Peace Waterfall - Revisited

6th May, 2008 - We went for a drive today up to the Peace Waterfall (heiwa no taki)... actually, we had been here before in 2003... but now it was Spring not Autumn... And the waters were flowing even more strongly than before with the winter's snow being all but melted now. I tried my hand at a slow shutter speed to get the flow of water... with only some effect given that I was working without a tripod.

It was much easier to ramp up the shutter speed. Two very different takes on the same scene. 

And of course - here's one for the family... with T-chan behind the camera.

Actually there's some bushwalking areas around here, going up into the hills. The native forests, even close to the city, are quite wild. And that also means they have bears, so you have to always ensure you're making lots of noise. People will wear bells or they now have little electronic alert sirens that go off intermittantly. Thankfully I've never come across a bear in Japan.... but they are a serious concern when walking in Hokkaido.

There's something about the hills (mountains) around Sapporo... they're both wild and yet also carved and shaped by human endeavour. Just down from the Peace Waterfall can be found this typical hillside... which always reminds me of a scene is Akira Kurosawa's Dreams movie from 1990...  

There's a scene where a boy finds himself watching a living hina matsuri (doll or girls festival) on the terraced slopes of a plum orchard.... don't ask me why, but like that boy, I wonder what would happen if the trees were suddenly transformed into the living Imperial Court resplendent with Emperor and Empress, nobles and entertainers alike... Sometimes I have flights of fancy...

 Actually, we had been intending to go to hanami once more ... this time up at Toda Kinen Bochi Kouen which is to the north of Sapporo. However, given that it was Golden Week, it had seemed everyone and their dog had the same idea. The traffic was bad... but got progressively worse until we were almost gridlocked - and it was still about 20-30 km to go. We gave up and that's when we had gone instead to the Peace Waterfall (kinda in the opposite direction). This is the great irony of Golden Week. It's such a perfect opportunity for the Japanese to get away that they do... They all do. At the same time. Resulting in a human+car congo line that can go for many 10's (if not 100's) of kms when it's at it's peak. My advice is, by and large, avoid coming to Japan during Golden Week. And if you do - book accomodation early, and expect there to be lots (and I mean LOTS) of Japanese tourists competing for tourism space with you.

At the end of the day's driving, L-kun was very tired, and went off for a nap straight away. Actually I have to say, we were worried about his sleeping arrangements initially, as he had gone from sleeping in his own cot to sleeping using a futon in his own room (either Mummy or Daddy or both of us would often lay with him to get him to sleep, but other than that it he would sleep through). One thing is that he's a hog when it comes to sleeping (he rolls all over the place). So often time he would have rolled himself off the futon altogether.

Kimomizu Dera pt 2 - There's Love in that thar Water

27th October, 2006 - There's a lot more to Kiyomizu Dera than my previous post. It's actually a huge complex of Buddhist and Shinto temples, shrines and even a cemetary where the monk Shinran is buried (the originator of the Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist sect). Above the temple complex sits Jishu-Jinja, a Shinto shrine now famous for vistors seeking true love. It was common to have Buddhist and Shinto places of worship co-existing together - a symbiotic relationship that came to an end during the Meiji Restoration. As with many of the Shinto temples, it is the home of several gods... indeed the mysterious god Susa-no-o supposedly has a home here as well - one time rival to Gods of Yamato. However, he is more closely associated with the Izumo region... so this might be his holiday house?

One of the more famous stories of the shrine is that to find true love you should walk (with eyes closed) between two stones (some 60 foot apart) whilst saying the name of the one you feel is your true love. Should you reach the other stone un-aided, then your love will be strong and true. Look around for the statue of "Okuninishino Mikoto"... the Japanese God of love... where you'll find the matching half of the "love stones". 

One of the somewhat folorn sights of the shrine is a large barrel of water, in which is slowly dissolving the paper on which is written the many hopes and dreams for love of those that come to Jishu-jinja. In some ways  it seems as if all those dreams are but transient whispers, lost to the waters of time... in other ways it's as if the Cosmos were adsorbing the words to become part of a greater thing.... I'm not sure what comes of the water. Perhaps it's best not to know, as romantic notions are so much easier to hold on to if the truth doesn't interupt.

