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| Road to Mt. Aso |
Our Christmas day was certainly not your usual family and food filled celebrations. We opened a couple of presents in our hostel room and dined on a breakfast of combini finds as we wound up way up the ‘milk road’ so named due to the number of farms in the area.
We continued through to Mt. Aso, the already chilly weather growing colder and colder as we climbed until shallow puddles and marshes were frozen over and I began to regret my choice of attire. The refreshing sight of rugged hills and unused land was welcome after living among rice paddies for so long, it was reminiscent of home. The Ropeway to the famous crater lake was closed due to damage during the earthquake and volcanic activity but we were still able to see the plume of gas rising from the depression.
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| Ama-no-Iwato |
Our next destination took us from Kumamoto through to Miyazaki prefecture where we visited Ama-no-iwato. We strolled past the main shrine, and followed the path that lead us down and along a river until we reached the main attraction. According to Japanese mythology (which I studied at uni and was the main reason we were there) the sun goddess Amaterasu was weaving with her maids when her brother Susanoo flung a flayed horse through the roof. Versions differ as to whether Amaterasu or one of her maids (who subsequently died of her injuries) accidentally stabbed themselves down yonder with a weaving shuttle and whether it was from humiliation or distress that she fled and hid herself in a cave, plunging the world into darkness.
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| Not your usual Christmas dinner |
The gods convened in a cave (Ama-no-iwato) and plotted how to lure Amaterasu from her hiding place and restore light to the world. In short this was achieved by a ballsy goddess named Ama-no-Uzume performing a humorous strip tease (which in some accounts involves her shoving her kimono obi in certain places…) which caused the gathered deities to laugh so loudly that Amaterasu peeked out of her cave to investigate.
The path leading up to the cave was lined with hundreds upon hundreds of piles of rocks and pebbles that visitors had left, a sort of natural, anonymous graffiti.
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| Takachiho Gorge |
Our next stop in Miyazaki saw us winding our way down to the Takachiho gorge. We wound our way along the edge of the basalt chasm, catching a view of the waterfall and paddle boats from above, before dropping down to the river side for a leisurely Christmas day row.
Christmas dinner consisted of Izakaya delights in a tiny shut off booth (I’m talking about 1.5x2m squared in a totally enclosed area with a thin bamboo curtain separating us from the next booth).
One of our favourite days of the trip landed on Xmas day as a happy accident. Though I love being able to see so much of Japan our trips together, I caught myself thinking - I’m looking forward to a proper kiwi Christmas next year.
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