Kumamoto day 2: Amemiya Shrine and Hitoyoshi
Giant post is giant. Sorry. ^^;
Lots of pretty landscapes ahead...
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September 23rd, 20:30
Today's breakfast was thankfully not as big as dinner, but still quite a lot! I think I had at least 4 or 5 diffent kinds of fish over the two meals that I've had so far. ^^;
After taking the train to Hitoyoshi from Yoshio station (pictured above xD ) I managed to catch the bus to Amemiya shrine in the morning!
On the train to Hitoyoshi... Nice views all around!
I had some time until the bus arrived, so had a look around the tourist information center inside Hitoyoshi station first. There they had the autographed Nyanko-sensei statues (from the Natsume Yuujinchou x Hotarubi no Mori e event I think? They looked familiar...)
Nyanko-sensei stuff on display... And sake. xD
They had a special map for people visiting Hitoyoshi with the same purpose as me! I didn't see it at first 'cause they were hidden away on a table in the corner of the room (not in the racks with the other flyers and maps), but when the guides at the counter asked me where I was going, so I told them, and then they gave one to me! They also had a Natsume Yuujinchou stamp there, apparently they have them at a few different places on the map, so you can go and collect them. So I put one in my little travel notebook. ^o^
It only had a few locations on it though, not all of the ones I plan to visit. Amemiya wasn't on it, for example, while it did have the bus stop from the first opening, which is in the same direction. On the same bus line actually, but too far away to visit both that AND the shrine within a day, since there's a 2-3hr waiting time between each bus... So I chose to get off at the shrine, and just have a good look around there.
I'm here~ Again in the middle of nowhere, with nobody around. ^^;
...I wish I'd brought my cosplay! 'Cause I didn't see a single person in the 2hrs that I spent there. It would've been so easy to change into a white blouse and my Natsume wig, put on some makeup and take some pictures... u_u (Though it would've been a pain to carry around more luggage, which is why I decided against it in the first place...) Next time, next time... >w<
These pretty flowers were everywhere! Apparently they're a seasonal thing, 'cause when I told the ryokan lady that I went to see the rice fields, she immediately asked, "did you see the red flowers? The contrast between the red flower and the brown of the rice is beautiful this time of the year." And it really was!
It's just like the landscape in the Tsuyukami episode! =O
Yay~
Entrance to the 'forest' on top of the hill, with flags advertising that the shrine is some kind of cultural heritage.
But there isn't actually a little shrine at the foot of the hill there, at least not one that's exactly like in the Tsuyukami episode. The closest I could find was this little buddha statue. So I offered my tangerine there, haha.
There was also a signboard explaining the origins of Amemiya shrine. Apparently the story presented in the anime is true! The shrine is called "Amemiya" (Rain shrine) because once during a long drought, the people prayed there for rain, and the day after, it actually rained. That's why they started worshipping this place as the 'god of rain' (or 'dew', whatever... >w< )
(Close enough... xD)
The actual shrine on top of the hill, after climbing a long, long flight of stairs, is the one that little!Natsume uses as his 'secret base' for a while, and where he got caught up in that thunderstorm T_T It really IS the perfect secret base, since it's completely hidden amongst the trees if you look at the hill from a distance.
And there was a yuujinchou! And more related stuff, like a Nyanko plushie! And someone had offered a mini bottle of sake to the Nyanko plushie, omg, that's too adorable for words!
Apparently people who visit the shrine can write their names in the book, so that's what I did. The first page had a 'message from Natsume', saying he would give back your name one day.
I can't actually read all of those cursive kanji, I just got the "名を返そう" part at the end ^^;
Yay~ Now I'm Natsume's 'friend' too!
Though if you think about it, it's really mean, isn't it!? Natsume's trying his hardest to give everybody their names back, and here people go, writing NEW names in the book, giving him even more work! Sorry! xD
Inside of the shrine... (No, I didn't actually go inside, just shoved my camera though the wooden grating.
View from the hill... as much as you could see though the thick canopy of trees.
Tee hee *^^*
After wandering around for a bit, it was time to get on the bus again, and only then did I see the first people, a couple who also came to visit the shrine by car. I guess that really is the most convenient way to get around here...
Couldn't help but take some more pictures from different angles... It's just so pretty!
Empty house near the bus stop...
Giant bug =O
Hitoyoshi Station~
I got back to Hitoyoshi at about noon, and set out to find the locations within the city, that were written on the Natsume Yuujinchou map that I got earlier.
The town is situated on both sides of the Kuma river, so there's lots of nice views inside the town as well. Apparently this view appeared in an episode (according to a Japanese blog) though I'm not sure which. ^^;
Little path along the river...
