Category: Japan

Today I traveled to Matsushima, about a half hour by train north of Sendai. This is a picturesque bay with an abundance of small islands and is said to be one of the ‘three most scenic spots in Japan’.

Shortly after arriving I spotted a scenic cruise boat, and seconds later I was onboard for a wonderful hour-long cruise around the bay.

The commentary related many historic stories about various islands, as every minute the ship passed a new one. Cruises are very popular here, with several companies running multiple boats packed with people. Today was sunny and warm, and the breeze off the ocean was lovely.

I learned that historically Matsushima Bay (which is known for its oysters) is said to have 808 islands, but in reality the number is about 260. They range from tiny ones not bigger than a chair to larger ones with people living on them.

I’ll add that when we got to the entrance of the bay the board pitched and rolled quite a bit and I didn’t even get slightly seasick. It seems I’ve beaten that weakness 🙂

A few of the islands are linked to land by pedestrian bridges, and after the cruise I set out to visit them. On the way I found this manhole cover featuring the Pokémon Lapras. I later learned this is one of many to be found all along the coast in this part of Japan. Wouldn’t it be an adventure to hunt them all down?

This bridge connects to a small island called Oshima south of the docks. The cliff leading to the island is carved like the ones I saw yesterday at Yamadera, and I learned these are ‘meditation caves’ once used by monks:

At the end of a short walk on the island a 3-meter tall stone monument can be found. This was erected in honour of a man that lived as an ascetic on the island for 22 years (this was hundreds of years ago), without ever crossing back to the mainland. As a result he was believed to be the reincarnation of a priest that had done the same decades earlier.

I’m in the part of Japan most affected by the 2011 earthquake, and Matsushima has many plaques in place to show the height of the tsunami. The line behind my head shows how deep the water was here, which is well above the Main dockside shopping street. Much of what I saw today was badly damaged or even destroyed in the tsunami, and it’s remarkable to see how complete rebuilding has been in the more than a decade since.

Matsushima town was overseen by the famous Sengoku-era Daimyo named Date Masamune. Souvenirs are decorated with cute likenesses of him, and there’s a museum of his life in town that I passed over. However there is a Buddhist temple called Zuigan-ji on the main street and since everyone seemed to be visiting I followed them inside.

It was a fascinating place. Famous for its elaborate painted screens (room dividers), it was a Date Masamune residence and much of the construction and ornamentation was at his behest. I took a tour inside the building, and while photos of the screens were forbidden, I believe the gardens were ok, or at least the security guy who watched me take the above had no reaction! I spent a while here wandering the grounds, visiting the museum of artifacts, and of course touring the main building to see the elaborate rooms.

I was so impressed I had to purchase an ema plaque that I felt suitably respected the 1300-year of the temple. This one is coming home with me 🙂

After lunch – call it a corn dog, Pluto pup, Dagwood dog, or ‘cooked sausage in fried dough batter’ (as the store I bought it from labeled it) – I stopped at the tiny Godaido island right in the middle of town.

The above building is where Date Masamune enshrined the ‘Five Wisdom Kings’ in 1604. They are only exhibited once every 33 years, so I can’t tell you anything about them, but the name is evocative and I’ll take a wild guess they’re a wise bunch 🙂

A few minute walk further north along the waterfront brought me to a long red bridge crossing to a larger island which is a nature reserve. The bridge cost ¥200 to cross, and since I rejected the little map I was offered I ended up going in circles a bit along the various paths on the island.

At this point I’ll mention that westerners are extremely few here, and in fact I saw none yesterday and only a few today (and none of them spoke English). This part of Japan is definitely off the usual tourist routes, with almost no English signage anywhere and locals that by and large don’t seem to know any English. It reminds me of the Japan we visited decades ago, and I’m enjoying it.

It was mid-afternoon by now and time to check in. I’m staying at a gigantic resort hotel and my room isn’t easily the biggest I’ve ever had in Japan, but may be the biggest hotel room I’ve ever had anywhere.

And look at my view:

And dare you disbelieve I actually took this photo, here’s another:

The glass on that massive window is freakishly clean. I can’t see it at all, and getting close makes me nervous so I have to put my hands out to know where the glass begins 🙂

This place is an onsen, which of course means hot springs. Only about 15 minutes after check-in I was soaking in them. Obviously photos are not permitted so I grabbed the above from the hotel website and it shows the very outdoor bath I’ve soaked in twice already today. There’s many different baths and I want to use them all (if possible) since the ones I’ve already tried are very hot, shoulder-deep and do wonders for my skin!

This is an all-inclusive resort hotel, which means breakfast and dinner are included, as well as all-you-can-drink booze (beer, wine, spirits) and various snacks. I joined a long line for the dinner buffet since everyone else seemed to have the same idea I did about arriving right when it opened.

I’ll be honest: I feel like a fish out of water. The food is very fancy – things like ark shell sushi and shark fin meunière are included – and the vast majority is not for me. Given this place was quite expensive I did my best and I have to say the tempura was wonderful (although I’ll never try conger eel again!) but this is more KLS’s thing and she’d have a field day with the offerings.

Dessert was incredible though. They called it a ‘fruit roll’ and the work this guy did preparing it for me was just excessive. He carefully cut and plated the slice before decorating with three types of sugar (I think), some jam and a mint leaf. I was expecting a simple slice on a plate but what I got was this:

It was super delicious! Loaded with fruit and fresh cream, I hope this one is on the menu again tomorrow night.

It’s almost bedtime now and they’ve lit trees along the waterfront to give us a night view. The baths are still open until after midnight, but I’m still ruined from yesterday and additionally ruined from the 20,000 steps I did today in the 80F+ heat, so I won’t go again until the morning.

