Day #10, April 10th: Takachiho

Art and I got up at 5:30 and walked to the train station to check on bus times.

We were going to take the 7:30 bus for Takachiho but decided on a last minute change to take the 8:45 instead which is not an express (and takes a half hour longer).  It would give us more time to relax a little.

The cold that Mom and I thought we'd gotten over just before coming to Japan had returned with a vengeance.  We were coughing and tired.

The Nobeoka Route Inn Hotel was fancier than our usual Toyoko Inn and a little more expensive.  It showed in the breakfast which was even more elaborate and amazing.  Funny thing is nobody took photos of the food.  Can you believe it?  I guess we enjoyed it so much, we just plain forgot.

The bus ride to Takachiho from Nobeoka took only an hour and a half and we were soon in the mountains.

We found our Ryokan (Inn) Senju and the kind proprietor said he would take us to the Gorge Boat Ride in his van for free.   We gratefully accepted his kind offer.

Art's plan was to have Dennis, Mom and me do the boat ride while he took photos from above.  He didn't realize there would be so many steps.

Mom was game for the experience and we helped her down.

Once at the bottom, we were given life jackets and a boat.  Ummmm....  I thought someone was going to take us on the ride.  Nope!  We had to row ourselves.  Poor Dennis.  I don't think he's ever been on a row boat before.

There's a first time for everything.  Dennis said it was difficult because he couldn't tell where he was going and he had a front seat driver and back seat driver telling him which way to go... and we weren't necessarily saying the same thing.

Often times, I wasn't paying attention to the rowing because I was busy taking photos.

There were a lot of spectacular views.  Art took this from above.  You can see how many boats were in the gorge and most of them didn't know how to row a boat either.

That's us in the top left hand boat.  I was having to push that boat to the side so that they could move.  We were all stuck there for a while not sure how to get out of that predicament.

I'm sure it was my imagination, but I swear I could hear Art laughing.

Yes, it was beautiful and we were glad we did it.

However... at that time, we were just relieved when it was over and managed the climb up the hill safely.

Mom enjoyed taking breaks up the hill and pointing out which flowers she wanted us to take photos of.

Art rewarded us with some soft serve.  The flavor was called Summer Orange.

Yes, it was good.

I could have eaten another one if they didn't cost almost $4.00 a cone.

Now that we were stuck at the gorge, we weren't sure how to get back up the hill and to our next destination.

A kind tour person used his cellphone to call a taxi for us.

The half hour taxi drive took us to the Ama-no-Iwato Shrine dedicated to the sun-goddess Amaterasu.  There is a whole legend about how she was lured out of a rock cave where she was hiding which plunged the world into darkness.

I'm not positive about how this god was either sealing the cave after her or opening it.  I should ask Mom, but I'm too lazy right now.

Before entering the shrine area, we needed to clean our hands (and mouths if  you wanted to).

We walked through the area and visited some temples.

Mom was tired after that so we stopped at a  little manju (bread like dessert) shop and waited while Dennis and Art went to find the cave where Amaterasu was supposed to have hidden.

At one time the Imperial family was supposed to have descended from Amaterasu.

They were gone for quite a while, but Art says it wasn't that long of a walk.  They were just busy taking photos.

I'm glad I had Mom rest because she was tired.

And here is the cave where the goddess, Amaterasu came out of and gave light back to the world.

People created little stone piles everywhere so of course Art built one too.

Art wringing out his sock

Somewhere along the way, Art managed to step through a grate over some flowing water.  His shoe and socks were soaked with cold, mountain water. 

The spare shoes in the other suitcases were still on route to our next stop.



While Mom and I were waiting, the shop person came out and asked if we needed any help.  We told her we needed to find our way back to our ryokan which was pretty far away.

She very kindly called the bus company, got the schedule and told us where we could catch the bus.

I bought some of her delicious desserts to thank her.

Back at the ryokan, Art used a hair dryer to dry out his shoes and socks.

Mom and I were pretty tired and a bit cold.  We opted to spend the rest of the afternoon resting while Art and Dennis went out to explore more of the area.

They found the Takachiho Jinja and took some beautiful photos.

Dinner was included at our ryokan and we were delighted to see what they prepared for us.

A hot soak in the furoba felt terrific after washing ourselves first.

We were all ready for bed on the futon that night! 

Tomorrow would be an early day again and rain was expected.