Friday, August 15, 2025

Kicking the bucket...list: Day 17 - Caped crusading

 

On the road to Ashizuri-misaki

The view from my room on the fourth floor of the Hotel Sunriver Shimanto  ホテルサンバリー四万十 in Shimanto City 四万十市. The light rain that was falling when I stirred this morning had stopped by the time I checked out and left the city's Nakamura District 中村地区: 


The rain would come down off and on throughout the day, but unlike the day before, it wouldn't detract from the activities I had in store. In fact, I would end up doing and seeing considerably more compared to Day 16, hopefully meaning this blog post will make for a more interesting read. I paralled the Shimanto-gawa 四万十川 while leaving Shimanto City:


My first stop was at an overlook with a view below of Ōkinohama Beach 大岐の浜. Located about 25 kilometers/16 miles south of Shimanto, it's Shikoku's 四国 "most magnificent sandy beach" (at least according to Lonely Planet). The sand stretches for about 2 kilometers/1.2 miles, and a handful of surfers were venturing out into the waves as I gazed down from above:  


Next up was the rugged promontory that is Ashizuri-misaki 足摺岬. The cape got its name ("foot stomping") from a legend that an elderly monk stamped his foot in frustration when he discovered his young disciple had set off in search of Fudaraku, the promised land. Fudaraku was believed to exist in Kannon's 観音 realm, and many others set off from the cape never to be seen again. In more modern times Cape Ashizuri became (in)famous for suicides. 

Despite this rather bleak history, Ashizuri-misaki is a more interesting place to explore compared to Muroto-misaki 室戸岬, Shikoku's other prominent cape jutting out into the Pacific Ocean. After parking my car I was greeted with this statue of John Mung - more on him a bit later:


I embarked on a short walk to an observation platform and a lighthouse:




The view from the lighthouse observatory, sitting atop 80 meter/262 foot-high cliffs:







Across the road from the cape trails is Temple 38 Kongōfuku-ji 金剛福寺, dedicated to Kannon. I spent some time exploring the quiet grounds (no tour buses filled with foreign visitors):










After spiritually cleansing myself yet again on this trip, it was back in the car to continue the drive along the coast:



John Mung, aka John Manjiro, aka Nakahama Manjirō 中浜万次郎, was one of the more fascinating personages of the late Edo 江戸時代/early Meiji 明治時代 periods. At the age of 14, the young fisherman was shipwrecked on the island of Tori-shima 鳥島. He and his comrades were eventually rescued by an American whaling ship, which took them to the U.S. There he learned English and was given his English name John Manjiro (or John Mung). Due to Japan's period of self-isolation 鎖国, Mung wasn't able to return to his homeland, instead sailing on whaling ships and earning a small fortune in the California Gold Rush. He eventually decided to take his chances and return to Japan, arriving in 1851, where he was allowed back into Japanese society.

The end of the feudal period was coming in Japan, however, and Mung's knowledge of the English language and of the United States led to his being promoted to samurai status in 1853. He became an interpreter and translator in the negotiations leading to the Convention of Kanagawa 日米和親条約 (which opened Japan to trade with the U.S., and later with other Western powers), and later joined the first Japanese Embassy to the United States 万延元年遣米使節 in 1860. Mung would eventually become a professor at the Kaisei School for Western Learning (which later became part of the prestigious University of Tōkyō 東大). Not bad for a poor fisherman from a small village in Tosa Province 土佐国 (today's Kōchi Prefecture 高知県). 

This fascinating life was explored in the interesting John Mung Museum ジョン万次郎資料館:








Looking at the museum from a nearby observation deck:


The drive continued after my visit to the museum:


A lunch of Shimanto fried chicken at the Roadside Station Mejika-no-Sato Tosashimizu 道の駅めじかの里土佐清水:


The drink on the left was a refreshment while driving; the one on the right a digestif enjoyed that evening in my hotel room:



After the break at the roadside station I continued the drive toward Uwajima 宇和島, my ultimate destination that day:




The rain started coming down again, transforming the mountains into beautiful, lush and green misty scenes:


The view from my room at the Uwajima Oriental Hotel 宇和島オリエンタルホテル:


After checking in, I ventured out in search of a meal. I soon arrived at the Uwajima Kisaiya Road 宇和島きさいやロード covered shopping arcade. Had I visited here in 1989 (the year I first arrived in Japan) I'm sure the shōtengai 商店街 would've been busy with families, students and shoppers. In the ensuring decades, the combination of population decline and the rise of a car culture that led to strip malls and suburban shopping centers has turned many of these arcades into ghost towns. At the Uwajima Kisaiya Road few shops were open, and there were even fewer people walking around:


It was a particular pity this place wasn't open:


I eventually settled on a tendon 天丼 set for dinner at one of the very few restaurants still open for business:



The sad state of Uwajima's once-thriving shopping arcade, plus the fact the hotel's restaurant was closed for renovations, meaning breakfast the following morning would be a complimentary bentō 弁当, brought a somewhat anticlimatic end to an otherwise enjoyable day of driving. But Uwajima would redeem itself the next day, so please stay tuned...


