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Published: November 19th 2017
Hello my fellow travellers!
I decided to have a leisure start in the morning because the rain was really pouring down. I woke up at the same time as Trung did but I decided to wait for a while and leave later as long as it was okay with him. He had no problems with it, if I just waited an hour or so the building would be empty and no one would notice me leaving anyway and I didn't have to worry about locking up. I decided to do so and hope for the rain to ease up, at least a little bit, because my shoes and socks are still wet since yesterday and I had no desire to make them even worse.
At this moment I only had like one pair of socks left that hasn't been completely worn down to rags on this trip. I even threw all but two pairs away before I left Shizuoka just to be able to bring everything else with me and now I threw away yet another pair that had run it's course. The last pair I have left still have plenty of holes in it, but at least there's
still more sock than hole so I was hoping that they would last me the last two days of this trip.
Unfortunately the rain didn't show any signs of subsiding so eventually I had to concede to the force of nature and leave anyway. After all I was getting way to restless, and I prefer exploration under poor condition to dullness in comfort. Just laying still while I'm in another country simply goes against every fibre in my body.
Armed with an umbrella I headed out and braved the stormy weathers, taking a local train to Shinshû-Nakano Station where I switched to another local train bound for Yudanaka Station which is the main train station in Yamanouchi. The trip only took about 50 minutes in total and thankfully there were quite few passengers.
My primary goal for the day was the Jigokudani Monkey Park (
Jigokudani Yaen Kôen) located on the other side of Yamanouchi, about an hour and half away on foot. There are buses that go back and forth, but I decided that I wanted to walk and see the town of Yamanouchi as well because I have the whole day dedicated to this.
From
the station I set out to walk along a route where I had noticed several interesting sites along the way. The first thing I came upon was the beautiful Yudanaka Ôyu Bathhouse which is one of the nine
onsen (hot springs) that make up the Yudanaka Onsen. This region is famous for it's onsen which dates back to the 7
th century when a Buddhist monk discovered the healing powers of the waters and erected a statue of Miroku Sekibutsu (lit. "Stone Buddha of the Future") here to protect it.
In front of the Yudanaka Ôyu Bathhouse stands a small monument which has a poem inscribed on it by the famous Edo period (1603–1868) poet Kobayashi Issa (1763–1828) who frequented this area. He wrote over 20,000 haiku and many of them got their inspiration from Yamanouchi. He is regarded as one of the four haiku masters of Japan and is commonly known as just Issa (lit. "one cup of tea").
As I continued walking I came to the small Baioji Temple (
Baio-ji), which lays nestled amongst the surrounding houses with steam rising from the hot waters flowing into it's
chôzubachi (water basin). The temple was founded in 1741 and
inside it rests a wooden statue of Issa. There is also a small foot bath here, which I think is called Ping Shang or Pin Shan though I'm not sure. In the centre of the foot bath sits a statue of Yukeburi Jizô and if you dip your cloth in the water and soothe the statue by rubbing it you will be granted good luck. If you rub the aching parts of your body you will also gain long life.
Even though I didn't have a piece of cloth with me I did take the opportunity to wash off a bit in the foot bath and rest my body for a moment though and after I had washed myself off I performed a proper
temizu (ablution) and offered up a prayer to Buddha before I continued on my way. As I left the temple I noticed that there was also a small public foot bath named
Yukeburi no Ashiyu (Yukeburi Foot Bath) situated on the grounds of the temple.
After I left the temple I was hailed, in English, from a distance by an elderly gentleman so I stopped and let him approach. He asked where I was
from and we started chatting, he turned out to be 91 years old and he was teaching himself English through the television! He actually spoke it really well and he told me that he was also really strong so (of course) we arm-wrestled in the air, because it made sense at the time. True to his word he wrestled me down like I was a baby kitten! I was really impressed by him and if you ever want to know why I love Japan so much you need to look no further than to men like him!
Japan has the longest average life span in the world and it's easy to see why with men like him walking around, easily wrestling down men less than half his age without breaking a sweat! We kept chatting for a while until he excused himself with a deep bow which I returned in kind. It was worth coming here, braving the rain and wind, just to meet this man. The term
ichi-go ichie-e (one time, one meeting) has never felt more true to me than at this very moment!
I continued on upwards, walking through the Miroku Park (
Miroku Kôen) where
I passed by statues of the Rokujizô (lit. six Jizô), the six bodhisattva who gave up enlightenment in order to give salvation to others. Finally I reached the beautiful statue of Sekai Heiwa Kannon (lit. Kannon of World Peace). It's a 25 metre high statue that really catches your eye even from far away.
Praying before her grants you peace and happiness and it's one the three sacred Buddhas of Yamanouchi. The other two are Miroku Sekibutsu (lit. Stone Buddha of the Future) who protects against earthquakes and Enmei Tabako Jizô
who grants you health and helps you quit smoking (I have a friend who could use his help).
