Imbara to Kawahira along the Gonokawa

 

Early morning, October 15th, 2021, and I begin the 3rd leg of my walk along the south bank of the Gonokawa River to its source. I head along the top of the embankment out of the settlement of Imbara, where the Nigori River enters the Gonokawa.

When the embankment ends I have to cross the disused tracks of the former JR Sanko Line. I have been following the tracks since leaving the mouth of the river in Gotsu.

Imbara has the busiest crossing of the river since leaving the mouth at Gotsu. Route 261 has been following the river on the opposite bank to me but at Imbara it does a 90 degree turn and crosses the river and then follows the Nigoro River up into the mountains and then on to Hiroshima.

As with the whole journey so far, the opposite bank continues to be the most populated and with the busier road.

Another distinction between the two sides is that it was the border, until the Meiji Period, between the Hamada Domain... the side I'm on,.. and the Iwami Ginzan Territory, controlled directly by the Tokugawa Government.

I did read once that whereas most borders that followed rivers, the border would be considered the middle of the river, in this case the Tokugawa actually controlled both banks of the river.

Before reaching the outskirts of Kawamoto, there were few properties on this side of the river. Though Imbara was not so big in terms of population, its transportation junction is home to the biggest retail businesses since leaving Gotsu.... some national chain drugstores and home garden stores as well as the only pachinko parlor in the area and a Michi no Eki.

Kawamoto is the biggest town on the river  since leaving Gotsu and is unusual in that it has chosen not to be merged into a larger "city". In historical times it was home to a small domain with several small castles.

The previous post was on the section from Shikaga to Imbara

Kannon Falls

 

While on my walk up the right bank of the Gonokawa River to its source I took a side-trip when I reached Shikaga to once again visit Kannon Falls, the tallest waterfall in Sakurae Town.

Its about 2k from the river up a small, narrow road that passes by a small quarry producing crushed rock for road construction. The only habitation is a homestead right next to the car park. With an older, thatched minka, I always thought it would be an ideal location for a tea room or cafe. there arent  enough visitors to make it a big business, ut I thought it would attract more visitors to the falls.

From the parking lot it is an easy walk a few hundred metres along the bubbling stream to reach the falls.

The lowest fall is about 30 meters, and above it are two smaller drops that bring the total to about 50 meters. However, after a good rainfall it flows much heavier and becomes a single fall.

The pool at the base is shallow and many families come here in the summer to cool off ....

There is  small altar to Kannon at the base. When we first moved here we were told that in earlier times a young woman committed suicide by jumping from the top of the falls and the Kannon was to pray for her spirit.

However another story tells of a local farmer who encountered a dragon that lives in a pool upstream of the falls and that the Kannon was to pacify it.

The previous post was on the walk from Watari to Shikaga.

Hachiman Shrine Kawagoe

 

A little over a kilometer further upstream from the main part of Kawagoe village and bridge is another sizable settlement.

Called Watari on old maps it is now just part of Kawagoe but had a quite large Hachiman Shrine.

One source says it was founded in the early 11th century, which seems feasible as on the opposite bank of the river is a large temple founded even earlier.

I have been to all-night matsuris in almost all the shrines in this area, but not this one. I suspect the main shrine for Kawagoe is the new Suwa Shrine back in the main part of the village. The interior of this one did not have a tengai, the overhead canopy under which kagura is performed.

Being a Hachiman shrine, the three main enshrined kami are Emperor Ojin, his mother, Jingu, and his wife. Also enshrined here are Amenokoyane, Futsunushi, Takemikazuchi, and Ebisu.

The previous post in this series on my walk up the Gonokawa River to its source was Along the Gonokawa to Kawagoe.

Along the Gonokawa River to Kawagoe

 

After leaving the riverside fields of Tazu, the road heads about half a kilometer sandwiched between the forest and the river until the land opens up again in Kawagoe.

This was the next stop on the train after Tazu, and Kawagoe has a post office and used to have an elementary school. A road runs inland up into the mountains.

The bridge across the river is relatively new. When we first moved here the old bridge was still being used, but in the first few years a new one was built and the old one was demolished.

There is a small shrine in this first part of Kawagoe. It is unusual in that it has no kagura group. Back in a major flood in the 1960's all the costumes and masks were destroyed, and the cost to replace them was simply too high.

I continue on along the top of the embankment that separates the river from the strip of agricultural land that continues on to the next settlement of Wataru.

The previous post in this series documenting my walk along the Gonokawa River was on Tazu.

Around Kawado on the Gonokawa River

 

I begin the second leg of my walk up the Gonokawa River to its source from my home. I live on the other bank to the one I am walking up. My plan is to later walk down the river from the source to the sea on this other bank. Looking across the river you can see a section of the river that has no road on that bank, hence my reason for starting this leg here, rather than Kawahira where I finished the first leg.

Behind me is my village.

