Azumako Falls

 

The Azumako Falls are located on the Kurose River as it heads south through Higashihiroshima.

It is not a very deep waterfall, with a 15 meter drop followed by a second 5 meters drop.

It splits into two falls, the eastern one called Metaki and the western one Otaki.

It is however somewhat dramatic because of its width, and more like the kind of waterfall you would have to head into the mountains to find.

There is a legend connected to the falls.

In 1180, following his defeat by the Taira, Minamoto no Yorimasa committed suicide in Uji.

His concubine fled west with his three-year-old son.

While stopped here at the waterfall, the child died and his mother composed a poem that gave the waterfall its current name.

It s said the grave of the child lies just to the west of the falls.

The previous post in this series on day 14 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, was on the nearby, impressive Mitsujo Keyhole Tomb.

This was my last stop for the day as my room for the night was nearby.

Mitsujo Keyhole Tomb

 

Heading south out of Saijo I stopped in at the Mitsujo Tombs, a cluster of ancient burial mounds inlcuding a rather large "keyhole" tomb.

What is particularly fascinating about this one is that they have replicas of haniwa set up on the mound.

Most of the kofun I have seen have been simply grass-covered, but here they have restored the burial mound to its original form, covered in a layer of river rocks as well as the haniwa. 

It is believed about 1,800 haniwa were placed on the mound originally, mostly simple. cylindrical ones, but a variety of others too.

A small museum at the site contains examples of some of the original haniwa as as ewll as other unearthed materials.

With a length of 92 meters, it is one of the biggest keyhole tombs in Hiroshima and attests to the importance of the ruler who was buried here.

Right next to the main mound is a smaller, circular mound, that predates the larger one.

In the main mound they discovered three burial chambers, two with stone sarcophagi.

On the basis of some of the ceramics found in the tomb they date the construction of the mound to 421.

According to the mythology, still written and spoken about as fact in many cases, this was about a thousand years after Jimmu conquered Japan and established Yamato rule over the whole country. Absurd but still touted as fact.

The materials on the tomb write of it belonging to the person who "governed" the area, not the person who "ruled". In so many subtle and not so subtle ways Japanese history still serves nationalist mythology.

The previous post in this series was on the things seen in the sake brewing district a little to the north.

Saijo Brewery Street Details

 

The wabi sabi of aging metal signs, with their multiple layers partially revealed by the passage of time, is a favoroute photo subject of mine....

In this series I will look at some of the details found while exploring the Sake Brewery Street in Saijo. I refer you to the earlier post for details about the area.

A sugidama hanging outside one brewery. In November, when I was there, all the sugidama were brown after having hung since the spring.

Kazaridaru are the decorative sake barrels that are donated as offerings to shrines. Of course they also serve as advertising. Some can be seen at the local shrine which I visited a little earlier.

Most of the breweries have rooms for groups to listen to talks, see demonstrations, or watch videos...

And of course, plenty of opportunities to taste.....

Nowadays most sake seems to be brewed in large, metal barrels, but plenty of traditional wooden ones can be seen...

Red brick chimney plus sugidama. Unusually, a Shachi ornaments the roof.

Most of the breweries have displays of historic materials....

The spring water used in sake production is highly valued.

Often a small shrine will be found associated with them.

The previous post was on the architecture and history of the Saijo Sake Brewery Street.

Saijo Sake Brewery Street

 

Saijo, in the mountains of Hiroshima, is one of the three great sake-brewing centres in Japan. Fushimi in Kyoto, and Nada in Hyogo being the other two.

Of course, sake is brewed just about everywhere in Japan and while the number of small, family-run sake breweries is somewhat declining, you dont have to look far to find one.

What Saijo represents is large-scale sake brewing, and it is home to seven such breweries, all located close together in what is now named Sakagura-dori, Sake Brewery Street.

All the breweries have sections open to the public for sales, tasting, and various levels of tours.

The town hosts an incredibly popular sake festival in October when around 200,000 vistors descend on the town.

The oldest exisiting sake brewery dates back around 350 years.

Saijo lies on the main, ancient highway, the Sanyo-do, and the feudal lords would be provided accomodations in honjin when they travelled the road.

The owner of a honjin started brewing sake for the guests, and this is now the Hakubotan Sake Brewery.

Nestled in a mountain basin, the climate of the area, cold and dry in the winter, is perfect for sake brewing.

The area also has an abundant supply of good spring water, another major ingredient.

However, Saijo did not become a major sake brewing centre until the modern period.

Saijo lacked the rivers that could power waterwheels, the premodern power for industrial scale polishing of the rice for sake brewing.

In 1896 a local man who was  a sake brewer and an engineer, invented a mechanical rice-polisher that revolutioned the large-scale production of sake.

Most, but not all, of the breweries in Saijo were founded after that.

The architecture of Sake Brewery Street is quite distinctive with white plastered walls and the red rooftiles of this part of Japan.

Red brick chimneys are another indicator.

Many of the walls are known as Namako style, referring to the diagonal white plaster grid on a dark, tile background.

This design is fairly common on storehouse walls. Namako is the sea cucumber and the raised, rounded, white plaster is said to resemble it.

There are free guided tours of the area, or you can pick up a map from the nearby tourist information office and wander by yourself.

The previous post in this series on my visit to Saijo while walking along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the delightful zen garden at Entsuji Temple.