The statue of Sekai Heiwa Kannon stands on the grounds of Daihiden Temple (
Daihiden). While I was at the temple there was some kind of ceremony going on and I didn't want to disturb it because it had a solemn aura to it. Otherwise I would have walked up to, and rung, the large bell that stands on the grounds. When you ring it you may ask for world peace and hopefully have it answered. Instead I offered up a prayer before Sekai Heiwa Kannon and afterwards I went
up to Miroku Sekibutsu and offered up another prayer before I continued on my way towards the Jigokudani Monkey Park
. As I was walking along the road I noticed a small shrine on a hill beneath me and found a stair leading down to it, so I decided to make a brief stop there as well. I learned that it was named Kanakura Shrine (
Kanakura Jinja) but beyond that I couldn't really find any information about it but it was located quite beautifully on top of a small hill with a beautiful view out of it's
torii (shrine gate).
I kept walking and after a while I made it down to Yokoyu River where I saw a beautiful gate, a minuscule waterfall and a funny samurai head. Here the path divided into two separate routes, one route that went through the forest and one longer called the cultural route. I decided to be lazy (I thought) and go through the forest since also took me past Onsen-ji Temple (
Onsen-ji).
The Onsen-ji Temple is a really beautiful temple with a very calm and dignified aura. One thing that made it stand out, for me personally, was that it
carries the
mon (family crest) of the Takeda clan. It was one of the greatest clans of the Sengoku period (1467–1568) and it's most famous leader was Takeda Shingen (1521–1573) who came to dominate the battles of his time thanks the heavy cavalry charge he created. It was so effective that it even became synonymous with the Takeda clan.
Onsen-ji Temple was built by funds from Shingen after the Battles of Kawanakajima. It was a series of five battles fought between 1553 and 1564 between Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin. Shingen would rest his men here and let them nurture their wounds in the healing waters of the onsen. On the front steps of the temple stands two sets of statues of the
Sanzaru (Three Monkeys) and around the temple a vast cemetery stretches into the surrounding mountains
. I can certainly recommend that you make a visit to this temple while you're in Yamanouchi as it's a really beautiful place.
After my visit to the Onsen-ji Temple I set out into the forest above it in order to reach Jigokudani Monkey Park
. I walked along the main road which winded itself up along the mountainside and a heavy mist
Hall of Miroku Sekibutsu
Daihiden Temple, Yamanouchicrept in, creating a somewhat similar feel to that which I had on Miyajima last year. However, to be perfectly honest this one was actually a pretty boring route by comparison because it went along a regular road rather than by a hiking trail. Even though the mist gave it a mysterious aura I wasn't quite feeling the love for it so I actually tried to hail a few cars that passed by me but none of them stopped.
It took me a while to walk through the forest, because I'm a pretty slow walker and it was fairly steep at some places, but eventually the forest opened up and revealed the Jigokudani Valley before me
. jigokudani literally means "hell's valley" and it is a common name for valleys created by volcanic activity as it is quite common to see hot steam simmer up through the ground from hot springs beneath the surface, creating a dramatic and hellish landscape.
As I made my way up along the mountainside, aiming to reach Jigokudani Monkey Park before my strength ran out, the valley stretched out amazingly beneath me and sitting picturesquely within
it all was Jigokudani Onsen and it's affiliated hotel. The view is absolutely breathtaking with steam rising from the warm waters and covering the valley in a soft shroud that blends perfectly with the mist that rolls in from the forest. The pictures I took doesn't even begin to come close to making it justice and it's a view that will forever be etched into my memory. I have a feeling that in winter this place is even more striking when a soft layer of snow covers everything creating even more contrasts with the heat rising from the water. I wish that I had come here in wintertime but I'm happy that I've come regardless of the season.
When I came to the entrance to the park I paid the entrance fee and once inside It didn't require more than a few steps until I could see the first of the Japanese macaques, commonly known as snow monkeys, sitting on a fence grooming each other. They seem quite accustomed to people as they didn't mind neither me nor the other people around. I took a few pictures with them before I continued to the famous onsen where the monkeys
Torii (Shrine Gate)
Kanakura Shrine, Yamanouchi come down to bathe. It was located only some 20 metres of so into the park and as far as I could tell this is the furthest that you are allowed to go into the park even though the park seems to be quite large, I imagine that it is so to give the monkeys plenty of private space to roam around in when they tire of people.
There were unfortunately no snow monkeys bathing here at the moment but I decided to be patient so I found myself a nice and comfortable little rock to sit down on while I waited. After all, I had no other plans for the day so I had several hours at my disposal just to watch the monkeys here do whatever it is that they do.
Initially there weren't that many people around, but those that were here were a quite diverse mix. People kept coming and going throughout the whole day though, many of them didn't actually stay around for that long. But there were a couple other than me that decided to wait for a good opportunity to see the monkeys bathe and perhaps to be able to get
some good photos. The snow monkeys are so used to humans coming and going that they paid no notice to us at all. The spot that I had sat down at turned out to be a gold mine as it was located right next to the onsen and some of the monkeys came up right next to me. It's not allowed to pet or feed them though, otherwise, I might have been tempted to do so when they sat no more than an inch or two away from me, looking at me with their beautiful eyes.
