more info on the port and Ginzan Kaido, please see this earlier post.

The next temples on the pilgrimage are a cluster around Izumo. The fastes way would be togo straight up the national highway, route 9, but it would also be the most boring. One of the temples is in the foothills of the Chugoku Mountains, so I have decided to cut inland and head along a mountainous route.

There are still a few houses inhabited in the old harbour village, but less each time I visit.

The Ginzan Kaido heads up through the settlement and then into a  bamboo grove before climbing out.

Not as manicured as the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, but 10,000 percent fewer people....

The previous post was on the last stop of the day before, Kannonji Temple in Gotsu Honmachi

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Sufu Beach to Hamada Port

 

After leaving the Hachimangu Shrine I pass by the small beach at Sufu before heading over a little rise and dropping into the wide curving beach and bay of Nagahama.

This is also the westernmost wharf of Hamada Port, the only deep sea port on the Shimane coast.

This western wharf has the Coast Guard station and seems to primarily export cedar logs.

Nagahama is home to several large shrines, but on this trip i passed them by, but did visit one small Inari Shrine.

The beach at Nagaham is well protected by a long wall of terapods with just a few gaps in between.

Near the eastern end of Nagahama, a small harbour for small inshore fishing boats.

Then, the main part of Hamada Port. Numerous silos, plus one of the container-lifting cranes. I know one of the major exports from the port is used cars.... shipped to Russia

I didn't visit, but looks like my kind of place.....

And then the main fishing port. This is the biggest fishing port in Shimane by far. It has a fish market with a couple of touristy restaurants. Squid is one of the biggest "products" landed here....

The fishing port has the infamous Hamada Great Bridge. Absolurely useless, goes to a little island that is just 10 meters from the mainland and that already had a bridge. Brainchild of a former mayor who decided it would make Hamada look like San Francisco. A prime example of the construction excesses of Japan before the bubble burst .

The previous post in this series on the Chugoku and Iwami Kannon Pilgrimages was on the two shrines I visited in Sufu, mentioned in the opening of this post.

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Taisha Fishing Port

 

After passing by Inasa Beach and the Benten island/shrine, I come to the fishing port of Taisha Town.

I have passed by several small fishing hatbours, but this is the first port since leaving Tagi yesterday morning. The distinction, for me at least, between harbour and port is that a fishing port will have an ice machine and a Japan Fisheries office

Like most Japanese fishing harbours, this one is also constructed out of millions of tons of concrete, not just making piers, but breakwaters of tetrapods and massive offshore breakwaters "protecting" the harbour.

Over the years of traveling the coast of Shimane, I have only ever seen two boats that were not fishing boats, cargo boats, or Coast Guard boats.... my friend's yacht in Tagi, and a yacht here in Taisha.

The route along the coast now sweeps up towards the cape at Hinomisaki.

The previous post in this series on the 6th leg of my deep exploration of the Sea of Japan coastline was on Inasa Beach and the Izumo myths associated with it.

if you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the most recent posts.

Sasebo Port Revisited

 

On my last day in Sasebo I went back and visited the recently redeveloped port and harbour area.

I had been based in Sasebo for a week and each day took the local trains out into the surrounding areas of northern Nagasaki and western Saga visiting a cluster of temples on the Kyushu 108 temple pilgrimage.

Lots of interesting architecture but not a lot of people.

Sasebo is a major naval port for both Japan and the USA.

I did post earlier on this area like this one on Sasebo port, and this one on the ferry terminal.

The previous post was on some interesting buildings nearby.

This was the end of day 71 of my walk and the next day I headed north on the final week's worth of walking to complete the pilgrimage up in Munakata Fukuoka.