Day 8: downhill until the ocean

Being on Koyasan means that most of the guests are either pilgrims or have something to do early in the morning, therefore for once we are not the only one to wake up with the sun rise.

The atmosphere is quieter than yesterday evening, and while we eat our breakfast, prepared by the guesthouse, we discuss about our route with the Italian guy and the Australian lady: we have decided to reach Yuasa following route 480 to visit the famous rice terraces in Aragi-jima. But enough spoilers for now...

After greeting the staff of the guesthouse we cross the village to reach the Daimon gate and descend into the valley. The roads are not yet crowded with people and packed with cars, so we can enjoy the quietness of the recently awakened streets. From the Daimon gate the road goes steeply downhill among the trees, until we reach the bottom of the valley and notice a rather suspicious signal, written only in Japanese, on the direction we are taking. We climb for few hundred meters and we understand what the signal was telling: for a length of about 200 meters half of the road has collapsed down in the valley during the recent typhoon, and the road is closed to traffic. Some workers are busy repairing the entire section, and are quite surprised to see the two of us there.

For a moment we are afraid that they won't let us pass and that we will have to take a long detour, but they just ask us to wait until the caterpillar has finished crossing the damaged section and then let us pass. While we are walking to the other side, and our eyes stare in the abyss beneath our feet, we mentally thank our decision to reach the ocean instead of crossing through the mountains: finding a closed road in the middle of nowhere would have been quite a bummer!

The positive aspect of a closed road is that we have it entirely for us: nobody is using it, and we can roam it as we please while moving on the side of the cliffs. After few kilometer we end up in the small village of Hanazonokuki. For a brief moment we think it is a ghost village: no person on the road, no sign of life except for some cars parked nearby the houses. But we also see a clean swimming pool and hear in the distance the bell of some school, therefore we conclude someone must live here.

Further down the road, few kilometers ahead, we cross again a small village, where we find a post office and even some hotels: this place next to the river seems to be a fishing place, and of course there are services for whoever ventures up here to enjoy their hobby. There must be also a park with dinosaurs somewhere around here, considering the boards with those beasts scattered along the road.

Another few kilometers down the road we exit the highway to reach Aragi-jima: if it wasn't for the position on the map we wouldn't be able to tell that the place is the right one, since from where we take the exit it doesn't look that different from all the other spots we have seen today. However after a short climb we reach the observation terrace from where it is possible to see the famous rice terraces. The rice has been already harvested, therefore we do not see the same golden waves we have seen around Nara and Asuka, however the view is superb.

During our stay at the terrace at least three groups of tourists stop for sightseeing. They are all Japanese, and every time they are more interested in us than in the rice fields, but after hearing the details of our trip and having exclaimed the appropriate wonder, they turn back to looking the rice terrace and then leave. Having decided to stop for lunch a bit more downhill at the dam, we get back on the road following the Aridagawa.

The river keeps following our wandering on the countless meanders of this highway, showing us the signs of the recent typhoon: fallen trees are clustered where the flow has deposited them during the massive rains, but that apart the views are fantastic. We stop to take some pictures at the red Zaobashi bridge, which should be leading to a path on the other bank of the river. The walk seems to be too long for the time we want to put in the break, so I just venture for a while on the bridge, to better see the greenish water flowing beneath it.

Then, when we reach the dam, we stop our bikes and sit down on the wall to eat our onigiri and sandwich. In the meantime an engineer comes to inspect the dam, but of course his curiosity is attracted by the two cyclists first. When we wave at him he waves back and goes back at checking the dam and the water level. We take the chance of checking the road ahead on the map: the highway will soon leave the river course and then enter Aridagawa from the North, while we are heading to the South. We find a small path that connects route 480 with route 424, and we decide that we will take it.

Again on the bikes, we first stop in the small village of Kawaguchi, which is small but is blessed by having public toilets and immediately out of the village we take the small road we have noticed earlier.

It is indeed really narrow, but it is perfect for us: only the sound of the water flowing in the river below and few birds singing on the trees accompany us, until we notice, down in the river, three fishermen who are placing the nets. We stop to watch them working and we hear their discussion while setting up the device, then we call them and wish them good luck! They are surprised and also amused by our greetings, and greet us back. The path takes us then into a small farming village, where together with small houses surrounded by rice straw we see also some larger houses clearly showing their abandoned state.

We stop to one of the houses to buy some tangerines, sold on the door, and then get on the 421 and from there on 179 entering Yuasa. Since it is still early, we decide to go directly to the soy sauce museum and factory close to the harbor.

The neighborhood where they are located is extremely picturesque: old wooden buildings, the planks painted with a dark tone, line both sides of the road, and in the air the fragrance of fermenting soy beans. First we visit the museum, where we are the only visitors, and then we move to the adjacent shop.

From there we move into another shop selling pottery, and when we are there an entire class of students walks by. They stop to look at the bikes parked outside, and upon seeing me getting out of the shop start asking questions. I try the best to answer with the few Japanese I know, and when their professors get close, they translate from English for the students, and take some pictures with us.
Two old ladies, who have joined the party, even gift us some persimmons.

When we greet them we head to our lodging: tonight we stay at Yuasa Castle onsen, located, as the name suggests, in the former castle of Yuasa. The location is fantastic and also the onsen is really enjoyable, however, after being used to the warmth of the people working at the minshukus and guesthouses we have visited so far, we notice that the quite rigid formality of the staff gives a rather cold feeling.

However that doesn't spoil our day: our eyes are full of the fantastic views we have enjoyed the entire day and also of the pleasant interactions we have had with so many different people.