day 342 - Yunomine

We travel by bus up steep mountain roads following the Kumanogawa River from Shingu to Yunomine.

It's hard to believe that this is the roof of a building registered by UNESCO as a World Heritage site!

Yunomine's Tsuboyu is the only World Heritage hotspring in the world that you can bathe in.  It's one of the oldest recorded onsens in Japan.

The village grew from the onsen founded 1800 years ago.  There are numerous legends about pilgrims who recovered from 'incurable' ailments while stopping here on their Kumano Kodo trek.

Onsen Man.

We soaked in the private spring just feet from the public onsen. (I wasn't allowed to post Lyn's photo.) Of all the times we've enjoyed onsen here, there are few photos. (Taking a camera in is pretty much frowned on. This one was for private use and had a lock on the door.)

The people beyond the prayer-notes are down at river-level waiting for their eggs and vegetables to cook in the hot-water spring. The slightly sulphurous water imparts a 'very desirable taste.'

Sulphur crystals form in an 'exhaust pipe' on the river.

day 341 - Mikimoto's Pearl Island

Our Ise visit ended with a trip to Mikimoto Pearl Island in Toba. (Actually Lyn dragged me along, but it was a whole lot more interesting than I'd expected.)

The manmade island houses a comprehensive museum dedicated to the science, industry and artistry of pearls and oysters, a memorial to the "Father of Cultured Pearls", a sales outlet and a demonstration of traditional diving techniques.

The story of Kokichi Mikimoto is inspirational. He was the hardworking son of an udon shop owner. A lifetime fascination, no, obsession, with oysters and pearls eventually led to the annual production of 10 million cultured pearls by 350 Japanese pearl farms by 1935.

Three demonstration divers plunged into the freezing grey ocean to retrieve oysters in the traditional manner - a simple face mask, loose cotton suit and no wetsuit. These ama (female divers) are photogenic young ones for the tourists and are the only ama who dive for oysters today. In Toba and Shima there are still 1300 working ama, although these days they dive for abalone, sea urchin, lobster, sea cucumber and octopus. They're an ageing workforce - the average age is 72!

Inserting the seed matrix and piece of mantle to encourage growth is virtually a surgical procedure.

Just a few of Mikimoto's exquisite and priceless artistic works.

day 340 - The Other Grand Shrine of Ise

Naiku, the so-called Inner Shrine, is a short bus ride from the Outer Shrine. The surrounding grounds are amazingly beautiful in autumn. Even on a grey day, the momiji were ablaze.

Unable to see more than a golden glimpse of the shrine...

... we settled for yet more beautiful autumn maples near the Uji Bridge...

... and the Isuzu-gawa where the pilgrims purify themselves before visiting the shrine...

...the Shinto priests ...

... and the thousands of faithful pilgrims.

day 339 - The Grand Shrine of Ise

Big lantern at the entrance to Ise Jingu.

There has been a shrine on this site for 1500 years.

Expecting huge crowds we arrive early to see Geku, the Outer Shrine of Ise, the holiest Shinto shrine.

But the shrine we see won't be the 5th C. version. An exact replica of the entire structure is built every 20 years, and the new one is consecrated. The timber from the old version is used to construct a new torii or donated to other shrines for repair work throughout the country. The structure pictured here was just a temporary one, but the techniques employed on the real shrine are similar - no screws or glue, just well-mitred interlocking joints and wooden dowels.

You're not supposed to take photos. I try to sneak a shot of Lyn entering.

I think that man-of-the-cloth is onto us...

Not being of the Shinto faith, we're not invited in, although there's no charge to stroll around the park-like grounds studded with ancient sugi - and everyone is very friendly.

This may be as close as we'll get to Ise-Jingu. This version was built in 1993 at a cost 5 billion Yen +. It will be replaced in five years.

At the end of our self-conducted tour we sneak one more image through the bushes of the gilded shrine which will be dismantled in 2013...

day 338 - Ise

A large part of a day spent travelling by train from Shuzenji to Ise, the home of the most venerated Shinto shrine in Japan. The Lonely Planet describes the town as "drab" but we liked it.

We arrived late in the afternoon - just enough time to walk to the nearby district of Kawasaki Kaiwai with its old wooden shops and houses and watch the sun set over the canal.

day 337 - bali in Japan

The Yutorian, Shuzenji.

Sorry if this a lot like an advertorial, but we really liked this place. It's a sprawling Balinese resort serving traditional ryokan-style food in a 1200 year old onsen / temple village!

The staff had about as much English as we had Japanese, but they were very friendly and anxious to help.

Banana palms.

In summer it would be just like Bali here - mushi atsui!

In autumn we were out of season - but we had a LOT of room to ourselves (including the onsen mentioned yesterday.)

Rob especially liked the bamboo theme, complete with giant bamboo furniture.

Balinese bamboo xylophone.

Rooftop gravel garden.

day 336 - Shuzenji

Shuzenji is a very pretty onsen village in the middle of the Izu Peninsula, bisected by the gorge of the Katsura-gawa. Unfortunately while we were there its famous public onsen, Tokko-no-yu which stands on a rocky island in the middle of that river, was itself being bisected by earthmoving equipment as the riverbank was being 'renovated'.

It was here that Kobo Daishi (who began the monastery we visited in Koyasan) was said to have thrust his instrument into the rock (sounds painful?) and an onsen gushed forth. This hot-water spring celebrated its 1200th anniversary just last year.

Since the riverbanks were being 'renovated', for once we preferred the 'man-made cave onsen' at the Yutorian Resort which had the choice of segregated hours or shared hours for those who desire communal naked bathing.

The return of a favourite theme - autumn maples - momiji - and bamboo...

Lateral branches are nurtured and propped to survive the weight of the coming winter snow.

Once again an obliging passer-by offers to take our photo at the mon (gateway) to Shuzenji, the temple founded by Kobo Daishi in 807 which gives the village its name. (This building dates from 1849.)

Shuzenji Temple.

The perfect pine does not happen by accident. There's general shaping and then there's the removal  of  individual needles...

day 335 - Matsuzaki

We'd seen the late Edo diamond-shaped tiles set in white all over Japan from Kyoto to Hagi, but we wanted to check out Matsuzaki were there are over 200 of these buildings preserved in a whole district...

This traditional style is called Namako-kabe - it's just square tiles of basalt or slate set diagonally in plaster. Very dramatic.

The Big Persimmon.

It was a grey day and with the monochrome buildings fruit and flower colours were enhanced without need of Photoshop!

The better houses have stucco plaster details called kote-e.

We made our way to the Izu Chohachi Art Museum...

Irie Chohachi (1815 - 99) executed fresco and stucco plaster-work of unimaginable detail. Every hair on the girl or horse, every fibre in the rope was rendered in plaster coloured with rock minerals. The only way to appreciate it fully was to use the provided magnifying glass!