Cool wooden boats! Apparently tourists can ride them down the river, but I didn't take the time to do that. >w<
I did get a bit distracted when I ran into the Hitoyoshi Castle ruins though. I didn't mean to visit them, but they were positioned on top of a high hill, so I wondered if climbing up there would give me a nice view (and I wanted to use the public toilet at the visitor center, lol).
Replica of the castle, in front of the station. It mostly serves as a clock, with puppets inside that dance every whole hour, and music starts playing too.
The ruins seen from across the river... Doesn't this view just make you wanna go up there and check what you can see from there?
Staaairs...
On top of the castle walls, I took a little break enjoying the view, when I ran into a middle-aged couple (the ones who happened to end up in the picture above, I only noticed later ^^;), who were wondering why a foreigner would visit a place like Hitoyoshi. They were from here, and they thought there was really nothing special to see. So I explained... And apparently they'd never heard of Natsume Yuujinchou, even though they were locals O__O So I showed them the official map I got, and the manga, and the woman said it looked really interesting and she would look it up and read it. Yay for converting random people into your fandom, lol.
Nice views~
Shrine on the castle grounds
Moving on, walking to the south, I found the actual shrine where Natori was sitting in one of the openings. It looked quite different though, because apparently the building next to it has been torn down since then. So it doesn't quite have this atmosphere of a 'secret shrine hidden between the houses' anymore. But it was still pretty!
And so many people had drawn Natsume-related Ema (prayer tablets) and left them there. Apparently the seiyuu have done so too, but I couldn't find those... Maybe they were cleaned up again already, because it was a long time ago that they visited. U_U (Isn't the tradition that they burn the ema every year? Maybe that's why...)
The ones that were there, all seemed very recent, mostly celebrating the announcement of the 5th anime season.
The inside... Apparently this shrine has been around for hundreds of years, way before it got turned into a 'sacred' site for Natsume Yuujinchou fans. I kinda wondered how the original local god of the shrine would feel about all this... ^^;;;
More offerings for the Nyankos... xD
And stamps to add to my notebook! The one at this shrine was so well-used and worn down that it didn't give a clear picture anymore...
It was so hot today... =w=;
A little further south was this place where Tsubame, the swallow youkai, was reunited with Mr. Taniozaki. An interesting thing was that looking at the name plates on the houses, there were actually a lot of names with the kanji for "tani" (valley) or "o" (slope) in it, so it seemed totally plausable that a Mr. Taniozaki would be living there. Maybe it's because the entire area around the Kuma river is one big valley surrounded by mountains.
I took a break at the spot where Natsume and Tsubame came to spy on Taniozaki, at a little grove on top of a hill. There was also a little shrine there.
Then I headed back towards the station, on the way passing by this river landscape from one of the eyecatches. =O So pretty!
Not sure if I got the right angle... ^^;
I was going to walk to West Hitoyoshi, about 5km away, to visit the Tengu bridge there, but it was really hot and I was kinda getting sunburnt by this time (2pm). The weather forecast had said it'd be cloudy, so I didn't bring any sunscreen. (Or bug repellant, come to think of it... I could've really used that at Amemiya shrine ^^;) So my skin was getting all red and the bug bites itchy, so I decided to wait half an hour for the train towards Nishi-Hitoyoshi station, which took just about as long as it would've taken to walk there.
On the train, a group of what looked to be salarymen started talking to me, first attempting to speak English, but I didn't understand what they were trying to say, so I asked them to just speak Japanese instead. xD Turns out it was the usual "where are you from, where are you going, what are you doing here?" kinda talk. Not really noteworthy, except that one of the younger guys introduced himself as "Fujiwara". =O I had to get off the train again after just 10 minutes though, so I didn't really talk to them beyond introductions.
Near Nishi-Hitoyoshi station...
There, I saw the first convenience store on this whole trip xD So I brought some sunscreen (though it was kinda too late at this point ^^;) and extra batteries for my camera, 'cause I'd been running out faster than I'd expected.
And I'm glad I did, 'cause after about a 20 minute walk, I walked right into what looked exactly like the neighborhood Natsume lives in! The bridge, Tengu-bashi appears in so many episodes, it's got to be somewhere close to his house! Though I couldn't find any house that looked exactly like his, just many many similar ones.
Doesn't it look like it could be anywhere around here?
The bridge! It looked soooo familiar, even though I've never been there before, which felt really strange.
View from the bridge.
