Holidays in Japan

Sakura, Gardens, Martial Arts and the English Teachers in Japan, April 2007

 by

John McDonald, Region 23

Part 2: Kyushu – Kumamoto

The week with Erin and Lesley, was therapeutic and rewarding. Sharing their world, is the jolt of assurance where every parent proudly realises they have raised capable and independent children. So far away, and your affection for them grows stronger. Erin had showed us the sights of Kochi when I visited her in 2005, so this time we relaxed in her apartment trading stories of India and Thailand, where she had just been, and Simpson Desert where I had been in 2006.

Lesley showed me around Matsuyama – the Pine Mountain – known for Matsuyama-jo, its reconstructed castle which prominently overlooks the city and for Dogo onsen, the oldest surviving bath-house in Japan – parts of its current building are of 17th Century construction.

I departed Matsuyama on Shikoku taking the ferry to Beppu on Kyushu. Beppu is the onsen capital of Japan, with numerous public and private bath-houses and an onsen festival in May, for which I was too early.

Onsens are a delightful remedy for any amount of stress or strain from any cause, and I was extremely fortunate that Minshuku Kokage, my accommodation in Beppu, offered such a facility. On Kyushu, the extent of volcanic activity is such hot underground water is piped into artificial indoor or modified outdoor pools for the bather’s enjoyment. Elsewhere the water may be heated artificially. Whichever the origin, the practice is the same – remove all clothes in an adjoining room; step into the bath room, but first remove grime, dirt and sweat in the washing areas adjacent the bath; step into the bath and soak for about a half hour; return to the washing areas, cleaning yourself this time with soap and shampoo; step back into the bath and soak for another 15-30 minutes. Step out, dress, return to your room, and over a cup of Houji-cha, thank heaven that you haven’t paid $150 dollars an hour for this just as effective therapy.

Beppu is also known for its jigoku or “hells” – local areas of steaming water, boiling mud and the smell of brimstone. Popular sites north of Beppu are not favourably reviewed in the Lonely Planet Guide (LPG). I decided to visit Umi-jigoku, the “sea-hell” a pool of sea-blue hot water, where eggs, hard-boiled in a cane basket, are consumed by tourists who purchase them in the Gift Shop. Umi-jigoku proved to have pleasant water-pool gardens and colourful Azalea hedging, and definitely is worth a visit.

Later in the day, I walked thru Beppu-koen, finding every manner of fitness freak exercising in the Park - Tai-chi, callisthenics/tumbling, joggers, stretchers, yogi and runners. I almost felt obliged to join them, until I discovered the tulip beds, some in pansy beds curling around water features and bamboo groves with zen-like qualities.

The Minshuku Kokage is mentioned in the LPG for Japan, as a clean, cheap, central place to stay in Beppu. It does not mention the glorious collection of ephemeris, objet d’art, photos, memorabilia, household implements and fittings dating from the 1920’s, that decorate the foyer and dining room and adjoining tearooms.

After 2 days in Beppu I boarded the Trans-Kyushu Express for Kumamoto, where another Martial Arts connection was to surprise me. On a cold and cloudy, humid morning the train departed Beppu, to wind through the rugged, mountainous core of central Kyushu. It passes Aso-San, a volcano I was to visit later, but hopes for a initial glimpse were thwarted with thick, soupy mist shrouding it, but views over the Aso valley were spectacular.

Miyamoto Musashi lived around Kumamoto. The cave in which his notions on strategy settled into the Book of Five Rings (Go-Rin-No-Sho) lies in the hills east of the city. The Shimada Museum, which houses much of Musashi’s calligraphy, was unfortunately closed for renovations until early 2008. Musashi was invited to Kumamoto by the Hosokawa Lord, Tadatoshi, who also began the Suizenji Jojuen, a strolling garden of “borrowed scenery”. The garden is a photographer’s delight, with the Longevity Bridges, “Mt Fuji” decorated in various scenes, a large pond beside which the Kokindenju Rooms are located, and the “islands” with their stepping stone causeways such elegant drawcards. I also visited Kumamoto-jo, where Musashi had been invited to stay many times, and just as many times declined the generous offer. The modern castle, hauntingly lit at night, is a reconstruction with a museum inside.

My version of the LPG completely missed the Musashi connection with Kumamoto, making only sparing mention of him. Reading some local tourist information, I discovered that Musashi is “buried” on the outskirts of Kumamoto, in a small park on the old road by which the Hosokawa Lords returned to Kumamoto after their visits to Kyoto or Edo. This small park is on the road to Aso-San, my next destination and to which I would drive.

