Shikinoue Suspension Bridge over the Yoshino River

 

The Shikinoue Suspension Bridge is a small pedestrian bridge across the Yoshino River near Ikeda, where the  river turns west towards the coast after passing through the famous Koboke Gorge and then the Iya Valley.

My hotel was on the clifftop above the bridge on the south bank of theriver and I had spent the day visiting a couple of temples on the steep mountainside on the north bank.

I dropped down to the river near the Ikeda Dam,built in 1974 and then headed upstream towards the bridge.

The bridge was built at the same time as the dam and is kind of cool as the floor of the crossing is steel grills so you can see the reservoir/river below.

The bridge seems to be little used.

I had walked upstream on the north bank of the river for the past 4 days on the Shikoku Fudo Pilgrimage, and from here I would be  returning down the river on the south bank.

The bridge is 195 meters long, with 160 meters between the two 18 meters high towers. It was a glorious mid December day in 2016.

The previous post was on Mitsugonji Temple.

Unome Inari Atago Inari Shrine

 

For those who follow this blog, I'd like to wish you all the best for the new year, and thanks for visiting.

On top of Mount Atago in Fukuoka, within the grounds of the Washio Atago Shrine, is an Inari Shrine.

I can find almost no info on the shrine other than it is a branch of the head Inari Shrine in Japan, Fushimi Inari near Kyoto. Shrines will get their "divided spirit", bunrei, usually, but not always from the head shrine.  More Hachiman shrines got their bunrei from Iwashimizu Hachimangu rather than the head shrine at Usa, indicating that specific local versions of kami, and Buddhas,  may be considered to have more power or other attributes.

This Inari shrine also has numerous smaller Inari shrines within it, something quite common to Inari shrine. This again indicates that the universality of kami and Buddhas is not absolute. each Inari shrine will be for a particular, local, manifestation of an Inari.

This was the last stop of my epic 77 day walk around Kyushu on the Kyushu Pilgrimage. From here I headed to the station and headed home. I did the walk in about 8 legs, spread over about 15 months. I passed through all of the prefectures of Kyushu and walked during all 4 seasons, though I was mostly able to avoid too much bad weather by fortuitous timing.

In total I have posted about 560 posts on this particular pilgrimage. Because of the structure of Blogger they can be seen and read in reverse chronological order by clicking the Kyushu108 tag at the bottom of the post.

In theory I could do a page where I list all the links in chronological order, but that would take a lot of work and, quite frankly, I don't have enough readers to make it a priority. I have been posting Kyushu Pilgrimage posts about every other post, so from now on I will do the same for my Chugoku Pilgrimage posts, that is to say, every other post will be a Chugoku post. The posts in between I will continue to post on the other pilgrimages... Shikoku, Shikoku Fudo Myo, Shodoshima, Saigoku, Iwami, Kinki Fudo, Kyushu Fudo, and Sasaguri as well as the other series like the Japan Sea Coast.

In the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage walk I at times follow the same route as this pilgrimage but at others venture to different places via different routes.

The previous post was on the views from Mount Atago.

The Storks of Toyooka

Toyooka Storks

Oriental White Storks, konotori in Japanese, used to be widespread around Japan. The last one died in Toyooka in 1971.

It seems the primary cause of their extirpation was the huge amount of chemicals used in modern Japanese agriculture.

A captive breeding program was started in Toyooka in the 1960s but without success. Russia donated three pairs of storks, and in 1989, the first chick was born, with more chicks born in successive years.

To enable the storks to survive in the wild the area began a program of helping local farmers to reduce the amount of chemicals used and to allow their paddies to remain flooded for longer so that the natural food of the storks could proliferate.

They also erected artificial poles with platforms on to replace the natural nesting sites of the storks on top of mature pine trees, all of which had long since been cut down. Finally in 2005 storks were released into the wild and have been successfully breeding since then.

Images of storks abound around the Toyooka, and its possible to see storks in the wild while driving, but on the opposite side of the river to Kinosaki Onsen is the Hachigoro Toshima Wetlands, a nature preserve where the helpful staff will let you use telescopes and binoculars to see storks in the wild, and even have livecams on some of the nests. (first 4 photos)

Closer to Toyoka City is the Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork where you can see wild storks as well as captive breeding program and a museum dedicated to the stork and the story of Toyooka's reintroduction. (last 4 photos)

The previous post on things to see and do in the Toyooka area was on the Benzaiten Shrine near the Toshima Wetlands.

Goods From Japan

Views from Fukuoka Mount Atago

 

Mount Atago, in the southern part of Fukuoka City, is only 68 meters high, so it would be a hill in English.

It was named Mount Arago after an Atago Shrine was established here in the Edo Period by the local daimyo.

However it is the only high point in the area and so offers nice views over the city and surrounding area, especially at night.

The most obvious landmark is the New Fukuoka Tower just across the river.

There are also nice views to the south over the Itoshima area and to the SE down the coast towards Karatsu.

The previous post was on the Atago Shrine on top of the mountain.

Wae Fishing Harbour

 

March 21st, 2021, though technically the Spring Equinox, a winter storm had just passed through so the sea was choppier than usual, but the skies mostly blue.

This was the fifth leg of my deep exploration of the Sea of Japan coast, trying to visit every cove and inlet possible, starting at the mouth of the Gonokawa River in Gotsu and heading east.

I started the day at Isotake station my first stop was the sacred cave of Shizunoiwa and now passed a rocky headland.

Looking back down the coast in the distance was Isotake and its harbour, site of another myth.

I believe these are Japanese cormorants, sometimes known as Temminck's Cormorant, and native to East Asian coasts. They are the species that have been domesticated to fish for Ayu in rivers in the tradition known as ukai.

The Sea of Japan Coast is really quite spectacular. There are some nice spots on the Pacific side I'm sure, but that is where all the industry and population is, so........

Up ahead is Wae Harbour. I would have called it Oda Port, as downtown  Oda City is just a short distance inland, but officially it is Wae,

To teach it I have to cross the mouth of the Shizuma River. My guess is this is the biggest river I have had to cross since starting.

The Wae fishing harbour is also probably the biggest fishing harbour I have encountered since starting.

Lots of powerful lamps on many of the boats as squid fishing is one of the main catches.....

Around a small headland and another fishing harbour, the much smaller one at Toriicho.

Omori Floral

Up in the mountains not far from here is the Iwami Ginzan World Heritage Site, and the village of Omori is a large part of it.

Pretty much just one long street in the narrow valley below the mine, Omori is where the samurai, bureaucrats, and merchants lived.

Before it was made a World Heritage site the town was already a Preservation District and so is mostly made up of Edo Period architecture and had the unsightly power poles removed.

All these photos were take on a one kilometer walk down the main street of the town on a May 5th.

While some of the flowers are planted in planters, pots,or in the ground, many others are cut flowers displayed in sections of bamboo tied to drainpipes.