4,000 years old trees.

At 1,126 meters in height, the seven peaks of Mount Sanbe make it the highest point in Iwami. There have been minor eruptions of this volcano in historical times, but somewhere between 3,500 and 3,750 years ago there was a major eruption.

A few years ago, while working on some rice paddies to the north of Sanbe, the topsoil was excavated away to reveal the top of an ancient tree buried during that eruption. Further excavation revealed a total of 30 trees that had been lying under the rice paddies, buried by the eruption.

The Sanbe Azukihara Buried Forest park shows some of the trees exactly as they were left after the volcanic activity. One can descend 13.5 metres below ground level to see them in-situ.

The biggest tree has a base of 1.8 metres, and the oldest tree has 636 tree rings making it easily more than 4,000 years old. The trees are Japanese Cedar.

One of the tree bases has its own building, and it feels like entering a missile silo.

The park and museum is located on the north side of sanbe, about 20 mins by car from Oda Station on the JR Sanin line. Like a lot of interesting sites "off the beaten track" there is no public transport that reaches it. Open Tue through Sun, year round, with several short breaks, so best to phone to make sure its open. (0854) 86 9500

Entrance Adults: 300yen, kids: 100yen

Gonokawa

Some more pics of the local river, the Gonokawa. This bridge is about 30 kilometers upstream from my place.

This is downstream, just a few kilometers from the mouth at Gotsu. At 194k the Gonokawa is the longest river in West Japan.

This is the Kawahira bridge about 10 kilometres downstream in a typical early morning view. The source of the Gonokawa is only 60k from its mouth, but it curves around on itself about 270 degrees.

Some of my favorite spots are where the river becomes deep and still with thick bamboo groves along the banks.

The river is very popular for Ayu (sweetfish) fishermen. The locals use the typical long, narrow, flat-bottomed boats found everywhere on Japanese rivers.

Visitors usually can be found fishing on the banks or wading.

More posts on the Gonokawa River.

The new Fukuoka Tower

The original Fukuoka Tower

Sanku Shrine, Hamada

As the name suggests, Sanku shrine is actually 3 different shrines grouped together. Located on Rte 186 on the way out of Hamada, the shrine with the biggest honden is actually the least used.

It's the first shrine I've come across that enshrines Tajikarao, the "strong man" kami who pulled Amaterasu out of the cave. He is also one of the kami that descended from "the high plain of heaven" with Ninigi. His head shrine is up in Nagano at Togakushi Mountain, which legend has is the rock door that hid Amaterasu.

Right next to the main shrine is Ashio Shrine, and it is used a lot, so much so that it had a new shrine building built last year.

Ashio shrine is where you go to pray if you have any foot or leg problems, which is why so many pairs of straw sandals are left as offerings.

The kami of Ashio shrine is Sarutahiko who was a giant of a man with a huge red nose, often depicted looking like a tengu. He was an "earthly" kami who met the Imperial party descending from heaven and guided them. He ended up marrying uzume.

I've never come across Sarutahiko being connected with foot healing before, so its probably a local thing. Actually, none of the local people I asked knew the kami's name was Sarutahiko, a not uncommon phenomenon.

The third shrine is on the other side of the river and the tunnel of vermillion torii mark it as an Inari shrine. At first I thought it was a private shrine as to get to it you have to walk through a lumbermill and also it is not marked on the map. Companies will often build a company shrine to Inari.

As I drove by a couple of days ago I noticed that all the trees lining the path up to the shrine were sakura in full bloom.

The blushing bride

I was down in Hiroshima earlier this week and while I was wandering around Shukkeien, the well-known Japanese garden near the castle, I saw a couple having their wedding photos taken.

Big Roof Wide

I've been going down to Masuda a lot recently so I took the opportunity to revisit Grand Toit with a wide-angle lens.

Grand Toit, from the French for "Big Roof" is the unofficial name of the Shimane Arts center, so named because the building is clad in locally produced kawara, rooftiles.

Opened in 2005 and designed by Naito Hiroshi, I must admit that the building has grown on me. The light inside, and the space of the internal pool are very nice, though the overall form of the building from a distance is still not appealing to me.

This time I paid to go in and see an exhibition in the main gallery, but as yet I have not been inside the auditorium.

My favorite aspect of the building though is the highly polished wooden floor and its reflections. I'll post more of those shots later.

For more posts on Grand Toit click here

Sakura madness finale

Well,.. the sakura are in full bloom now, and still no sign of blue tarps!

I've come to the conclusion that Ohanami is pretty much a thing of the cities and towns.

For the first few ohanami seasons I experienced in the countryside I asked my neighbors if they had been cherry blossom viewing, and they just looked at me quizzicly.

The main reason I think is because cherry trees are everywhere round here! In any direction you look there are cherry trees. In fact they cherry trees outnumber the people, whereas in the towns and cities people outnumber the cherry trees by a factor of many hundreds. So, round here cherry blossom viewing is not a special activity, its just something you do everyday.

I prefer the wild cherry trees that are scattered all over the mountainsides rather than the ones planted densely in lines.

But my favorite view is at night.

Gotsu

The draincover for Gotsu shows a stylized view of what you see out of the train window as you come into the town from the east. The flowers are azaleas, the town flower, and cherry blossoms.

The new doubledecker bridge carries traffic on the by-pass, avoiding the town centre. The lower level is for local traffic between Watazu and Gotsu Honmachi. Gotsu is the smallest of Shimane's cities, but is really just a collection of villages spread over the surrounding area, including my own village.

A view of the bridge from the Gonokawa River.

Behind the bridge is Hoshitaka Mountain, "Star Mountain". The star is most visible after a snowfall, or when the azaleas are blooming, or at night in August when it is lit up. Star mountain gets its own post in a few days as there is a lot of interest.

Looking east over Gotsu. That is Star Mountain on the right.

Sakura madness.

Just in front of our frontdoor is a cherry tree we planted 3 years ago.
I noticed yesterday that one bud had bloomed.
Strangely, I felt no compulsion to spread out sheets of blue plastic, invite dozens of people, get stinking drunk, and do karaoke.
I guess I just don't appreciate nature!