And then I’ve got something really special planned for tomorrow…

I hopped on the train at 7 am this morning, heading west from Sendai into the mountains. The views were wonderful, especially when we left civilization behind and passed first through rural lowlands and then heavily forested mountains.

The train gradually emptied (although it was hardly full to begin) and about an hour later when we got to my stop – Yamadera – very few were left onboard. Almost as soon as I exited the train I saw the above sign, right on the station platform. I made a mental note to watch out for these mankillers.

There’s not much to Yamadera. In the old tongue it may have been called a ‘one horse town’. I followed a well-marked path along a street lined with restaurants (all closed of course; it was 8 am) until I reached the ‘trailhead’. It was time for me to climb.

A shortish rise of 75 steps led to this building, which is the entrance to a Buddhist temple complex known as Yama-dera but formally named Risshaku-ji. It’s about 1200 years old, and one of the most scenic and famous Buddhist temples in Japan since it’s built on the side of a mountain and visitors must climb a torturous amount of steps to visit.

The main entrance to the climb is a short walk left of the above photo. I paid my entry fee (¥500), passed through the big wooden gate, and this was my sight:

Not so bad, I thought. I’ve done worse. I climbed these like a mountain ape, rounded the corner and saw…

And then shortly afterwards…

And…

And these are just highlights, there were more stairs too. In fact the entire climb to the top is a nightmare of steps. I got there early to ‘beat the crowds’ and ‘beat the heat’ and while I succeeded at the first (I may have even been the first person to enter today) the second was another matter. Even at 8 am it was near 80F and 80% humidity, and it didn’t take long for me to sweat like a mad gibbon and feel the burn in my legs.

As you can see the surroundings were beautiful. The steps wind up the mountain through an ancient pine forest and there are tiny statues and carvings visible everywhere as you climb.

I can’t read the text – and was too tired to reach for my translator – but since I seemed to be the only person on the trail and since the surroundings were so quiet I found the climb very peaceful.

Except for the fact it was killing me.

I’m pretty fit for an old guy, and I’ve done strenuous climbs before (Tokugawa shrine, Eiffel Tower, Koln Cathedral), so I’ll attribute todays difficulty to the fact I haven’t really rested this entire trip and my 10 day step count average is currently at 18k! The more I climbed the more my legs burned and the deeper I was breathing. I’d brought a water bottle with me and it was empty very quickly. I pushed on.

How many people have made this climb over the more than thousand years of its existence? What famous footsteps were I following in? And if I dropped down dead of a heart attack how long until someone found me?

For all the challenge it’s not a long climb, and perhaps 10 minutes after I set out, I spied this little sign close to ground level. It says I’d done 640 steps and have only 360 to go! This temple is famous for having 1000 steps, although I’ve read there’s actually closer to 1100. This sign was my salvation (“almost done”) and damnation (“360 more?!?”), but just afterwards I faced this view:

Structures! Finally the temple complex was in sight! This gave me a burst of energy and I clambered up this last flight like a berserk bonobo. At the top I had two choices, and initially went left which led to about fifty more steps (!) and a pagoda high on the clifftop:

If you’re wondering who those guys are and how they got there before me, so did I! I hadn’t seen a single person on the trail, and when I bought my ticket they were just opening up. Maybe they live up here?

The view was breathtaking, and if you look closely you can see the train station. I didn’t mention above but I saw this pagoda from below and knew it was my goal, and it was a great relief to reach it. I was sweating and exhausted but I rested a while and enjoyed the view to regain some energy.

I returned to the junction and took the other path and found a cute little postbox! There’s a few structure nearby where (I assume) monks or caretakers live (since they had gardens behind them) and I assume this is for them. I put a postcard in since I just happened to have one I’d forgotten to mail when I went for the train. I’ll have to examine the postmark when it arrives.

A bit further along the path was another high fight of stairs, and at the top I found the main building. I haven’t mentioned there were several other shrine buildings in this area, most of which I just walked past, but this is the most imported and contains a very large golden Buddha statue.

Mum’s brother John passed away while I was in Australia and today was his funeral. In honour of John I lit an incense stick in sight of the Buddha and spoke some silent words.

Rest in peace, Uncle John.

(Incidentally you may notice that photography of the Buddha was forbidden. I was so fixated on getting a photo of the incense that I missed this. I apologize to the temple.)

It was time to descend. On the way down I paid closer attention to the residences, and realized that unlike other mountain temples I’d been to – none at steep as this one – there didn’t seem to be any road access. How did they get supplies up the mountain?

There was also a swarm of people heading up as I was going down. Notably most were older than me, and I didn’t see anyone at all much younger than about 30. It was reassuring to note that everyone seemed exhausted, and indeed a few seemed at their limit.

And even though the walk down was easier than up, I too was struggling at this point. I’d been watching for monkeys all day, but by this point had one attacked me I probably would have been destroyed.

And then, only about 45 minutes after I started, I was back at the base. It would have been longer had I stopped at one of the tea houses, but they weren’t open. I also never actually sat or rested except for a brief period in the pagoda.

Once at the bottom I headed back to the station, and the Buddha himself acknowledged my pilgrimage by placing an establishment selling shaved ice not far from the temple entrance:

It was the best shaved ice I’d ever had 🙂

Before I got on the train, a mystery. The above photo was taken from the train station platform, and the pink circle shows the pagoda on the clifftop I enjoyed the view from. But there’s another smaller one on the right (I circled in yellow) and as best I could tell there was no way to access it. I wonder what it’s used for?

Before noon I was back in Sendai. A quick rest in my room, then lunch, a bit more shopping and a lot of time in arcades. Even as I write this, about 7 hours after the climb, I’m still recovering. It was a taxing experience, but worth it 🙂