Otsubo Quarry

 

Quarries are a common site along the country roads of Japan where I do all my walking.

Not long after leaving Yumeginga I passed by the rather large Otsubo Quarry.

There are many kinds of quarry now in Japan. On Shodoshima I passed by a historical quarry where stones for constructing Osaka Castle were quarried. Not far from my home, up on Lake Shinji, is Kimachi, where sandstone is quarried for the production of stone lanterns, statues etc.

There are some massive limestone quarries that produce some of Japan's favorite natural resources... cement..... and I suspect the most common type of quarry are the ones producing gravel and aggregate to be added to cement to make concrete. Down river from us is one such quarry.

The Otsubo quarry, named after the man who founded it in the 1950's, seems to be producing another form of crushed stone that is used in road beds, stabilizing slopes, and other forms of civil engineering.

The previous post on day 58 of my walk around Kyushu was the Saga Prefecture Space & Science Museum.

Yumeginga Saga Prefecture Museum of Space & Science

 

Yumeginga is the name given to the Space & Science Museum in Saga Prefecture.

It is located on a hilltop outside the town of Takeo, famous for, among other things, its hot springs.

The museum and its landscaping were designed by AXS Satow, the company set up to continue the legacy of Takeo Satow who died in 1972. The museum was completed in 1999.

It is said that the design represents a spacecraft taking off from a spaceport.

There are five main areas, Space, Earth, Saga, an area of interactive exhibits, and a kids area. A 200-seat planetarium is housed in a spherical structure.

I was here the first time on the 58th day of my walk along the Kyushu Pilgrimage but couldnt wait until opening time to explore inside, but most reviews are very favorable

The previous post in the series was about the many shrines I visited on day 57.

Yurahime "Squid" Shrine Oki Islands

 

Yurahime Shrine was the highest-ranked shrine in all of the Oki Islands more than  1,000 years ago.

It is located onNishinoshima Island on Ika Yose No Hama which translates as "squid gathering beach" which explains the figures in the shallow water in front of the shrine.

The main deity enshrined here is Yurahime no mikoto, a female deity of fishing, and she is not enshrined at any other shrine.

According to the story, she was in a small boat and while trailing a hand in the water a squid bit her.

To atone and apologize, the squid decided to gather in the shallow waters of the bay every year and allow the islanders to scoop them up.

Some sources say the shrine was originally on Chiburijima and when the shrine moved here the squid followed. Some sources also say the goddess was returning from having visited Izumo Taisha.

It is said that the catch of squid is very much reduced from what it was in former times. The shrine is a popular spot for viewing cherry blossoms.

The previous post in this series on the Oki Islands was the ferry journey between Chibu and Nishinoshima.

Wakayama Prefectural Museum

 

Wakayama Prefectutal Museum is a history museum devoted to the history of what is now Wakayama.

It is kind of tucked away behind the more well-known Wakayama Museum of Modern Art, just south of the castle and park.

It was designed by the same architect as the Modern Art Museum, the famous Kisho Kurokawa. One of the founders of the Metabolist movement, he is probably most well known for his Nakagin Capsule Tower.

The Prefectural Museum uses a lot of glass and so is light and airy. I did enjoy taking some abstract interior shots.

The museum covers prehistory and the history of Koyasan, the Kumano region, the ruling clan of the Edo Period, and also covers "folk" history.

Prefectural museums are a mixed bag,.... some are really great, and some are quite weak and somewhat boring. As I left this one I was noticeably impressed with the range and quality of the displays and the also the low cost. 

I must admit that they had a nice collection of masks, and that always cheers me up.

The previous post in this series exploring Wakayama City was the Momijidani Teien Garden in the castle.

To Kawahira

 

At the far end of Tanomura, the almost-deserted settlement on the right bank of the Gonokawa River, is a small shrine hidden back where the former farmland meets the hillside, the kind of location where people built their homes. According to  Google Maps, it is no longer marked as a shrine. Not sure what criteria they are using, but the shrine still stands but has probably not seen a ceremony in quite a few years.

