Kicking the bucket...list: Day 8 - Scarecrows and the art of mountain driving

 

 

Waiting for a bus that will never arrive

Breakfast for my first morning at the Iyanoyado Kazuraya 祖谷の宿かずらや ryokan 旅館, a delicious change from the hotel breakfast buffets I had been raiding to start my off my days:

It's said that experience is the best teacher, and that certainly proved to be the case while driving in the Iya Valley 祖谷渓. Mountainous areas in Japan (at least in those areas where people are living) are frequently accessed by narrow roads that are often only wide-enough for one car at a time to pass through, even though the traffic flows in both directions. I'd been on such roads many times in the past, but usually only as a passenger, either in a bus or seated next to a Japanese person driving the car. This time it would be me behind the wheel, and I had to learn very quickly as I left the ryokan and made my way through Higashi Iya 東祖谷 along Route 439 to Nagoro 名頃. By paying attention to where turnouts were located, and making use of the convex mirrors posted on virtually every blind corner (as well as pulling over when possible to let vehicles behind me pass), I managed to negotiate some very narrow spaces with oncoming vehicles without any embarrassing incidents during the 17 days I was driving in Shikoku 四国. It helped that I didn't encounter any clueless middle-aged European dudes while making my around. 

My first stop that morning was the tiny village of Nagoro, known around Japan as the Nagoro Doll (or Scarecrow) Village 名頃かかしの里. One of many isolated communities facing extinction due to population decline, Nagoro has been transformed into a tourist attraction thanks to local resident Tsukimi Ayano. After returning to her hometown from Ōsaka 大阪 in 2003, Ayano has been "repopulating" the village with her handmade dolls. There are now more than 300 of these figures scattered around Nagoro, waiting at the bus stop, tending their fields, shopping in the local store and so on. This short video by a German filmmaker gives an inside look at Ayano and her project: 

The school gymnasium as it would have looked back in the days when Nagoro was at its peak population level of around 300 inhabitants, as opposed to the fewer than 30 souls residing there today. The school itself closed down years ago but visitors are free to look inside during normal working hours:

I was expecting to find Nagoro to be a bit creepy due to the presence of so many life-sized dolls, but instead I came away feeling saddened that a once-thriving community is on the verge of disappearing, a victim of changing demographics. Despite Ayano-san's efforts to keep the memories alive, the village is sadly just one of the almost 750 municipalities across the archipelago facing extinction. Will Nagoro be a true Valley of the Dolls a decade from now? 

Leaving Nagoro I pressed on into the interior, with my next stop being the Oku-Iya Nijū Kazura-bashi 奥祖谷二重かずら橋, a pair of side-by-side wisteria vine bridges also known as the "Fūfu-bashi" ("husband and wife bridges") 夫婦橋. The story behind these kinds of river crossings is that they were erected by the Heike 平家氏 warriors who fled to the Iya Valley following their devastating defeat in the Battle of Dan-no-Ura 壇ノ浦の戦い. Needing to be able to be quickly chopped down in the event the Heike were being pursued by their enemies, the bridges were made of rope vine. They're now strengthened with hidden steel cables:  

Walking past the male bridge 夫の橋: 

Crossing to the other side of the river on the female bridge 妻の橋...:

...and returning via the male bridge. The pair make up ⅔ of the surviving kazura-bashi, with the other one being just a short walk from the ryokan (and which I would visit the next morning - stay tuned):

There was a small restaurant across from the bridges where I had an early lunch of oyakodon 親子丼: 

It was back in the car following the meal, and on to my final destination, Tsurugi-san 剣山, Shikoku's second-highest mountain after Ishizuchi-san 石鎚山. As I'm not the avid hiker I once was, I gladly made use of the chair lift, which deposited me much closer to the summit in just 15 minutes, and saving me from the four-hike that starts at Minokoshi 見ノ越:

The view from the upper chair lift station 西島駅:

According to the information board it would take 40 minutes to reach the summit via the shorter ridge route:

Getting higher...:

Despite the huffing and puffing, and the frequent pauses on the way up to catch my breath (cleverly disguised as stepping aside to allow descending hikers to proceed and therefore making me look very courteous), it only took 43 minutes for me to reach the 1955-meter/6414-foot summit:

For the descent, following a coffee break at the Tsurugi-san Chōjō Hutte hut 剣山頂上ヒュッテ, I opted to take the longer route down:

The lift station as it appeared on the way down:

Pausing at the Ōtsurugi Shrine 大剣神社:

On the chair lift for the return trip to the parking lot:

Then it was time for the drive back to the ryokan. Obviously it was risky to stop to get some photos of the narrow roads lest an oncoming vehicle were to suddenly appear from around a bend, but here's an example of a stretch through a small hamlet that was only wide enough for one car at a time:

Dinner that evening - notice the setting for a second person. For this evening, I was placed in a private room, and not in the common area where I had my meals the previous evening and this morning:

For this meal I eschewed my usual beer and ordered the sake tasting set 美酒飲み比べセット, featuring three types of cold local sake (Hōsui 芳水, Imakomachi 今小町 and Miyōshigiku 三芳菊: 

After dinner and after dark, I went for a walk to see how the Biwa Waterfall 琵琶の滝 and Iya no Kazura-bashi 祖谷のかずら橋 appeared at night. At one point an old man on a bicycle called me over to point out an area by the side of the road that had some fireflies flitting about. There weren't enough to get any good photos or videos (according to the ojisan おじさん there would be a lot more a week later), but still made for a relaxing atmosphere before I returned to the ryokan for an evening bath and then bed:

My newly-discovered mountain driving skills would once again be put to the test as I prepared to leave the Iya Valley the following day. See you then...