MINAKATA Kumagusu lived in Tanabe

MINAKATA Kumagusu (1867-1941), known for his research in diversified fields including the study on Myxomycete lived in tanabe city, wakayama, for his last 25 years. His archives and the restored house where he lived while in tanabe is now open to the public. The cozy air conditioned Archives is free of charge with lots of interesting books and free use of PCs which are always connected to the internet. 

The house where he lived and pursued research is restored and accessible with a small fee. It's on the premises of the Archives. You will see a large backyard where trees grow, an ideal environment for his study. This is where he found a number of Myxomycete.It's interesting to see both his rooms and the trees he saw.

On the wall of a building in tanabe, the portrait of Kumagusu can be seen. It's originally a painting done by my grandfather who graduated from the most prestigious art school in Japan. It's in Ueno, Tokyo and still a very good school. 

The MINAKATA KUMAGUSU museum stands on the rocky hill in shirahama, located next to tanabe. This one was recently renovated and English captions on displayed panels are available and a good place to find out who he was.

Before anybody in Japan thought about ecology or when anybody else didn't even know the word, ecology, Kumagusu was already conscious of it. Thanks to him, many small shrines AND their forests survived. They were about to be destroyed due to a stupid national policy only focusing on short-sighted modernism and economy. The shrine premises showed exquisite ecological systems which Kumagusu knew had to be protected. Nobody else knew but him.

his portrait on a building wall

cozy archives, five minutes away on foot from my mom's home

the room where Kumagusu wrote articles

sendan or Japanese bead tree in the backyard

his storage

Kumagusu Museum on the cliff

the roof of the Kumagusu Museum 

directions to the three sacred shrines in Kumano
Kumagusu made a thorough research on Kumano 
from various aspects, from viewpoints of 
folklore, biology, natural history, and mythology

net-kin or myxomycete pic at a poster session
of an international conference on net-kin held in tanabe

poster session held in the lobby of the city library
oral sessions were on the second floor 
only for the members

DORO-KYO gorge is easy and fun

While on a boat, you are sometimes on the borders of three prefectures: Wakayama, Nara, and Mi-e.
Changing views are refreshing to your mind and eyes. It's a two-hour cruise trip worth trying. It costs about 3500 yen an adult (a bit cheaper with a discount coupon available on the net) but you won't regret paying that much.

Doro hotel cafe on the cliff; no longer a hotel  but a cafe

looking back

fishermen catching sweetfish

the roof opens later on the cruise

cryptomeria trees surrounding TAMAKI Shinto shrine in Nara

This is an old shrine, so far away from where people live. Those who practiced mountain ascetics came here to start walking on one of the mountain trails. Today you can come to the parking lot which leads to the shrine by car. 15 to 20-minute walk takes you to the main hall of the shrine. 

What impressed me more than the shrine halls, however, was a group of cryptomeria trees native to the area where the shrine stands. Many are some thousand years old. We are nothing compared with these majestic trees. Let us be humble and live with the awe to Mother Nature.

mountains seen from the parking lot

the first tri-i gate to the shrine

a tree trunk covered with moss 

Try the longest wire suspension bridge in Japan

This must be particularly good in simmering summer. Get away from the city and venture into the much-cooler mountains. This is in the depth of the Ki-i Mountain Range in Nara Prefecture, far away from Nara's great Buddha statue which people will easily be reminded of.

This is practical and useful for the villagers

The capacity is 20 people at the same time on the bridge but I saw more

Yase suspension bridge

SANDAN-KYO gorge in kenhoku or north hiroshima

the gorge got three Michelin stars

In my case, it was easy to go to Sandan-kyo: simply by car because my husband drove. 
In case you go from city center of Hiroshima, take a bus from the bus center located right in the middle of the city. After a 80-minute express bus ride, you are in a different world. 

My family and I went there once about 20 years ago to eat sweet-fish - because my second daughter aged 10 or so back then was so eager to taste one that we decided to drive where they inhabited and were caught and cooked. This time just my hubby and I went to escape summer heat and hike.

I was a planner of the day trip as usual. I planned to go to MIZUNASHI-GUCHI entrance first and hike to the Nidan-taki (two-leveled waterfall) and Sandan-taki (three-leveled waterfall) area. 

The car navigation system didn't know where it was but google gave us directions. We believed it and followed what it said but google didn't know MIZUNASHI-GUCHI exactly and instead took us to YOKOKAWA-GUCHI, which was a very remote point deep in the gorge we were planning to hike. We didn't see any car coming from anywhere on the way. It was lucky because two cars couldn't pass each other without negotiation. Also no rocks were sitting in the middle of the mountain roads. Very lucky because it was likely to happen. 

With our instinct and map reading, we managed to get to MIZUNASHI-GUCHI without much delay.
We brought lunch from home as usual. Perfect because there was no place to eat or buy food at this entrance. I did a bit of research first so pretty much knew critical information.

After a good meal, we began to walk - easy enough. You should have good shoes and clothes but any one can do this. We were speedy but in no rush. The official web site of the Aki-ota tourist association says this will make a three-hour tour but we did it in two hours and a half or maybe less.
Care free and splendid. We first walked to the Nidan area; did a short boat ride to see the fall. This gives you the feeling that you are completely away from your daily routines, visiting the unreachable. The boat was only for us and nobody came while we were there. Just us.

at the start of the walk 

to NIDAN-taki waterfall

along the rope we go

NIDAN-TAKI

We continued to walk to Sandan-taki, which gave SANDAN-KYO its name. Gushing water in the wild and again only we were there.

you will see this once there 

waterfall, basin, & gorge

AKADAKI or Red Waterfall seen on the way to Kurobuchi pool

The rock looks reddish because of algae 

We came back to the parking lot and drove this time to the front entrance to SANDAN-KYO. Perhaps 20 minutes' drive.

I confirmed Sandankyo Hotel at the entrance that we could bathe there as day visitors (only 540 yen an adult) after a hike and that our car could be parked in the hotel parking lot free of charge. It was about 3:10 in the afternoon when we began to trek. I wanted to catch a boat at Kurobuchi pool. The service ends at 4:00 I knew. Locals said it would take an hour to get to Kurobuchi. So, swiftly speedily we walked and got a ride at 3:45. Gorgeous ride; incredible scenery with cool refreshing breeze. 

pull the bar a few times and a boat will come

boat ride

salamanders live in the gorge

coming back

The trekking route is currently blocked between Kurobuchi and the two and three-level waterfalls area. 

After the hike, we bathed in Onsen, again very privately. There was nobody but me or my hubby in the onsen bathrooms, respectively.

We went back home, feeling charged and proud (because we walked a good distance!)

Next time we go there, we will try the deeper north of the gorge and hopefully a cafe or a restaurant in the Kenhoku area worth visiting. I ordered two books on the net on our way back home, entitle Restaurants in Kenhoku and Cafes in Kenhoku. 

Loving north hiroshima.

To know more about Sandan-kyo, GetHiroshima gives you more. 
To go to the page, please click here.

Ninja town, IGA

It takes time to come here but families have fun wearing ninja costumes and watching the ninja show. Before the show, you will visit the ninja house where interesting tricks can be witnessed. There night be taped English narration but even without it, it's easy enough to guess what's going on. There's a reconstructed feudal castle tower and the impressive pavilion dedicated to Basho, Japan's famous haiku poet from the 17th century. Here are some photos.