And for those for whom the love stones don't quite work (or who need extra special help) there's no end of tokens to assist the truly love lost.

Moving back down to the Amida-do (where the Amida Buddha sits in golden radiance), you can continue around the mountain - till you eventually come to another three storied pagoda, Koyasu-no-tō, which is said hold the Goddess responsible for easy births. This was a sort of must see... given the somewhat growing state of T-chan's belly. This one looks as if it's seen better days.

Unfortunately when we arrived it looked very much closed... Hmmm... hopefully this wasn't an omen.

Somewhat disappointed, we made our way back to the temple proper. Below the temple proper sits Otowa no Taki (“sound of feathers waterfall”), the original source of Enchin’s pure water. Even today, visitors to the temple will queue to taste of the purifying water of Kiyomizu Dera. Ok... when you think of waterfalls, I'm sure that you conjure up something a little "grander" in your mind. Clearly there's something else to this waterfall that's sparks the imagination of all those dedicated visitors.

There's a lot of steps down... but then again - going down is the easy part.

Below - there's no doubt about what the attraction is. Sampling of the healing waters of  Otowa no Taki. It must be good. Or alcoholic. So huge are the queues that T-chan and I decided to give it a miss. We don't have the time, and T-chan's not feeling the best nowadays. Also - there's something decidedly un-hygienic about communal cups. Especially on the mass scale that's evident here. There are three streams, carefully directed, from which to choose from...

Supposedly if one stream is good... more is better... however, sample from all three and your greed will rebound upon you.

Now don't forget to throw in some coins to satisfy Fudo Myo-o, the God of the waterfall. Apparently he doesn't take too well to evil-doers, and the definition of evil-doer always seemed just a little too vague for my own liking.

Moving on from the waterfall, you can enjoy the gorgeous stonework of the temple grounds.

From below the temple's platform looks even more amazing. All of this is made without modern things such as nails, bolts, rivets. All held together by gravity, friction and good design. Of course it's also designed to flex and move. That's more or less a pre-requisite in Japan, home of the earthquake.

Back to where we started. It's definitely a good place to go in Kyōto. In some ways, it's not as impressive to my own view as the gardens of many of the other temples we've been to... and the crowds certainly make you feel like you're in a tourist attraction rather than a place of inner-tranquility. The real advantage to Kiyomizu Dera is that it's a good staging place for a lot of other things. For that reason, if you've only got a short time in Kyōto, it's more or less a must see.

Of Prayers and Nature in Takino

10th October, 2006 - It's always an important time for T-chan's family when visiting T-chan's grandfather (on Otousan's side) - back at Takino Cemetery (Takino Reien) . The tombstones are for family plots... and yes, people are all cremated in Japan. An important part of the journey is to clean the head-stone and say a short prayer for the departed. This year we've an important prayer to offer... for our unborn child. On a side note - you might note the shape of the head-stone is a little strange... it's based on a shogi piece (Japanese chess piece).


As you may recall - Takino Cemetery (check the link) is like the Fantasy Island of cemeteries, with a bizarre historic monument tribute avenue (with Easter Island heads and Stonehenge to name just a couple). This year a new addition was included... a giant Buddha. I guess at least this had some cultural relevance.

This Buddha was brand-spanking new - and it looked as if the statue might not be for free-public display in the future... but at this time it was easy to walk in and have a look around.

And when you see a big bell... you must ring it! I always get a bit self-conscious about ringing bells, but I shouldn't, as this is good luck. There's two interesting things to notice in the background... one the vending machines (and ashtrays), and the second is the workman skulking away. Apparently they didn't like my bell-ringing either.

After having lunch at the cemetery (most probably sounds a strange thing to do from a Western perspective), we went for a country drive to a small little waterfall, Ariake-no-taki. This is about another 2.5 km (to the east) by car from the cemetery.

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(Once again - thanks to Street View... the car park looks like...)

The waterfall is quite a distance off the road, in amongst a typically lush and vibrant Japanese forest. Yes - bear territory. Yet, who could think about such dangers when surrounded by such beauty as the light softly glowing through the leaves...

