Sights Seen Down the Isa River to the Kando River

 

After leaving Izuchi Shrine, I continued on down the Isa River.

After a while I came across a very unusual sight for Japan...... a sheep!!

I have occasionally seen goats, but sheep are very, very rare in the Japanese countryside...

Quite common in the mountains of Izumo are thatched houses....

Yoshikuri Mountain once had a castle on it. It was destroyed during the Amago-Mori fighting of the 16th cetury. The Izumo Fudoki also records that various trees were cut from the mountain and ised to construct Izumo Taisha.

The Isa flows into the Kando River, a bigger river that I did spend three days walking down many years ago. There are more houses and traffic now.

I pass a couple of thatched buildings right next to the road. I looked on Google Street View and couldn't find them so I suspect hat have been demolished.

After a short distance, I turn off from the Kando and head up the Susa River and find a nice spot overlooking the river to spend the night.

The previous post was on the upper part of the Isa River.

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To Sanbe Dam

 

After leaving Mononobe Shrine I head up the Shizuma River.

Then I cut north and headed over the mountains to drop into the Sanbe River Valley.

I carried on up that river ever closer to Mount Sanbe, the highest point in Iwami.

An active volcano with a height of more than 1,100 meters...

The climb gets steeper as I leave the river bank and climb up towards the top of the dam.

A fairly standard dam, unable to release water until full.

The mountainside cloaked in concrete

An earlier post on Sanbe Dam shows more concrete....

Just pass the dam is a little park and cafe, but the cafe closes at 5, so that is where I shall lay out my sleeping bag for the night.

I can't see the actual sunset, but a nice enough show as the sun went down. And so ends day 38.

The previous post was on Mononobe Shrine.

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Down the Shimanto & Shimonokae Rivers

 

23rd of December, 2011, and I begin day 22 of my walk around the famous Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage by crossing the Shimanto River on the Shimanto River Bridge that carries Route 56 acrossthe river.

There are numerous possible routes down to the next temple at Cape Ashizuri, and I chose this one, if I remember correctly, as it gave me more shrines to visit.

Vast fields of Susuki, Japanese pampas grass, line the banks in places...

I pass under the New Shimanto River Bridge which carries a new expressaway across the river. It is so new that the pilgrim guidebook doesnt even show it...

I suspect these ducks have come from the far north for the winter...

This is one of my favorite times of the year to go walking in Japan. The winter weathe has not yet arrived and the low sun makes for nice photography light.

The days are very short though. Winter Solstice was two days ago, so when sleeping out you spend a long time in the sleeping bag.

I've seen people repurpose plastic bottles to make these bird-scaring windmills, but never seen them painted so nicely.

A little before reaching the sea the route cuts inland over some hilly country towards the Shimonokae River...

Though still more than a week till New Year, there are still daidai citrus fruits on this altar

The Shimonokae is a much smaller river than the Shimanto and not at all well known

I follow it down to the coast and then head down the coast as the sun starts to get low.

I get as far as the tiny fishing harbour of Kohama before stopping on a grassy verge overlooking the sea.

The previous post was on the unusual architecture of the Ogata Library in Kuroshio.

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Mouth of the Matsumoto River

 

The area of Hagi around the port and the mouth of the Matsumoto River is called Hamasaki.

Though there was still more than a month until Girls day, March 3rd, there were several displays of Hina dolls...

Hamasaki is one of three Historic Preservation Districts in Hagi, though on this visit I was in a hurry to get home so didn't tarry or explore.

I did pass a few old, traditional buildings, and one not so old but in an advanced state of collapse.

The reach the Matsumoto River, the name of the easternmost fork of the Abu River that creates the delta upon which Hagi was built.

I start  to head downstream to the first bridge crossing the river so I can continue East.

I did not know it at the time, but there is a small, unique ferry that crosses over here. On later trips is used it and will write about it then.

I am not sure what the wooden posts protruding from the river were from, but they make great resting spots for seabirds.

Some type of cormorant and some kind of gulls.... forgive me for not being a twitcher...

I head east and pass the big warehouses of a sake brewery.

A little later, a noborigama, the traditional kind of climbing kiln used in Japan.

Hagi is famous for its pottery. Started by kidnapped Korean potters at the end of Hideyoshi's failed invasion of Korea in the 16th century.

This climbing kiln is at the Yoshiga Tabi Memorial Museum. Yoshiga Tabi was an early 20th century potter.

The final shot is at the waterside shed of Japan Fisheries, looking at the Ebisu Shipyard World Heritage Site.

This was where the Mori tried to build a western-style warship in the mid 19th century. I will cover it and the other World Heritage sites inHagi in later posts.

This was the end of day 29 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, and day 30 would begin in a couple of months during cherry blossom season. From here the route is basiclly up the Jaoan Sea coast, through Shimane, my home area, and then through Tottori., a much more relaxed and less populated region compared to the first part of the pilgrimage.

The previous post in this series was the Sumiyoshi Shrine in Hamasaki.

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.