Monday, 29 October 2012
The big question when I stirred on Day Six of the trip involved the weather conditions outside, and an initial glance out the window was hardly something you'd describe as promising. While there was no way of telling whether there was any actual precipitation without wandering outside there was definite mist and a greyish gloom that didn't bode well as far as light was concerned.
There wasn't any definite plan for the day's activities, more a sort of wish list, weather permitting, and after showering and debating the clothing options we headed down for a very Japanese breakfast, returning to see signs that the weather might actually be lifting. The first thing that needed to be done was to scope out the options for Tuesday's departure, since the preferred option was a non-JR rail motor operation that couldn't be booked on line and check for a more definitive outlook on the day's weather forecast.
The endangered rail scenario looked good, but we were advised to be first in the queue if we wanted to be sure of a seat, which wasn't likely to be too much of an issue since the hotel's on the other side of the plaza outside the railway station.
The informative girl in the nearby Tourist Information Centre had very promising news on the weather front and by the time we were outside waiting for the free shuttle that delivers passengers to the Dakigaeri Valley I was even giving thought to removing the corduroy overshot and doing the scenic walk in a t-shirt. That was a remarkable turnaround from earlier in the morning when I was being advised to ditch the corduroy and using the merino thermal underlay and the padded insulator. The t-shirt bit was probably never a viable option but the fact that it was even considered shows how much the weather prospects had improved.
The bus shuttled off right on time at 10:15, stopping along the way at the Tazawaka Art, Spa, Brewery and Theatre Resort along the way. It's a twenty minute run through the countryside, and while you can do it by taxi the free shuttle, which only runs on October and November is obviously the way to go if you're not inclined to shell out for a taxi fare, though the bus only operates during October and early November.
Reputedly one of the most beautiful valleys in Japan, the Dakigaeri Valley runs along the banks of the Tamagawa River in Akita Prefecture and it's fairly obvious from the time you pull into the car park that you're in for something special, particularly when the autumn leaves are starting to turn.
The tree-covered mountains surrounding the valley would be an attractive proposition any time from spring onwards, and the mail we'd received in town suggested they were somewhere between thirty-three and fifty per cent. If the lower estimate was actually a true assessment, I don't think my eyes could stand the full glory at the height of the season.
You make your way in past the predictable array of stalls offering snacks and regional specialities, and the trail that takes you into the valley starts at a Shinto Shrine devoted to the god of rain before the Kami-no-iwahashi suspension bridge leads you on to the walking trail along the river valley.
The path was originally a railway track used by timbergetters and wagons full of cedar logs were carried to the railway station at Jindai, which the nearest station on the main line.
Given the railway origin the track winds through the valley, complete with tunnels and bridges, though only the first four kilometres (out of twelve) were open to the public when we were there. That four kilometre stretch was enough to take us to the thirty metre Mikaeri-no-taki Waterfall which was the highlight of an amazing little stroll through autumnal forests where the coloured leaves were probably around seventy-five per cent (that's according to The Supervisor, who's more au fait with these things than your narrator).
I was also interested to note the waters of the Tamagawa River are a deep cobalt blue, much like the water in Bluewater Creek north of Townsville. The explanation in that case was, if I recall my High Schoil Geography correctly, the presence of copper sulphate but whether that's the explanation in this case is uncertain. must check on that, though Englislh language material is scanty.
Had the trail been open for more than four kilometres we may well have failed to make it back for the 12:45 shuttle bus, which would have raised issues with lunch and limited the time available to look around the samurai quarter of Kakunodate.
Enclosed on three sides by mountains and Hinokinaigawa River that runs to the south, the former castle town is famous for its samurai tradition and hundreds of weeping cherry trees that line a two kilometre stretch of the river and make it one of the Tohoku Region's most popular sakura viewing spots and the town has been tagged the little Kyoto of Tohoku.
Founded in 1620, the town comprised two distinct areas, the samurai district, once home to eighty families with some of the best examples of samurai architecture in Japan, and the merchant district. Apart from the loss of its castle, Kakunodate remains largely unchanged since it was founded.
Back in the square outside the railway station he broke for lunch, a rather good curry and a flavoursome product of the local brewery that went down well enough to have me dropping into a bottle shop near the hotel to pick up further examples of the local brewer’s art. The eatery we’d chosen was in one of the outbuildings of a residence in the merchants’ quarter, and a post-prandial stroll through that part of town allowed us to have a good look around before heading slightly uphill to the autumn leaves in the samurai quarter in the northern part of town.
Kakunodate is, by all accounts, one of the best examples of a Japanese castle town though the castle itself hasn’t survived and several of the the samurai houses, now privately owned by descendants of the samurai warriors are open to the public.
We didn’t see too many foreigners while we were wandering around, but the town obviously rates fairly high on the pecking order as far as the scenic side of things is concerned. There were a number of tour parties as well as a swag of families doing the sightseeing bit as we made our way through the quarter, and given the coloured leaves on display it wasn’t difficult to see why.
We took a turn through the public section of one of the samurai houses, which delivered another reminder of how tough conditions must have been in these parts in the depths of winter.
We made our way back to base via a bottle shop, which carried a range of local beers, all of which went down very well after dinner and with the prospect of moving forward on the morrow were tucked away in the cot reasonably early, something that isn’t too difficult to do when nightfall comes in well and truly just after five in the nominal afternoon.
We’d explored most of the scenic options around the town, enough to know that there’d be a definite case for returning in the sakura season, though that would probably be an overnight stop en route to somewhere else. If we do, there’ll definitely be a stroll through the riverbank tunnel of cherry blossoms, designated by the national government as a Place of Scenic Beauty and you’d fancy the prospect of fresh spring leaves as an additional treat.
Accommodation could, however, be an issue. Kakunodate is strong on traditional festivals and you’d assume the town would be close to booked out for the Sakura Matsuri (cherry blossom Festival) in spring, There’s also a traditional lion dance with drums and flute (Sasara-mai) in summer, Yama-buttsuke matsuri in early autumn (colliding samurai-themed floats), and Hiburi-kamakura to ward off evil spirits and improve the prospects for a healthy new year in winter.
You might think that’s rather unlikely, but given the experience on the endangered railway the next day, you can never tell...
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