As the day progressed more and more snow monkeys kept coming down from the mountains and soon the entire area was filled with them. I was lucky enough to be there for a lovely window of time when there were lots of snow monkeys but almost no people which allowed me to really meet them up close in a quite personal manner and take some good and uninterrupted photos. Patience also won out as eventually large groups of snow monkeys went into the onsen and started swimming around and clean each other. I also got to see a few really adorable babies and
I was fortunate enough to get to see the current alpha male!
I realised just how fortunate I was when I met this trio of Canadians travelling together with two Japanese tour guides. I began talking to all of them and the lady that was guiding them, who come here often with tours, said that this was only the second time she had ever seen the alpha male! He apparently don't come down here all that often and to make it even more amazing I didn't only get to see the alpha male but also one more male. Apparently that is even more rare because they usually go off wandering for long distances on their own when they're not in control of the pack.
As closing hours was drawing near I figured that it was time to head back, after all it would be quite a bit of walk back to the station. The Canadians was leaving at the same time so I sort of tagged along with them, talking to them and their guides. I especially talked a lot with one of their guides, Takeshi, about Japan and his honeymoon to Europe. I also talked a lot
to the oldest of the Canadians, a businessman who come to Japan all the time in his job but this was the first time that he actually took the time to be a bit of a tourist here.
All of them were such wonderful people.and fortunately for me they were taking the cultural route back. It was a lot easier to walk on and a lot more beautiful so I definitely recommend going by that route rather than the forest route unless you have a car. You should still visit Onsen-ji Temple before doing so though as that temple is more then worth the small detour it entails.
While we were walking Takeshi invited me to join the group for their last stop of the day, a local sake brewery, and I thought it sounded very interesting so I happily accepted. On our way to the sake brewery I stopped by briefly at what I first thought was a shrine, because of a torii, but that turned out to be a temple, Kanbayashi Fudōson Temple
, dedicated to Fudō Myō-ō
. He is one of the Godai Myō-ō (Five Wisdom Kings) together with Gōzanze Myō-ō, Gundari Myō-ō, Daiitoku Myō-ō and
Kongōyasha.
Fudō Myō-ō means "the immovable wisdom king" and he is the guardian of Buddhism. His terrifying exterior, covered in flames and with fangs protruding from his mouth, frightens people into accepting salvation. He battles evil and he is also the one who guides the deceased souls to the next life. He also oversees the funeral ceremony which is an important affair in Japan.
We also visited the beautiful shrine Tenkawa Jinja which was a very calm and dignified place since there was no other people present despite it's beauty. That's what I enjoy about threading these smaller venues and visiting the smaller, less known, shrines and temples. They are often very beautiful while also truly offering up peace and spirituality.
After a while we came to our goal, Tamamura Honten, which is a family owned and award winning brewery. Across from it was the owners gorgeous house where we were also allowed to take a quick peek even though it's not open to the public. Inside the brewery there was a tasting room where we were all seated, in front of us was a big bar and on top of the bar was some two dozen
bottles of sake and cups for tasting. There was no real limits here, just taste as many and as much sake as you'd like. In addition to the sake it was also possible to order beer that was locally crafted by the brewery. After the tasting we were also given a brief tour of the brewery which was very interesting.
The sake was really delicious and we all had a really great time together, drinking sake and talking about everything imaginable. I feel so fortunate to be allowed to join them for this, this is something I would not have found on my own accord and I think it was really generous of them to let me be a part of this.
When we were are pleasantly filled with sake and beer the tour guide brought us to the nearest bus stop to take the bus back down to the train station. I still had another hour or so before I had to take the train back to Suzaka to meet Tran so I thanked them all for their amazing hospitality and then I went to grab a bite to eat while they got on the train to
go to their next destination. I started with an assortment of smaller dishes at the Lawson across the street but it wasn't enough to fill me up so I went into a small restaurant and topped it off with some noodle soup.
With my belly full I returned to Suzaka where Tran came and picked me up by car and then we went straight for an onsen together. It did wonders for my weary body, soaking in the hot waters and getting a massage from the jet streams shooting out of the sides of the pool. Both my body and mind felt refreshed by the time we moved on to go eat some
ramen (Chinese style noodles) and after the meal we returned to his home and chatted for a while before going to bed.
There's been a lot of impressions on this trip, a lot of really amazing moments, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow will be my last day in Japan for this time. I will have quite a lot of time tomorrow before I go home though so I will visit Zenkō-ji, and I will also visit two more sights
that Tran suggested that I visit. The Shiraito Falls (
Shiraito no Taki) outside of Karuizawa and Ueda Castle (
Ueda-jō) in Ueda.
I will go with Tran when he leaves tomorrow as he will take the same train that I can use to go to both Karuizawa and Ueda. They are only one stop apart and Ueda is just one stop from Nagano so it's all quite close by and this way I can keep him company for the first part of the trip at least. I think tomorrow will be a lot of fun because so far Tran's suggestions have worked out very well for me!
Until tomorrow I wish you all peace and happy travels!
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Snow monkeys
Snow monkeys gotta be on everyone's wish list Per-Olof. Mine is with them in hot springs in the snow...probably why I'll never achieve it. But where there is a will there is a way I often say...so you never really know, do you?