27-Dec-2022
It was Seicho Matsumoto's Tokyo Express that was the initial inspiration for this whole trip to Kyushu...
Here is an extract in English:
***
Three stops before Hakata, coming from Moji on the Kagoshima main line, there is a small station named Kashii. From there, the road to the mountains leads to a former imperial shrine. Head across to the sea, however, and you reach a shore that looks out across Hakata bay. It is a beautiful view: in front, a thin spit of land known as Umi-no-Nakamichi girdles the bay, the half-island of Shikanoshima rising from the sea at its farthest reach, while off to the left the hazy outline of Nokonoshima island is faintly visible.
This section of shore, these days known simply as Kashii beach, was once referred to as the 'tidelands of Kashii'. In the eighth century, the governor Otomo no Tabito, passing by, composed a celebrated poem:
Come all -- on the tidelands of Kashii,
Let us gather seaweed for breakfast,
Our white sleeves grazing the water.
But the harsh present has no time for such lyricism. At around six thirty on the cold morning of the twenty-first of January, a labourer was making his way along the shore. Instead of gathering seaweed for breakfast, he was heading to a factory in Najima.
It was barely dawn. A milky haze lay over the bay, through which Umi-no-Nakamichi and Shikanoshima dimly emerged. The cold wind was laced with brine. The labourer had turned up the collar of his coat and walked briskly, his body hunched. This rugged beach was the fastest route to the factory, and he walked along it every day.
But today that routine was broken. With his gaze cast downwards, he couldn’t miss them. Two bodies were lying on the dark rocks, an unwelcome blight on this familiar landscape...
***
This was the landscape I was keen to explore. We didn't actually go to Kashii beach (although we changed trains at Kashii). Instead we went right across Umi-no-Nakamichi, and out along the causeway to Shikanoshima, where we had views across to Nokonoshima.
Train, train, bus, feet, ferry, feet, train, train...
It was a glorious day, bright and blue and sunny.
Here it is in pictures:
On the train to Saitozaki
On the bus to the almost-island of Shikanoshima
At the far end of the island
Walking back across the top. Here's one of the views
Greenery... Birds...
On the way to the Observatory
Nokonoshima from the Observatory
The causeway we'd crossed on the bus
Heading back down the hill. Lots of pine scent in the air
The Mongols again... The monks of Mt Koya prayed for victory over the Mongol forces in 1281. A small shrine was later built here
The steps to the Shikaumi Shrine
So many raptors... Circling overhead. And crowding out the wires and the street furniture
Shika's main village, where we picked up the ferry
The ferry. We got off at Saitozaki, but it goes all the way to Hakata
Osho Sushi, Saitozaki. Another truly inspired lunch venue, where an elderly couple took time to lovingly craft the best sushi ever
Pictures while we wait
And here is the phenomenally good result of waiting. Exquisite sushi; chawanmushi (the real deal); miso soup; and -- I think -- hyottsuru, which are seaweed noodles. Nigel's version came as rice in a bowl, with sashimi (including octopus and roe) on top
Walking back to Uminonakamichi to pick up the train again
The pine-fringed track
The train
What a fabulous day out... It doesn't get better.