Picturesque East Coast of Dogo Island

Dogo, the largest of the Oki islands in the Japan Sea off the coast of Shimane, remains one of my favourite places in Japan.

Like many places far from the Shinkansen, it has no overtourism.

On the first day of my three-day walk around the coastline of the island, I left the Sasaki Residence and started walking up the east coast.

The Oki Islands are a UNESCO Global Geopark which means there are plenty of signage in English, especially around the numerous sites of geological interest.

I have little knowledge of geology, though I do enjoy seeing land without vegetation.

In Okubo port there are examples of Green Tuff.....

Soft and makes for some nice eroded shapes.....

Then up along what is called the Kuboro Coast....

There are several observation decks with nice views, but walking, to me, makes the best way to view such coastlines....

Very little traffic, so no hazard for gently strolling....

Quite unusual to see a roadside Buddhist statue ........ every single temple on the Oki Islands were destroyed in the anti-Buddhist movement of early Meiji....

I was here in early June, 2016, so not too hot to walk, but with nice, long days....

The staggering quantity of concrete poured on Japanese coasts, building breakwaters for tiny harbours, and installing millions of tetrapods, need huge numbers of these crane-barge types of boats...

Kuroshima Island is the next major sight....

For the geologically-minded, the phrase is Mantle Xenoliths....

It's mid-afternoon as I approach Fuse, the largest of the fishing harbours of my walk today. Not big enough for a convenience store though. In fact I will pass no convenience store for three days. There is a single Yamazaki store on the island. No Lawsons, no Family Mart, no 7-11.....

The previous post was on the delightful, large Sasaki Residence, a traditional village Headmans residence.

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Okidomari Port & the Ginzan Highway

 

I started day 38 of my walk alog the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage at Okidomari, the small port that serviced the Iwami Ginzan silver mines. The port and the mines as well as the road I am taking, the Ginzan Kaido, are all part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For more info on the port and Ginzan Kaido, please see this earlier post.

The next temples on the pilgrimage are a cluster around Izumo. The fastes way would be togo straight up the national highway, route 9, but it would also be the most boring. One of the temples is in the foothills of the Chugoku Mountains, so I have decided to cut inland and head along a mountainous route.

There are still a few houses inhabited in the old harbour village, but less each time I visit.

The Ginzan Kaido heads up through the settlement and then into a  bamboo grove before climbing out.

Not as manicured as the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, but 10,000 percent fewer people....

The previous post was on the last stop of the day before, Kannonji Temple in Gotsu Honmachi

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To Kasubuchi to end the Third Day

 

A short walk after leaving the Ago Ohashi Bridge, the river turns towards the north and will stay north until the small town of Kasubuchi.

Part of some transformers at a small power station using water piped from upstream and then dropped from a height to power turbines....

Other than a few thatched farmhouses with tin covers, not much of note until reaching Kasubuchi.

I cross via a fairly new bridge, the Akebono Ohashi, completed in 1992.

A little downstream is the old railway bridge. It was unusual in that it also had a pedestrian section.

Unfortunately, since the rail line closed, they also closed the pedestrian section.

The bridge has been dismantled since I was there on this trip.

In Kasubuchi I catch a small, local bus downstream and head home to end day three of my walk along the Gonokawa River to its source. The train used to take between 70 and 90 minutes. The bus will take almost three hours.

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