I wonder why it's called the Tengu bridge... There must be some sort of legend behind it! >w< But they sure do pick places with the most interesting names for the anime... For example, I found out that the bridge that served as the model to the bridge near Tanuma's house, is called the "harai-gou-bashi", or "exorcist river bridge". It's located near Ichifusa dam, which I'll visit on the last day. =3 Maybe they picked these locations by their interesting names?
Whee~
Somehow I feel like this is the place where most youkai in the series show up... Even in the manga, the scenery often just shows a river embankment with lots of grass, and a bridge in the background. >w<
After having a good look around the bridge, I still had about an hour until the train back to my inn, so I decided to have a long walk around the village, while listening to soundtracks from the anime.
Pretty sure this bridge appears in the series too...
I also found this shrine with dozens of creepy little statues, which appears in one of the episodes with Reiko! (was it the one where she meets little Shigeru?)
This view looked so familiar... >w<
Nyan~
The actual shrine...
And the inside =O That statue kinda scared me when I peaked in, I wasn't expecting such a big statue in a tiny shrine in the middle of nowhere like this... And it's eyes are like O_O, just staring at you...
Seriously, I have no idea what these are, but they're creepy...
Walking around the area...
The few people I met around here looked at me as if I was some kind of youkai! I guess they don't get many tourists here, especially not foreign ones.
On my way back to the station, it suddenly started pouring, but luckily I had an umbrella (or not really 'luckily', because I specially bought it in case it might rain ^^;), and it stopped again pretty quickly.
Waiting under a tree for the worst to stop...
Then I took the train back to Yoshio, and took a bath in the onsen there. They seem to have this 'system' here that they'll serve you dinner at any time you want (so basically whenever you happen to get back), but since it probably takes time to prepare everything, they ask you to take a long bath while they prepare your dinner. It's a good idea! xD And it's just really nice to take a bath after a long day of walking, while listening to the relaxing sound of the river. The bathroom is on the 2nd floor as well, just as my room, so you can look out over the river while you sit in the bath. Just have to be careful not to stand up near the window, because then any passers-by on the street would see you ^^;; (Though the only ones I've seen are a few cars and motorbikes, which go too fast for anyone to peep, and some kids passing by on their way to the station, going to and from an elementary school nearby. (who are too short to look into the second floor window, lol
I ran into one other guest at the bath today, an older lady, just as I was getting out and she was getting in. So now I know I'm not the only one here! xD But it's still really quiet in here, though I guess that's nice... ^^
foooood~
I think I'm a little sunburnt... Oh well ^^;
Lots of pretty landscapes ahead...
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September 23rd, 20:30
Today's breakfast was thankfully not as big as dinner, but still quite a lot! I think I had at least 4 or 5 diffent kinds of fish over the two meals that I've had so far. ^^;
After taking the train to Hitoyoshi from Yoshio station (pictured above xD ) I managed to catch the bus to Amemiya shrine in the morning!
On the train to Hitoyoshi... Nice views all around!
I had some time until the bus arrived, so had a look around the tourist information center inside Hitoyoshi station first. There they had the autographed Nyanko-sensei statues (from the Natsume Yuujinchou x Hotarubi no Mori e event I think? They looked familiar...)
Nyanko-sensei stuff on display... And sake. xD
They had a special map for people visiting Hitoyoshi with the same purpose as me! I didn't see it at first 'cause they were hidden away on a table in the corner of the room (not in the racks with the other flyers and maps), but when the guides at the counter asked me where I was going, so I told them, and then they gave one to me! They also had a Natsume Yuujinchou stamp there, apparently they have them at a few different places on the map, so you can go and collect them. So I put one in my little travel notebook. ^o^
It only had a few locations on it though, not all of the ones I plan to visit. Amemiya wasn't on it, for example, while it did have the bus stop from the first opening, which is in the same direction. On the same bus line actually, but too far away to visit both that AND the shrine within a day, since there's a 2-3hr waiting time between each bus... So I chose to get off at the shrine, and just have a good look around there.
I'm here~ Again in the middle of nowhere, with nobody around. ^^;
...I wish I'd brought my cosplay! 'Cause I didn't see a single person in the 2hrs that I spent there. It would've been so easy to change into a white blouse and my Natsume wig, put on some makeup and take some pictures... u_u (Though it would've been a pain to carry around more luggage, which is why I decided against it in the first place...) Next time, next time... >w<
These pretty flowers were everywhere! Apparently they're a seasonal thing, 'cause when I told the ryokan lady that I went to see the rice fields, she immediately asked, "did you see the red flowers? The contrast between the red flower and the brown of the rice is beautiful this time of the year." And it really was!
It's just like the landscape in the Tsuyukami episode! =O
Yay~
Entrance to the 'forest' on top of the hill, with flags advertising that the shrine is some kind of cultural heritage.