Across from my village is where te Yato River enters the Gonokawa. This is a decent-sized tributary with a dam and reservoir and it starts up in the mountains around the ski resorts of Mizuho. The bridge carries the now closed rail line, the Sanko sen that used to follow the river all the way up to Miyoshi in Hiroshima.

On the walk up to the bridge that crosses over to Kawado I pass by the big sacred tree where Tanijyugo has their giant Onusa, purification wand, that pacifies the turbulent water god of the river.

The bridge that crosses the river to Kawado is painted in a very distinctive colour scheme that , I believe, represents the river, the sjy, and cherry blossoms. Not sure when the bridge was built. There was a major flood of Kawado back in the 1960's so it certainly postdates that. I have seen an old photos of a low wooden bridge in the 1920's, but for most of history the on,y wa to cross was by ferry.

Now protected, somewhat, by a high embankment, Kawado used to be the main town of the area. The large building is a traditional soy sauce brewery.

On top of the cliff at the first bend in the river is the Kawado suijin Onusa. This is the biggest one in the area and the main focus of the local Suijin Matsuri.

Looking upstream, that house is the only habitation in the several kilometers between Kawado and Tazu.

Kawabune, a generic term for riverboats. Traditionally made of wood, aluminum, and fibreglass are now more common, as are small outboard motors. I am guessing they are primarily used for fishing for Ayu, sweetfish, similar to trout. Larger, flat-bottomed boats were used for freight.

Looking back downstream to the Kawado Bridge. This next section of the road has no buildings and very little traffic, the main road being on the opposite bank, as it is for most of the river. The rail line is overgrown.

The previous post was on Kawahira.

Kawahira

 

Walking up the right bank of the Gonokawa, Kawahira is the first main inlet coming into the river. From Kawahira the road heads into the mountains and then forks with the older road heading into Gotsu from behind, and the newer road heading further inland to Atoichi and onto Arifuku.

One section of Kawahira has been completely re-engineered and raised several metres, ostensibly to prevent flooding. Lots of free, new houses for the few residents remaining, and of course lots for the construction and concrete companies. Kawahira no longer has any shops but it does hve a Post Office and a Koban, a rural police box.

It also had the first proper station on the closed Sanko Line. The other two stops between here and Gotsu, Chigane, and Gotsu Honmachi, were just "halts", platforms with a small shelter, whereas Kawahira has a building, toilets, and what used to be a ticket office.

Kawahira has the first bridge across the Gonokawa after those at its mouth in Gotsu. Though my plan is to walk up the right bank I have to cross the river at this point to the left bank. From here up to Kawado, there is no road on the right bank, the only section along the whole river. The rail line is on the right bank, and back when it ran the trains were so infrequent that I have walked along the line several times in this section, but since the line closed down the tracks have become choked with undergrowth and its no longer possible to walk it.

Ive been to the main shrine in Kawahira several times for matsuri to watch kagura, and one time to watch  Omoto Kagura, the shamanic form that only survives in this area of Japan, but the most common reason to visit Kawahira is for the Tauebayashi, the rice-planting festival.

As my plan is to explore the left bank by walking downstream from the source, I hop on a bus and plan the next leg from Kawado on up. The previous post in this series "To The Source" was To Kawahira

To Kawahira

 

At the far end of Tanomura, the almost-deserted settlement on the right bank of the Gonokawa River, is a small shrine hidden back where the former farmland meets the hillside, the kind of location where people built their homes. According to  Google Maps, it is no longer marked as a shrine. Not sure what criteria they are using, but the shrine still stands but has probably not seen a ceremony in quite a few years.

It was an Omoto shrine I believe, and the doors were unlocked, something normal for shrines in the countryside I think. The structure hanging from the ceiling is a tengai, under which kagura was performed. About 6 to 8 years ago I stopped in and everything was just about as it is now. Probably there were a few more inhabitants back then. Not sure what the Japanese equivalent of deconsecration is, but the shrine may not have been used, but is still technically a shrine, so I find google maps to be less and less accurate and truthful

It's about halfway between what used to be the previous and next stations and I doubt anyone from Tanomura ever used the train in the past twenty years.

From here there are no settlements until Kawahira. No solitary farmhouses or isolated rice paddies. The narrow road and former train line cling to the edge of the steep slopes.

On the opposite bank, there is a main road and a lot more settlements. Also, lots of construction work building up embankments and raising the level of the road to counter the increasing floods Quite a lot of brand new houses are built to replace those demolished for the "improvements".

About twenty years ago I floated down the river on a Dragon Boat and from down at the waters level you could barely ever see the roads or any man-made structures...... I think the new construction is changing that.

Before coming into Kawahira a small roadside Buddhist shrine......... It has seen better days, but someone comes from some distance away sometimes to give it a sweep and to add green offerings..... i suspect a very elderly person, and in all likelihood when they pass away there will be no one left to remember the story and history behind this little altar

The previous post in this series following my walk up the Gonokawa River to its source was Around the Next Bend.