On a cold, morning I trudge through the rain to ToCoo Mazda Rental, collect my car, return to the minshuku to collect luggage. Partly skirting the city I quickly locate the route to Aso-San, and memorial at Musashi-zaki. While the dripping rain continues, I enjoy the quiet, still cold, pondering the impact of this eccentric warrior on the modern world.

On the 60 km journey to Aso-San, the rain never stops. Temperature signs on the roadside hold my interest: 10 degr, 8 deg, 4 deg, 2 deg, with 0 deg on a sign when I’m almost at Aso Village. Suddenly crystal raindrops float onto the windshield, they do not fall. Aso Village is on the north side of Aso-San, and my accommodation is near Hakusui in Minami-Aso (south Aso). I intended to ascend Aso-san following Route 111, then descend on the south side, as an introduction to the landscape. As the little Mazda climbs the winding road of the steep mountainside, tyres crackle on freshly fallen snow, and crunch the ice veneer forming on the bitumen. Two buses parked on the roadside and fitting chains are a warning. After a 3 point turn, I descend the mountain and drive 40 km around the western side, experiencing something of a blizzard coating fields and roadways.

The Pension Harmony is Chalet Style accommodation in Kyushu’s summer playground. Aso is popular with escapees from the oppressive humid summer heat of the coastal plains. Hiroshi and Tomoko are exceptionally helpful hosts, but I am the only guest in the off-season, so some of the standard services, like a cook, are not available. To compensate, Hiroshi offers brandy, coffee and friendly conversation in the warm dining room each evening after I return from eating in Takamori, some 10 km distant, while he tells me of the 3 years his family spent in New Zealand. Pictures of his boys in rugger jerseys and a small shrine to the All-Blacks in the Pension foyer, give some warning of this past. Hiroshi logs onto the Japanese Met Bureau web-site, and assures me tomorrow will be excellent for walking Aso-San. The morning view from my window also suggests the same. The night before, he hands me a cotton horseshoe to place on the toilet before I use it, to ensure I don’t get frozen to it when nature calls during the night. How cold does it get here?

Clear blue skies, freshly fallen snow and mountain scenery, promise excellent subjects, but my very early arrival is thwarted, by closure of the Crater trails. All walking trails leave from the Crater area so Nake-dake and Take-dake walks are also closed. The snow is not the problem. Sulphur fumes from the Aso crater exceed certain health levels – there is no indication of when trails are likely to open. I meet Andrea (Canadian) and Adrian (West Australian) whose quick trip from Korea is also potentially spoiled, and we decide to ascend Kijima-dake, along with Eboshi-dake, the two guardians of Aso-san. Adrian and I flounder in the snow drifts, skid on icy trails and steps and complain of sodden boots and socks, but Andrea, floating over the drifts and gliding the icy pavement, disdainfully exhorts us to “Get over it boys”. “We don’t have this in Australia” yells Adrian pugnaciously. “Don’t sweat it,” I advise him “she probably can’t walk in sand, swatting flies.”

Next day, the trails are open, but Andrea and Adrian leave the night before. I am up early, but ascending the trails alone. Aso-san trails are short, the walk to Take-dake is barely 5 km, but trails are very steep, and unmarked, the terrain and conditions quickly destroy any permanent marks. Views are spectacular and contrasting patterns of white snow on black soil around smoking craters and on steep slopes are enough to induce vertigo, but the brown haze drifting up the valleys from urban centres fouls the scene. From Take-dake, distant ranges would be spectacular on a clear day. The chief view from Nake-dake is over the active craters. At the crater rim, gaze into Hell – the boiling, smoking, water- filled crater of Aso-San.

The alpine peak complex of Aso-san is merely the most recent solidified plug of a volcano cone. The plug is about 20 km in diameter, the cone is about 60 km in diameter. Returning to Kumamoto from Aso-san, I follow the Skyline Road along the northern and eastern rim of the volcano. From here, the full glory of one of the largest volcanoes on the earth is greeted warmly by the eye at Daikanbo and other lookouts along the Road.

From Kumamoto, I train to Kagoshima the Naples of Japan. The journey is quick and dull. Of the approximately 180 km between K and K, about 100 km is underground Shinkansen, but it ends in the land of Sakurajima.

End Part Two

 Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.