Saturday, August 11, 2012

Place #6: Takeo-Onsen 6カ所目:武雄温泉



Next destination: Takeo-Onsen! We had an unexpected delay as the heavy rain had stopped the trains that went to that direction, but made it there safe and sound with a different route.
We came here, famous for its hot springs, because a family friend. It is his hometown, and so he kindly invited us to explore it. We were beyond thrilled and overjoyed that we got to stay in a beautiful beautiful Ryokan (traditional japanese inn, this one with natural hot springs), eat delicious delicious food, and get into relaxing hot spring baths. It was such a change from the economical backpacker lifestyle that we had led so far so we were in a hyper-excited state for a while. Enjoying japanese food, japanese hot spring bath and japanese tea, it was also a moment where we saying how grateful we were to be born half-Japanese.

次に訪れたのは武雄温泉!長崎から向かうときには、思わぬ大雨の影響で電車が止まってしまいかなり遅れてしまったが、なんとか到着。
ここは、東京のご近所さんで集まるときの知り合いの出身地で、泊めさせて頂いた。素敵な素敵な旅館で、美味しい美味しいご飯を食べさせてもらい、気持ちいい温泉に入らさせてもらって、二人とも幸せいっぱい!バックパッカーの貧乏旅行の日常からあまりにもかけ離れていて、興奮しっぱなしだった。日本食、温泉、お茶…すっかりリラックスさせていただき、二人で「日本人でよかったあ〜」と言い合う。


With the lovely lady that took care of us. A bright smile and the happy laugh made us both feel right at home!
お世話になった仲居さんと。素敵な笑顔と明るい笑い声はみんなを和ませる。


The next day, the nephew of the family friend kindly took us around to show Saga.
次の日は、知り合いの親戚の方に、佐賀を案内してもらった。



First we saw the ancient hot spring area with its buildings, dating back over 1200 years. Sara and I could not help but to be reminded of another Ghibli movie, Spirited Away. The bathhouse that appears in the movie (picture below) had these colors and the design. I knew a town in Taiwan inspired parts of the setting of Spirited away, but it was strange and nice to see that this may have been an inspiration as well... and truly interesting just in general, because I just hadn't these color combinations used in other parts of Japan.

最初に、昔の温泉街とその頃から(1200年以上)の建造物を見学。カラフルな建物を見て思いついたのは違うジブリ映画:千と千尋の神隠し。映画にでてくる湯屋(下の絵)も、こんなデザインや色のコンビネーション。千と千尋の神隠しの舞台になったのは、台湾の街とは知っていたけど、日本のこの地方からも刺激を受けたんじゃないかと思ってしまった。でも、映画の関連をぬいても十分興味深かった:日本で初めてこんな色使いを見たから。



Hearing that we liked seeing old trees and about our hike to see the Jomon ceder in Yakushima, he also took us to see two very old, very big camphor trees. The first one was behind Takeo Shrine (also with vivid color combinations and surrounded by beautiful nature). We walked through the shrine, and also past a huge forest of bamboo trees, to come face to face with the majestic tree.

私たちの「巨木好き」と屋久島の縄文杉の話を聞いたお友達は、2つの大きな古い楠の木を見に連れてってくれた。一つ目は、武雄神社(これも自然に囲まれたカラフルな建物)の後ろに立っている。神社の中を通り、すごい高さを竹林を通りすぎて、圧倒的な木と対面。






The camphor tree with its 3000+ years and size 6th in Japan is regarded as sacred- a small shrine is placed inside the tree (which is as spacious as being able to fill 12 tatami mats). This tree looks like it is torn at the top, as if it has kept growing and growing all these years. Like Jomon ceder, it had a calming vibe, filled with energy to share to its visitors. During this trip I slowly could understand why people in the old days would feel that a tree like this is sacred, hence building shrines near it. To believe that they have a special force and energy I think shows how much people believed that we lived together with nature-  this in turn brings my mind to shrines and temples in Tokyo or other big cities, that have lost this "special feeling" without the nature that used to surround it, but instead are surrounded by other buildings, houses or skyscrapers.

 Our friend also shared his childhood memory of playing inside the tree- and I could just imagine how fun of a playground it'd be for children. Unfortunately now, the tree is off limits.

