An early start to the day saw us leave our accomodation at 7:40am to make the 8:11 train to Nima.
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Our accommodation in Yunotsu |
A local bus then took us up the valley to the small settlement of Omori. Our initial plan had been to visit a temple, walk through the town, visit the World Heritage Information Centre for Iwami Ginzan (a large silver mining area), and then go through a silver mine shaft before commencing our 14km walk down to the coast and Yunotsu Onsen where we are staying.That didn't happen. Firstly, we had found out yesterday that part of the trail was closed so our plan was kaput. Secondly, it took us so long today to visit all the historic sites on offer in the settlement and its surrounds that we only exited the silver mine at 2pm. It would have been far too late to then start our planned hike anyway. Also, we'd already walked over 10km with another few kilometres still to go and felt 14km on top of that would have been rather too much.
It turned out to be another fantastic day, with some truly amazing sites. We are so pleased that we've avoided the large tourist places and cities on this trip to Japan and have instead opted for small places that are off the beaten track but are really significant for one reason or another.
We came to this part of Japan, and Iwami Ginzan in particular for three reasons. It was one of the largest silver mines in Japan. The area was extremely important from the 16th century onwards when silver was required for foreign trade. Tunnelling in the hills eventually produced in the order of 40 tonnes of silver a year, the vast bulk of which was sent off shore and traded for silk and many other commodities around Asia, Europe and beyond. This trade had a profound effect on the development of Japan. Secondly, we planned to walk the trail that was taken to deliver the silver from the mines out to the coast, where it was loaded onto boats. Thirdly, the town itself had a lovely shrine and temple and was extremely well-preserved.
The trip there involved a train and a bus, and was intended to be on foot back but of course wasn't due to the closed trail.
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Typical bus. The screen shows your fare since your stop, the machine lower centre changes 1000Y notes and swallows coins for the fare. |
Our first stop was Kigami Shrine. As with so many of the shrines and temples we have seen in these small settlements, they are often in a poor state of repair but may still be used on important occasions. Because they are a little unkempt, they have a rustic and very authentic charm. Kigami Shrine was very much like this.
We managed to time the opening of the former residence of the Kumagai family perfectly at 9.30am. The Kumagai family provided administrative services to the local magistrate over the centuries and the very large size of the house is testament to the wealth of the family.
It was an extensive house over two levels, but the best part was that it was filled with family possessions dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was very interesting seeing how it worked. Servants had a rotten deal. The maids and the sake brewers lived and worked in the kitchen and brewery - futons were rolled out overnight for them.
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Kitchen and stoves |
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Some of their clothing and bedding |
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The shop front - they were merchants |
The one road running through the town was lined with original dark timber houses, which didn't look to have ever changed since they were built. None would have been older than 1800 when there was a major fire. It was similar to some of the post towns we saw along the Nakasendo but far less "restored" and more genuine. Many use deliberate charring of their cladding (yakisugi) to preserve the timber, and it seems to work well.
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Omori town - beautifully original |
A highlight of the day was visiting Rakanji temple, founded in 645AD. There are over 3000 stone buddhas and in the small caves dug out of the rock face opposite the temple are 500 small Rakan statues. The latter are quite comical, often with smiling, angry, sulky or bored faces. The statues are to commemorate those who died in the silver mine and honour the spirits of ancestors.
We found the caves containing the Rakan statues quite a moving experience, me in particular. It didn't quite convert me to Buddhism but it wasn't far off!
From there we caught a local bus up to the Iwami Ginza World Heritage Centre. The models and displays gave us a very good idea of who the silver was mined from underground in the locality, how hard life was for the miners, and the development of settlements and transportation routes between the valleys and ports on the coast.
We walked along an interesting trail up the valley towards one of the main mine shafts. Impressive graves, the odd shrine, and bourgeoning bamboo shoots lined the route. It was a lovely track, eventually getting up to the Ryugenji mine shaft, which was mined in the 1600s. It is open to the public for the first 150m. The original chisel marks are still visible on the walls, along with a number of horrifically narrow offshoots than miners must have crawled along to follow a silver vein. It was fun to explore but John was not impressed with having to stoop for so long.
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That's a serious bamboo shoot! |
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Ryugenji mine tunnel |
Backtracking back down the valley for 2km to the village, we stopped partway for a very late lunch at a udon noodle eatery. That provided us some sustenance for the trip home. The weather was supposed to be drizzly all day but in fact it had been sunny or partly cloudy. By 3pm it started to rain lightly, just as we caught the bus back to the train station and then the train to Yunotsu. We had just stepped inside our accommodation at 5pm when it started to bucket down, so we were very lucky.
I visited the hotel onsen again before dinner, while John tried out one of the small historic ones that Yunotsu is well-known for.
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Onsen pool - 43 degrees, very mineralised |
We made a very easy meal of frozen fried rice from the local store, which just needed heating up in the microwave. Our futon beds have been rather firm at this place, but we are sleeping very well nevertheless. Our mileage for today was 14km. For the week we've clocked up 94km!!