A Walk Around Kyushu
Day 62 Shimabara to Obama
Thursday February 20th 2014
I'm up early to another fine day with
clear blue skies, though the peak of Mount Unzen is draped with a cap
of clouds clinging to the snow on the peak. I will be passing over that range
today so I set off early. First I head a little south to the UnzenDisaster Memorial Museum that commemorates the most recent eruption
of Unzen back in 1996. I had been here before, and it is way too
early for it to be open, but near the museum proper is another site
that I had missed before. Many of the houses that were buried underthe mudslide are on display, some outdoors, some in a covered
building. They actually look very weird because they have no damage,
they are just buried with roofs and telegraph poles sticking out.
Apparently, the mudflow, formed out of a mixture of ash and the extra
runoff from heavy rains falling on the fresh lava, was only moving at
a slow rate by the time it got here to the coast so people were able
to evacuate slowly and safely, and the force of the flow was not
strong enough to demolish the houses, just engulf them. All a bit
surreal.
I now turn inland and head towards the
mountains. For the first few hours, it is a fairly gentle slope until I
reach Ryusho-ji, the 64th temple of the pilgrimage, and
the reason for coming down onto the Shimabara Peninsula. Towering
over the entrance to the temple is a huge statue, a brightly colored
statue of Fudo Myo-O, and the main temple building is completely
covered in blue tarps hiding the reconstruction. Piles of new roof
tiles are stacked y the temple office. For a donation towards the
rebuilding, you can have your name etched into a tile. From the temple, the road starts to become steep and then starts to wind itself into
switchbacks. In the shadows piles of snow remain unmelted and the
temperature drops. There is no sidewalk and a fair bit of traffic so
that adds to the lack of fun in this part of the walk.
Eventually, I cross over the pass and
start to drop into Unzen Hot Spring, a small resort little more than
one street. Steam rises all around with the unmistakeable odor of
rotten eggs. Even though it is out of season and most of the resort
hotels seem closed up for the winter I find a bakery and settle in
for a top up of caffeine and calories. Rejuvenated and rested I
wander and find a boardwalk that meanders through the steaming andbubbling pools that have dozens of pipes snaking away from them to
the hotels. The smell does not get any more pleasant. There may be
more to see in the town but I need to get going as I am only a little
over halfway to my destination, though it should be all downhill from
now on to the shore of Tachibana Bay.
It turns out that the western slope of
Unzen is much steeper than the eastern. There is no gentler slope as
it gets further down, it is switchbacks all the way. I soon catch
glimpses of Tachibana Bay through the trees, and there is less
traffic on this side, so its a very pleasant walk. About three
quarters of the way down I pass through a small settlement, the first
since leaving the top. Some of the residents are out playing
gateball, a Japanese variation on croquet and very popular with
retirees.
A little further and I come to
something quite unexpected and not marked on my map, some sort of a
miniature religious theme park with the name Inori no Sato. There are no religious buildings,
just a small tea room, but scattered around the grounds is a
veritable who's who of popular Japanese deities. There are large
statues of the Seven Lucky Gods, an Amida Buddha, several Kannon, a
dragon holding a giant golden sphere, a Fudo MyoO, a kappa, a giant
red Tengu mask, a small Inari shrine, and several others.
20 minutes later I reach the coast and
find my room for the night, a traditional onsen ryokan that has seen
better days but is priced for my budget. I think I am the only guest
as it is out of season. In the last rays of the setting sun I explore
the onsen resort town of Obama.
The most notable feature is the longest foot bath in Japan. 105 meters long, one meter for each degree of
water temperature. I soak my feet for a while before heading back to
my room. The ryokan has recently refurbished the rotenburo, the
outdoor bath, and I have the whole place to myself.
The diary from the
previous day, day 61, is here.
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