kyushu-miyazaki & kirishima

This weekend we traveled to Kyushu. Kyushu is the third largest and southernmost of the major islands of Japan. We landed in Miyazaki prefecture.

Driving along the sea coast reminded me of Hawaii mixed in with the Pacific Coast Highway in California...The weather was nice but VERY humid, which made it really uncomfortable.

The first place we visited was Udo Shrine. This shrine is located on the coast of Nichinan. It is about a 15 minute walk from the parking area to the shrine, so wear sensible shoes!

After saying some prayers and walking around the shrine inside of the cave, you can purchase 5 clay pebbles for 100 yen (about $1) to wish for something.

Guys must throw their pebbles with their left hand and girls with their right. Your target is this little pool of water which sits on top of a large rock with a sacred rope encircling the pool. As you throw your pebbles, make a wish.

If it lands in the pool, chances are you'll get your wish...Satoshi got one of his pebbles into the pool, I wonder what he wished for....

We then moved on to a little town called Obi. This town is built surrounding the ruins of Obi castle.

I tried my hand at Shihanmato (archery), for 300 yen (about $3) you get 10 arrows and free instruction. The origins of Shihanmato is over 400 years old. It is called Shihanmato (which means 4.5 targets) because the peasants (me) received permission to use a bow requiring the target to be 4 shaku and 5 sun--old counting measurements. (about 136.35 cm) away.


This was tough, you have to sit on your knees, this is called seiza, they give you a little stool to rest your bum on, but basically, you are still on your knees.

Take aim....

and fire! I don't think the samurai would want me in battle with them....

For lunch, we tried a food item that Obi is known for called Obi-ten--a fish paste cake that is fried. It was a bit sweeter than most other fish cake that I have tried, but it was delicious.

I was impressed with all the huge sugi (cedar) trees in the area.

I was also impressed with the manners that the children of Obi have. They actually stop their conversations to say "hello" to you, something you will not see in the big cities. There was a billboard in the middle of town which stated that everyone should greet each other. The gist of the sign stated that by saying greetings such as "good morning", "thank you", "excuse me" and "I'm sorry", to each other, the town can be a better place for all. I think more places in Japan and the world need something like this.




We then made our way to Kirishima. Along the way you'll notice that there are a LOT of sugi (cedar), lots of lumber mills and flooring companies.

Kirishima is located in Kagoshima prefecture--on the western side of Kyushu. This area has a LOT of onsen (hot springs). We stayed at the Kirishima Hotel. Satoshi's friend, whom he met through his company's baseball team, works as General Manager there.

The hotel property has over 30,000 cedar trees on it and their bath facility is one of the largest I've ever seen. It was nice to go in and out of the different baths. Satoshi had a nice time bathing and also reminiscing with his friend about this and that.

Kirishima Hotel
3948 Takachiho
Makizono-cho, Kirishima-shi
Kagoshima-ken
Phone: 0995-78-2121


Kyushu is also known for satsuma imo (sweet potato). They have many treats and shochu (spirits, the bottle on the right) made from this potato.

I also bought some shoyu (soy sauce, the bottle on the left) from Obi. It is called Obi no murasaki. Murasaki is the name for the color purple and also what they call shoyu in sushi bars.

There was also a cheese manju made by Hiroya, this manju (steamed bun) is filled with cheese and butter, very rich and not too sweet.

Hiroya
2-9-24 Matsuhashi
Miyazaki city, Miyazaki prefecture
Phone:0985-23-5080

We have another 3-day weekend coming up this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some adventures to talk about.

Enjoy your week!