June 27th, 2006

Yay for Saturdays! This Saturday was one of my days off. I get one a month. So I slept in…until 9:30. Not so late, but I was refreshed. So I got up and Chris got up about an hour later. Then we hung out until 2:00, doing lunch, games, etc. At 2:00, we decided to go see Tachikuekyo Gorge. A lot of people have recommended it to us.

We tried to go last week, but we got lost and decided to just come home. So we decided to try again. This time, we got there. It only takes about 20 minutes from our apartment to get there. It’s a really nice drive; it looks a lot like the drive to Gatlinburg. Anyways, we took some neat pictures, so I thought I would show you guys!



This is a cool looking building that is out across the gorge. It’s not really a deep gorge, but it is a gorge nonetheless. We think its just a house. The smaller building to the left is a small restaurant. We aren’t sure how it makes money, but people must go there sometime…



This is a cool looking statue. He’s looking out across the gorge. We are on the other side (the house side) of the gorge right now. I really thought he was cool. I left him 5 yen. He’s a nice little fellow.



This is a waterfall. It’s not a normal looking waterfall like you might expect…its just water continuously running down the rocks. It drips down into the soil, and then it runs under our feet, through the soil and down into the river. It’s a really neat geographic feature. Cool!



This is a really, really old statue. OLD. The head has been worn away by time. There is a little stone placed where the head used to be. It’s really humbling how old it is. Make’s me feel small.



This is one of the most awesome things I have seen since coming to Japan. We were walking along the narrow path and went around a big rock and came upon these little guys. These are little statues that you put red hats and bibs on to pray for a child. I am not sure whether its for a child’s health or to pray to be blessed with a child. But there it was…hidden in the rocks. It was so interesting. There were hundreds of these statues around. Some with old, old faded hats that all were hand made by the worshipers. Some were brand new hats and bibs, probably left within the last month. Very cool. As much as Japanese people claim they are unreligious, they really are. They are really praying to a god to grant them a child (or protect their child). It’s a very solemn and moving area. Hundreds of thousands of families have walked the path we walked on, to pray for children. This is an ancient area. Like the headless statue, its very humbling.



Here are some of the statues but closer up. It’s a blurry picture, but you can make out some of the feature. That bowl is also an offering bowl. You offer sake or tea to the kami statue sitting back by the rock (I think).



Here’s one statue. I would guess this hat is months old. The statue is ancient and worn. It has been standing there for hundreds of years. But the hat is probably less than a year old.



Here is a statue that looks like its been carved from the big rocks. I think an area was carved out of the rock and the statue placed there (and later cemented in). It’s so old, its almost completely covered by moss and vegetation.



This is another statue that is being taken by the surrounding vegetation.



These statues are in a sitting pose and they were high above us. Someone had carved out flat places high in the rocks (I have no idea how they got up there, I guess they climbed) and placed the statues up there. There were about a hundred of these guys as well.



This is just a wide shot of all the statues. There are more behind Chris (who is the photographer here) and more around the path.



This was a much bigger statue than the rest of them. He was high up on the rocks, kinda in the center.



Again, here are more statues high up on the mountain side. These, obviously do not have hats. I don’t think you can safely get to them anymore. As I said before, I can’t figure out how they would have gotten there in the first place. Very difficult.



This was a Buddhist temple hidden below a rocky peak.



It was up these really, really steep and old stairs. I thought I was going to pass out by the time I got up to the top. Woosh!



A closer shot of the temple. See the rope? It’s a much smaller one than Taisha’s, but it’s in the same style.



The top of the temple, backed by the crag. Gorgeous scenery.



This was really cool to me. This is a can of tea that has been offered to the god. It’s a wonderful juxtaposition of modern versus ancient. At first, I thought it was just trash someone left. Then Chris pointed out that it was closed, so it was probably an offering. We saw many more cans and bottles of sake and tea left for the god(s).



This is one of the bridges that spans the gorge. It’s a suspension bridge so it wobbled and lurched up and down when we crossed. It made me a little nervous. Kinda like the earthquake, now that I think about it...



This is the view to the right of the picture I just showed you. It’s taken from the middle of the bridge.



And this is the view to the left.



Here is my cute husband crossing the bridge ahead. I like the perspective on this picture.



Some more craggy peaks across the gorge.



Last picture! It’s a little to the left of the previous picture. It’s really a beautiful view in Tachikuekyo!

So that was our trip. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. This took me about two hours to post...you better appreciate it! ;-)