But there isn't actually a little shrine at the foot of the hill there, at least not one that's exactly like in the Tsuyukami episode. The closest I could find was this little buddha statue. So I offered my tangerine there, haha.
There was also a signboard explaining the origins of Amemiya shrine. Apparently the story presented in the anime is true! The shrine is called "Amemiya" (Rain shrine) because once during a long drought, the people prayed there for rain, and the day after, it actually rained. That's why they started worshipping this place as the 'god of rain' (or 'dew', whatever... >w< )
(Close enough... xD)
The actual shrine on top of the hill, after climbing a long, long flight of stairs, is the one that little!Natsume uses as his 'secret base' for a while, and where he got caught up in that thunderstorm T_T It really IS the perfect secret base, since it's completely hidden amongst the trees if you look at the hill from a distance.
And there was a yuujinchou! And more related stuff, like a Nyanko plushie! And someone had offered a mini bottle of sake to the Nyanko plushie, omg, that's too adorable for words!
Apparently people who visit the shrine can write their names in the book, so that's what I did. The first page had a 'message from Natsume', saying he would give back your name one day.
I can't actually read all of those cursive kanji, I just got the "名を返そう" part at the end ^^;
Yay~ Now I'm Natsume's 'friend' too!
Though if you think about it, it's really mean, isn't it!? Natsume's trying his hardest to give everybody their names back, and here people go, writing NEW names in the book, giving him even more work! Sorry! xD
Inside of the shrine... (No, I didn't actually go inside, just shoved my camera though the wooden grating.
View from the hill... as much as you could see though the thick canopy of trees.
Tee hee *^^*
After wandering around for a bit, it was time to get on the bus again, and only then did I see the first people, a couple who also came to visit the shrine by car. I guess that really is the most convenient way to get around here...
Couldn't help but take some more pictures from different angles... It's just so pretty!
Empty house near the bus stop...
Giant bug =O
Hitoyoshi Station~
I got back to Hitoyoshi at about noon, and set out to find the locations within the city, that were written on the Natsume Yuujinchou map that I got earlier.
The town is situated on both sides of the Kuma river, so there's lots of nice views inside the town as well. Apparently this view appeared in an episode (according to a Japanese blog) though I'm not sure which. ^^;
Little path along the river...
Cool wooden boats! Apparently tourists can ride them down the river, but I didn't take the time to do that. >w<
I did get a bit distracted when I ran into the Hitoyoshi Castle ruins though. I didn't mean to visit them, but they were positioned on top of a high hill, so I wondered if climbing up there would give me a nice view (and I wanted to use the public toilet at the visitor center, lol).
Replica of the castle, in front of the station. It mostly serves as a clock, with puppets inside that dance every whole hour, and music starts playing too.
The ruins seen from across the river... Doesn't this view just make you wanna go up there and check what you can see from there?
Staaairs...
On top of the castle walls, I took a little break enjoying the view, when I ran into a middle-aged couple (the ones who happened to end up in the picture above, I only noticed later ^^;), who were wondering why a foreigner would visit a place like Hitoyoshi. They were from here, and they thought there was really nothing special to see. So I explained... And apparently they'd never heard of Natsume Yuujinchou, even though they were locals O__O So I showed them the official map I got, and the manga, and the woman said it looked really interesting and she would look it up and read it. Yay for converting random people into your fandom, lol.
Nice views~
Shrine on the castle grounds
Moving on, walking to the south, I found the actual shrine where Natori was sitting in one of the openings. It looked quite different though, because apparently the building next to it has been torn down since then. So it doesn't quite have this atmosphere of a 'secret shrine hidden between the houses' anymore. But it was still pretty!
And so many people had drawn Natsume-related Ema (prayer tablets) and left them there. Apparently the seiyuu have done so too, but I couldn't find those... Maybe they were cleaned up again already, because it was a long time ago that they visited. U_U (Isn't the tradition that they burn the ema every year? Maybe that's why...)
The ones that were there, all seemed very recent, mostly celebrating the announcement of the 5th anime season.
The inside... Apparently this shrine has been around for hundreds of years, way before it got turned into a 'sacred' site for Natsume Yuujinchou fans. I kinda wondered how the original local god of the shrine would feel about all this... ^^;;;
More offerings for the Nyankos... xD
And stamps to add to my notebook! The one at this shrine was so well-used and worn down that it didn't give a clear picture anymore...