Monday, August 11, 2025

Kicking the bucket...list: Day 16 - Plum rained out

 

Bridge over the River Shimanto

Anyone who has spent time in Japan will soon become aware of the importance of the four seasons in Japanese culture. In much of the country there is a clear and obvious distinction between 春, 夏, 秋 and 冬, and in fact many Japanese genuinely believe theirs is the only place on this planet to have four distinct seasons! But to the well-established quartet I would venture to argue there are two more - the typhoon season running between late summer and early autumn, and the "plum rains" 梅雨 that mark the ending of spring before the onset of the hot, humid summer. 

Now, I would also maintain that it can and does rain year-round in most of Japan regardless of the season, but there is a distinct month-long period when precipitation is more likely to occur. And while it depends on where you are (the rain front moves from south to north), for me the rainy season unofficially started on the sixteenth day of my trip to Japan. Despite the rain coming down, after checking out of the Richmond Hotel リッチモンドホテル I drove up to the Godaisan Observatory 五台山展望台 to try to enjoy something of the view of Kōchi 高知 below from the temporary viewing spot: 




The main reason for driving up to Godaisan was not to try to make out Kochi in the mist and rain, but to visit Temple 31 on the Shikoku pilgrimage, Chikurin-ji Temple 竹林寺. There was a large tour group of wet Westerners unprepared for the rain showing up at the same time I arrived, but I would not see any other obvious foreigners for the rest of this day:


The temple's history dates back to 724, making it one of the oldest temples in Kōchi Prefecture 高知県. The five-storied, 31 meter/102-foot high pagoda 五重塔 isn't quite so old, having been rebuilt in 1980, but claims to hold a bone of the Buddha from Bodh Gaya in India. There's no way to confirm this, however, as the tower is closed to the public:


The main hall is somewhat older, dating back to the Muromachi period 室町時代:




A separate ticket gives you entry into the small Treasure Hall, which has an impressive collection of Buddhist sculptures from the Heian 平安時代 and Kamakura 鎌倉時代 periods (photography not permitted); and the Kamakura-period temple garden 名勝庭園, which is overlooked by an Edo period 江戸時代 villa erected in the 17th century in the Shoin 書院 architectural style of the Muromachi era: 




In one of the villa's drawing rooms was a portrait of Kūkai 空海:


From Chikurin-ji it was back in the car, and time to head off to my next destination, roughly a 2½-hour drive from Kochi. The rain never let up as made my way past picturesque inlets and small fishing villages:



Not all the rural scenery was of the idyllic type:


Lunch that day was at a Sukiya すき家:


The route I took (a longer one meant to avoid having to pay tolls) alternated between going inland (this view was taken next to a roadside station 駅の道)...:


...and returning to the coast:


After 3 hours + driving (including stops) I reached my destination - a starting point for boating excursions along the Shimanto-gawa River 四万十川, the longest in Shikoku 四国 at 196 kilometers/122 miles and one of the few remaining free-flowing waterways in Japan (most of the country's rivers are dammed). I made it with a little time to spare before the departure of the next boat, but the small parking lot was crowded, with two giant tour buses taking up most of the space. With the rain still coming down, I reluctantly decided to give up on the idea of riding in a sightseeing cruise. Instead, I retraced my steps down the road to the Takase Chinkabashi 高瀬沈下橋, one of the Shimanto-gawa's 22 "submersible bridges" (there are a further 26 crossing its tributaries), where I walked across to the other side. These bridges are designed to allow debris and water to flow unimpeded when the river level rises:






There was a sign warning against swimming but saying nothing about driving. I wouldn't have risked it, but as I was walking down to the bridge from where I'd parked, I was passed by a car that had done just that!:


I waited for a while but didn't see any boats coming downstream, so eventually I gave up and drove to my home for that night, the Hotel Sun River Shimanto ホテルサンバリー四万十, a short walk from Nakamura Station 中村駅 on the Tosa Kuroshio Railway Nakamura Line 中村線. The room was on the smaller side, but parking was easy in the large lot out front (no more vertical high-rise parking towers):


The covered complex next to the hotel included one of the largest souvenir stores I'd ever seen in Japan, in addition to Ichimonya いちもん屋, where I had tonkatsu 豚カツ for dinner. High in volume, reasonably low in price:


For a nightcap I relaxed with a Tosa Beer Shimanto Shimanto Bushukan Ale 四万十ぶしゅかん, purchased from the souvenir shop:


Frankly speaking, Day 16 was probably the least interesting (excluding arrival and departure) of the entire Japanese jaunt, largely due to the rain putting a damper on things. But the weather would improve somewhat the following day, and so would the activities of which I partook. 

I promise. Really.