Coming from Australia, where it's native forests are largely Eucalyptus gum trees of one form or another, it's always a treat for me to step into a Japanese forest.

 I can appreciate why the Japanese were a nature loving people (even if they sometimes only remembered in bitter-sweet moments for many city-dwellers). Their forests are magical. Or is this also the fact that they are so different to what I'm used to (and the grass is always greener on the other side).

Here we are... as mentioned it's a small waterfall (even in October)... and if you expect a lot you might be disappointed. However, if you stop to take it all in, you will find a peaceful place of reflection, and a moment to re-connect with time's missing moments.

Just don't fall in... actually, they don't let you get too close, so I'm guessing plenty of people must already have done just that.

The light at this time of day was quite nice... filtering through the forest it had a palpable texture. If you're up in Takino, pop in and see for yourself. 

Youtei-zan... the Waters from the Gods

30th October, 2003 - T-chan and I head off to Toya-ko for a night away... but on the way we drove to Youtei-zan, which is one of the most prominent volcanic mountains around Hokkaido. Indeed it's apparently referred to as the Fuji of the North. It's about 120 km drive from Sapporo, and a good  thing to add to the Touya-ko trip. You'll see this peak prominantly in the distance if you're off to Niseko in the winter time. There's no snow at this time of the year... but the autumn clouds gather and threaten a cold snap.

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Youtei-zan stands about 1890m tall... and it's one of those classical conical shapes that always looks better from afar than up close. Yes you can climb it as well... remember your cow-bell. This is definitely bear country.

We were on a mission... Yotei no Fukidashi-Kouen (translates to Youtei's Spout Park ... or something like that) which is near the Kyogoku township. That's right - we weren't here for the view. We were after the water. 

The spring itself is well catered for in terms of visitor facilities - but I suspect that foreign visitors would rarely come to visit... water-drinking just doesn't rate high on most tourist's list of things to do.

The spring runs strong, the waters making its way down through the stones, through the mineral rich soil, to the man-made lake below. It's a beautiful area, and worth a stop even if you're not really into water.

It's quite common in Japan that people come specifically to collect these sorts of natural spring waters - and Youtei water is famous all over Japan. This spring water was even considered one of the top 100 waters in Japan... but the fact that Japan has a top 100 waters tells me so much more about the Japanese than it does about the water.

The water is so pure that people drink straight from the spring. To be honest, the rationalist in me says this is a bad, BAD idea (knowing how bacteria can develop in natural water courses...). Still when in Rome, grit your teeth and do as the Romans do... Hmmm yummy... water. We had brought some water containers purely for the purpose of bringing water back to T-chans parents. Luckily our stomachs came through without any problems.

The spring generates about 80,000 tonnes of water per day, so I don't think that they will miss the odd litre or two. But the local diety keeps a watchful eye over proceedings anyhow...doumo arigatou gozaimashita angry sword-bearing god!

It's a strange area - part national park, part spring, part sacred land, and part tourist trap. In Japan, it's not unusual to be many things at once.

Now off to Touya-ko!

Peace Waterfall (Sapporo)

24th October, 2003 - Time waits for no man (or even woman)... and at times like these when time seems to be racing away you can really appreciate moments of peace. That's what you find at the peace waterfall (heiwa no taki). Ok - it's not going to win any height awards, and I can't see too many daring fellows crashing over this baby in a barrel to impress their girlfriends, but... in Autumn it's a beautiful spot.

It's a bit of a drive (about 12 km from the city centre by car)...see the map below.

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The waterfall is next to a forest that makes for good walking (in good weather) - but this time, it really is getting into the bears domain. So be careful... Also, expect a steady stream of local residents coming down for a peaceful drive or stroll to the waterfall. 

Watch your step...

The path leads right down to the waters edge...

Not far from the Peace Waterfall, you can find small parks such as this one which are beautifully decorated in Autumn colours.

And a closer look at those very happy carp... no fish and chips tonight my friends, not tonight.  (|8^/)

The waterfall and surrounding area are a great place to get back to nature - especially the walks around the hills.

It's most probably not going to make it to the top 10 of things to do in Sapporo if you're on a tight timeline however.  Let the local Sapporo people enjoy this little treasure.