It was so hot today... =w=;
A little further south was this place where Tsubame, the swallow youkai, was reunited with Mr. Taniozaki. An interesting thing was that looking at the name plates on the houses, there were actually a lot of names with the kanji for "tani" (valley) or "o" (slope) in it, so it seemed totally plausable that a Mr. Taniozaki would be living there. Maybe it's because the entire area around the Kuma river is one big valley surrounded by mountains.
I took a break at the spot where Natsume and Tsubame came to spy on Taniozaki, at a little grove on top of a hill. There was also a little shrine there.
Then I headed back towards the station, on the way passing by this river landscape from one of the eyecatches. =O So pretty!
Not sure if I got the right angle... ^^;
I was going to walk to West Hitoyoshi, about 5km away, to visit the Tengu bridge there, but it was really hot and I was kinda getting sunburnt by this time (2pm). The weather forecast had said it'd be cloudy, so I didn't bring any sunscreen. (Or bug repellant, come to think of it... I could've really used that at Amemiya shrine ^^;) So my skin was getting all red and the bug bites itchy, so I decided to wait half an hour for the train towards Nishi-Hitoyoshi station, which took just about as long as it would've taken to walk there.
On the train, a group of what looked to be salarymen started talking to me, first attempting to speak English, but I didn't understand what they were trying to say, so I asked them to just speak Japanese instead. xD Turns out it was the usual "where are you from, where are you going, what are you doing here?" kinda talk. Not really noteworthy, except that one of the younger guys introduced himself as "Fujiwara". =O I had to get off the train again after just 10 minutes though, so I didn't really talk to them beyond introductions.
Near Nishi-Hitoyoshi station...
There, I saw the first convenience store on this whole trip xD So I brought some sunscreen (though it was kinda too late at this point ^^;) and extra batteries for my camera, 'cause I'd been running out faster than I'd expected.
And I'm glad I did, 'cause after about a 20 minute walk, I walked right into what looked exactly like the neighborhood Natsume lives in! The bridge, Tengu-bashi appears in so many episodes, it's got to be somewhere close to his house! Though I couldn't find any house that looked exactly like his, just many many similar ones.
Doesn't it look like it could be anywhere around here?
The bridge! It looked soooo familiar, even though I've never been there before, which felt really strange.
View from the bridge.
I wonder why it's called the Tengu bridge... There must be some sort of legend behind it! >w< But they sure do pick places with the most interesting names for the anime... For example, I found out that the bridge that served as the model to the bridge near Tanuma's house, is called the "harai-gou-bashi", or "exorcist river bridge". It's located near Ichifusa dam, which I'll visit on the last day. =3 Maybe they picked these locations by their interesting names?
Whee~
Somehow I feel like this is the place where most youkai in the series show up... Even in the manga, the scenery often just shows a river embankment with lots of grass, and a bridge in the background. >w<
After having a good look around the bridge, I still had about an hour until the train back to my inn, so I decided to have a long walk around the village, while listening to soundtracks from the anime.
Pretty sure this bridge appears in the series too...
I also found this shrine with dozens of creepy little statues, which appears in one of the episodes with Reiko! (was it the one where she meets little Shigeru?)
This view looked so familiar... >w<
Nyan~
The actual shrine...
And the inside =O That statue kinda scared me when I peaked in, I wasn't expecting such a big statue in a tiny shrine in the middle of nowhere like this... And it's eyes are like O_O, just staring at you...
Seriously, I have no idea what these are, but they're creepy...
Walking around the area...
The few people I met around here looked at me as if I was some kind of youkai! I guess they don't get many tourists here, especially not foreign ones.
On my way back to the station, it suddenly started pouring, but luckily I had an umbrella (or not really 'luckily', because I specially bought it in case it might rain ^^;), and it stopped again pretty quickly.
Waiting under a tree for the worst to stop...
Then I took the train back to Yoshio, and took a bath in the onsen there. They seem to have this 'system' here that they'll serve you dinner at any time you want (so basically whenever you happen to get back), but since it probably takes time to prepare everything, they ask you to take a long bath while they prepare your dinner. It's a good idea! xD And it's just really nice to take a bath after a long day of walking, while listening to the relaxing sound of the river. The bathroom is on the 2nd floor as well, just as my room, so you can look out over the river while you sit in the bath. Just have to be careful not to stand up near the window, because then any passers-by on the street would see you ^^;; (Though the only ones I've seen are a few cars and motorbikes, which go too fast for anyone to peep, and some kids passing by on their way to the station, going to and from an elementary school nearby. (who are too short to look into the second floor window, lol
I ran into one other guest at the bath today, an older lady, just as I was getting out and she was getting in. So now I know I'm not the only one here! xD But it's still really quiet in here, though I guess that's nice... ^^
foooood~
I think I'm a little sunburnt... Oh well ^^;