A Walk Around Dogo Day 2 (morning)

I woke before sunrise, the only person at the little campground in the scenic Jodogaura coast, and then headed north along the little coast road that was totally bereft of traffic.

Afetr a while the road cut inland along a valley wide enough for many rice paddies where the young seedlings were on the way to fullfilling their potential. At the coast in Nakamura I found the little village store open and took my morning repast before carrying on north.

A steady climb to the northernmost point of the island and the overlook of the Shirashima coastline. From here I headed south into the interior of the island. After a short climb I began a long descent.

The road was new, wide, relatively straight,  and little traveled. Every now and then I caught glimpses of the old road that meandered through the mountains. Quite a few k longer than the new road, it was probably a more enjoyable walk, but I had a room booked for tonight and so took the faster, easier route.

At the history museum in Kori I was surprised to find a lovely thatched farmhouse open to the public in the grounds behind the main museum building.

Along The Way (Izumo version)

On the afternoon of Sunday, May 13th, 2012, I was on the 4th day of my Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage heading towards temple number 11, Entsuji. The route was further upriver into the mountains, and though it was the main road over the mountains from Izumo to Hiroshima, there was not a lot of traffic.

A lot of people were out in the paddies. Most planting is done mechanically, but corners and patches missed by the machine are done by hand. Most Japanese farmers work at full-time jobs, so being a Sunday there were more people busy....

Planting time is excellent for photography in the countryside as the flooded paddies provide great reflections

The deeper into the mountains you go the more thatched rooves you can see.

Spring reflections

There's a freezing wind howling outside, and a couple of inches of snow have fallen in the past day, so winter has certainly arrived a little earlier than usual, so for some reason my thoughts return to the fine spring we had.

In April I went for a 50k bike ride, starting up in the mountains near Mizuho, coming down to Kawamoto, then down the river home. The last 15k coming down into Kawamoto I didn't have to touch the pedals at all,... my kind of cycling :)

Up in the mountains the growing season is shorter, so the paddies are flooded and planted earlier than down here on the river.

It was a still. windless day, and almost cloudless, perfect conditions to capture the reflections.

Morning mist

Mist fills the valleys and burns off slowly once the sun rises.

Golden Week: Inaka style.

Golden Week occurs in early May, and is a very busy holiday period. Airports, train stations, and expressways are clogged with millions of Japanese tourists all travelling at the same time.
Where I live, out in the countryside, very few people go travelling however. Early May is time to plant the rice.

Most Japanese farmers are only part-time farmers, as japanese farms tend to be very small, and could probably better be called market-gardens. Most families in the village also have a rice paddy, tambo, and the huge subsidies paid by the government make it worthwhile to plant rice.


Rice growing is heavily mechanized, but the corners of odd-shaped paddies still need to be planted by hand.


More photos from my village