樹齢3000年以上で、日本で6番めのこの巨木は神木で、幹の中の12畳の面積の中に神壇がもうけられている。木は、上の方で裂けていて、木が育ち続けているかのようにも見える。縄文杉のように癒される落ち着く雰囲気を醸し出し、訪れる人にエネルギーを共有してくれる。昔の人たちは、こういう木をみて神様が宿っていると信じて、近くにお寺や神社を建てたわけを、この旅を通して少しづつ考え理解できるようになった。
昔の人ほど、人間は自然と一緒に暮らしていることを忘れない観念を自然に持っていたんだとおもう。現在の東京などの大都会を思うと、同じくらい、いやもっと大事かもしれない周りの自然なしで、代わりに高層ビルやマンション囲まれ立っている神社やお寺が、その「特別なエネルギーや力や雰囲気」を確実に失っていることに気づく。

お友達は、木の幹の中に入って遊んでいた自分の子供の頃の話もしてくれた:想像するだけで、子供たちにとってどれだけ楽しい遊び場か分かった。残念ながら今はもう柵ができて中には入れなくなっている。

We were impressed by the Takeo camphor tree, but we went on to see an even bigger one! 3rd biggest tree in Japan, the camphor tree in Kawago. This one too, was a 3000+ years old sacred tree. It was too big to photograph ourselves (below photo is taken from http://www.pmiyazaki.com/kyusyu/saga_kusu/)- it was that big! They had also cut off some of the branches, because they would become too heavy and so destroy the tree. Again, the tree took my imagination for a ride- trying to imagine all the changing in the surroundings the tree had lived through. If a tree could speak- which time period did they prefer? What would they think of us humans? Having lived so much of history, what important things would they have to tell us?

武雄の大楠に感動したけど、次にもっともっと大きいのを見に行った。こちらは日本で3番目に大きい、川古の大楠。この木も同じく樹齢3000年以上の神木だ。私たちのカメラには収まらないほどの大きさ(下の写真は http://www.pmiyazaki.com/kyusyu/saga_kusu/ から):これだけ大きい! 枝が大きくなりすぎて重くなり木を倒さないように、何カ所か切ってある。この木もまた、私の想像力を違うところに連れてってくれた。何千年も変わりゆく周りの環境を生きてきた木。もしお話ができたら、どの時代が一番すきだったんだろう?人間の事はどう思うんだろう?歴史を生き抜いて、私たちへアドバイスがあれば、それはどんなんだろう?




The area of Takeo is also for pottery, so we also saw the biggest kiln in the world- 23m long, it could fire 120000 teacups at once! Hard to wrap my head around....

武雄は、陶器でも有名だそうで、世界で一番大きな窯も見に行った。23mもの長さがあり、一度に120000個のお湯のみを焼けるほどの大きさ!こちらは、想像するのが難しい…



The final sightseeing spot was mind-blowing- Yutoku Inari Shrine. A colorful, beautiful shrine (or numerous shrines as you hike up) was like the bathhouse, a new type of Japanese shrine for me, almost resembling temples in other Asian countries. Certainly a different style from the plain, serene shrines in other parts of Japan, but I really really liked the bold use of colors standing out in the green nature.

最後の観光スポットもまた圧巻ー祐徳稲荷神社だ。本当にカラフルで美しい神社たち(上に登るほどたくさんある)は、温泉街の建造物と同じように、私にとっては新しいタイプの神社。いつも見ている、シンプルで静けさを思わせる神社と違って、まるでほかのアジアの国を思わせるような色使いだ。私は、緑の中に映えるこのスタイルをすごく気に入った。



 
These gates, called Torii, is a characteristic of a Inari shrine- and are often lined up many of them in a Inari shrine. I did some studying when I came home and learned some interesting facts about it. The torii is always painted in this red color- said to make evil spirits go away. The raw material of this red color also prevents the wood from rotting, hence being used in many shrines from old times.

I also always wondered why so many torii gates were lined up-the answer I found out was quite nice, they are built as a thank you, as people's wishes "came through". I didn't count how many there were, but the gates suddenly meant so much more when I started thinking so many wishes had come true.

並んだ朱色の鳥居は、稲荷神社ならではのもの。帰って少し調べたら、面白い情報をたくさん見つけた。鳥居の朱色は、魔除けの効果があるらしい。色の原材料は木の防腐剤としての効果もあるらしくて、昔の人の知恵が感じられる。

ずっと疑問に思っていたのは、なんでたくさん並んでいるか。答えをやっと知れて、それも嬉しい答えで嬉しかった。鳥居は、願いが「通った」御礼として、人々が神社へ納めたもの。通りながら、何個あったかは数えなかったけれど、突然、お願いごとがこんなに叶っているんだと思うと、自分にとって鳥居の意味が楽しいものになった。



At the top awaited a beautiful view, and another smaller shrine, surrounded by a forest- and it just reinforced our discovery that shrines should be built close to or with nature. 

頂上までいくと、綺麗な景色と森に囲まれた小さな神社が。やっぱり神社は自然と一緒じゃなきゃ!とまた一人で納得。


The visit was concluded with a yummy yummy meal at a restaurant built with a feel from the Showa period. The soba, buckwheat noodles, where made from scratch and all of the dishes were 100% organic. Eating this lovely lunch outside in the sun, surrounded by nature was a truly lovely experience.

佐賀での素敵な一日は、昭和時代ふうに建てられたお家のおそばやさんで締めくくられた。100%そば粉の美味しいおそばと、オーガニックのおかず。自然に囲まれながら、太陽の光をあびながら、食べたランチは、格別!
  


Saga, checked! But definitely coming back!

さて、佐賀も終了!でも、また行きたい!



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