It was an Omoto shrine I believe, and the doors were unlocked, something normal for shrines in the countryside I think. The structure hanging from the ceiling is a tengai, under which kagura was performed. About 6 to 8 years ago I stopped in and everything was just about as it is now. Probably there were a few more inhabitants back then. Not sure what the Japanese equivalent of deconsecration is, but the shrine may not have been used, but is still technically a shrine, so I find google maps to be less and less accurate and truthful

It's about halfway between what used to be the previous and next stations and I doubt anyone from Tanomura ever used the train in the past twenty years.

From here there are no settlements until Kawahira. No solitary farmhouses or isolated rice paddies. The narrow road and former train line cling to the edge of the steep slopes.

On the opposite bank, there is a main road and a lot more settlements. Also, lots of construction work building up embankments and raising the level of the road to counter the increasing floods Quite a lot of brand new houses are built to replace those demolished for the "improvements".

About twenty years ago I floated down the river on a Dragon Boat and from down at the waters level you could barely ever see the roads or any man-made structures...... I think the new construction is changing that.

Before coming into Kawahira a small roadside Buddhist shrine......... It has seen better days, but someone comes from some distance away sometimes to give it a sweep and to add green offerings..... i suspect a very elderly person, and in all likelihood when they pass away there will be no one left to remember the story and history behind this little altar

The previous post in this series following my walk up the Gonokawa River to its source was Around the Next Bend.

Matsue Buke Yashiki & Gardens

 

A Buke Yashiki is best translated as samurai residence, and this one in the castle town of Matsue belonged to middle -ranked samurai.

It is located on the north side of the moat around the castle on what is now called Shiome Nawate, and is close to another former samurai residence that was the home of Lafcadio Hearn.

Starting in 2016 the residence and gardens have been restored bsed upon Meiji-era drawings of the property.

The rear garden is in Izumo style.

It was originally built in 1733 and it is believed that Kobei Shiomi, after whom this street is now named, lived here. Higher ranking samurai lived across the moat within the castle walls.

Prior to the renovations, it actually wasn't much of an attraction, but with now it is well worth a visit.

The previous post in this series on Izumo and Matsue was the nearby Lafcadio Hearn home and garden.

Odeonza Theater Wakimachi

 

Located in the small rural town of Wakimachi in rural Tokushima, the Wakimachi Gekijo is a fine example of an early 20^th Century Japanese theater.  

Due in large part to the bombing of most of Japan's major cities during  WWII, and also partly to the late 20^th Century Japanese tendency to demolish “old” buildings and replace them with newer, modern structures, very few examples of historic theaters still exist, and those that do are to be found in similar rural environments, like the Kaho Gekijo in Iizuka, Kyushu, or the Eirakukan Theatre in Izushi, Hyogo.

The Wakimachi Gekijo was built in 1934 with a capacity of 750, primarily for kabuki, and other popular entertainments like rokyoku, a form of storytelling with shamisen accompaniment.  

 In the postwar period it was converted into a cinema, though occasionally other types of entertainment would be performed. With the massive rural population drain to the big cities the theater, like so many others in similar situations, became uneconomical to operate and closed its doors in 1995.  

It was scheduled for demolition, but before that happened it was used as the setting and location for a movie about a run-down rural cinema. Directed by Yoji Yamada, the man responsible for the very successful “Tora-san” movie series, and starring Toshiyuki Nishida, the 1996 release of The Man Who Caught The Rainbow (虹をつかむ男 ) sparked an interest in the cinema and led to it being renovated and reopened where it is now often known as Odeon-za, it's name in the movie. Occasional performances do take place, but it is primarily a tourist attraction now.

Open from 9 to 5 and closed on Tuesdays, entry is 200 yen, 100 yen for children. There is also a special reduced price ticket that includes entry to the nearby Yoshida Residence.

140-1 Nishibun, Mima-shi, Tokushima 779-3602

Tel 0883 52 3807

I visited early on the third day of my walk along the Shikoku Fudo Myo Pilgrimage, and the previous post in that series was the 18th Century farmhouse of the nagaoka Family.