Today I took a trip up to Arima with a friend. Arima is a little touristy onsen town in the mountains near Kobe. Most people go there for the onsens, but that wasn't the reason we went. Just for fun, fresh air, a change of scenery and bit of adventure.
Views coming into Arima..
We wandered around and took a look at some of the tourist spots (when and where we could find them...the map wasn't particularly accurate).
A lot of the buildings in Arima have the appearance of being much older and more traditional that those that you see in the city in Kobe.
One of the first stops we made, was at a little pond type thing, where we had been told we could look, but not use...
After that, we wandered up a hill and took a staircase to the Arima Inari Shrine. It had a view overlooking the town and out to the mountains.
I wanted to ride on the machine on the left!! (It ended up going into the woods though...)
There was a frog statue
How's the view Joe?
Then, we did some more wandering and ended up at Tsuzumigataki Park, which although small, has a nice waterfall. There is also a little rest stop where you can get something to drink.
We continued on with our theme of wandering around the town, went back into the main town area, passed by some shops, more temples, and then found our way to Atagoyama Park where it was supposed to have a plum grove. It was quite small, but we did find a few.
Took me by surprise...😒
The next place of interest we found was the Tenjin Spring, where the water apparently has a very high content of iron, and according to the sign we read, one of the highest sodium chloride (salt) contents of hot springs in Japan.
Finally we decided to grab a late lunch and then wandered by the river for a bit before heading back to Kobe.
I made up a silly story that demons came out of the hole where the water is...and...one appeared!!! 😈😳😜
We took a walk along a river and looked at the sakura! (Most of my pictures are from the morning when I was waiting though....
He's a dragon rider!! Our guest star today...
Also....we were able to see a uniquely interesting and amusing although slightly worrying event at the river!! We noticed there was a boar in the river, and it was running down the river really quickly. It went under the bridge and continued on to the other side, and as we watched it, it seemed to be looking for a way out, but eventually decided it wouldn't find one and came running back down the way it came, occasionally switching sides, and once in a while it would pause and sniff/think before (literally) jumping back into action and bolting down the river. Not sure how it got in there, but hopefully it was able to find one of the ramps and make its way back out to dry ground...
Today I went out for a hike, and I decided to take a different trail than what I usually might. I've often walked by this path and told myself that I would try it out another day, but I finally decided to take it and see where I would end up. Well, actually I knew there was a small lake to get eventually because I didn't totally go in without any prior research, but there you have it...
The beginning of the hike was up through an area that I go through often, but it was interesting today because we've had a lot of rain recently, and that in addition to it being spring, caused there to be a lot stronger water flow than there usually is, and even created some waterfalls/streams where it can often times be either totally dry or a mere trickle.
Usually the ground is dry here and maybe a trickle, but a triple fall was created!
Nunobiki was really strong today...
When I took the fork in the path that I don't usually take, it led to a couple of small rest stops and there was a shore on the side of a river where there were all sorts of people hanging out, eating lunch, having barbecues, and that sort of thing. There was also a big group of people who were *running* down the path. And there were a couple of Ronald McDonalds, white face paint and everything. Sometimes, I really don't understand what other people are thinking about.... And there was a tree stump that someone carved a creepy face out of. I realized after I didn't get a picture of it. Next time.
Anyway...this path was relatively quiet once I got away from the picnic/rest stop area. And it was really pretty too. For the most part the path ran along the river, but it also snaked through the forest, but there were all sorts of retaining walls, mini-dams, and all kinds of construction along the way. It was interesting to see. I'm really curious about the purpose of all of it, because a lot of it seems old and not currently in use...
So curious about what this is for...
I found a butterfly...
As I mentioned earlier, my goal for today was to get to Futatabi Park, and so the next fork in the path gave me a couple of options because there is a kind of circular trail to get there, so either way should take you. I chose the path on the right side which took me into the forest rather than continuing along the big paved trail which was also supposed to lead to a temple. I was happy with my choice. It was really pretty! There were a few more forks along the way, and I had to deliberate with my general photo map to choose the right way, but it all worked out in the end! I found my way to the lake up at Futatabi Park. (Just for reference...it took me about 80 minutes to get up there, and that was including some detours...) And while I was there I found a lot of buildings that I was NOT expecting to see at all. (Also up in this area of the mountain is the old foreigner cemetery, but from what I understand, it's not open to the public very often. And I don't really have interest in visiting a cemetery. I suppose that's the more important reason for me....
What you see when you get to Futatabi Park
These were on a tree...
There were fish in here too... Click here for the link.
The light through the trees was so nice!
They were log houses...
Surprising find...
After spending some time in this park area, I decided I would head back in a different direction than what I came in, to complete the circle path and then go back down from there...it started off in the right direction...but didn't end up where I thought it would. hehe... But I'm getting ahead of myself.
As I said, I did start in the right direction, and made a stop at Tairyuji Temple. Which was really interesting, by the way. I didn't realize we had anything like this so close in Kobe. There was a path up to the temple in the Inari style (the path was covered by torii gates). And the other path from the temple went past a lot of stone images. There was also a Japanese cemetery off to the side as well.
Pictures will explain better....Look at them instead...
I almost skipped the temple, because at first it didn't look so interesting...
Guardian at the entrance
So many!
Going down the other path from the temple
Quick video from Tairyuji. Click here for the link.
Up to that point I was definitely on the right path, but somehow after the temple, I ended up going in a direction that I hadn't quite intended to go. Definitely glad I was going down, not up though. It was a really nice walk anyway, and it took me through the forest, along streams, past a lot of abandoned houses/buildings that were really starting to get overgrown. It also came to a small village and the path hugged the side of the mountain and kind of took you above the village.
This tree had fallen over and was pulling down power lines...but they only cut off the parts that would have made it hard to walk down the path. Umm....
There were some sakura blooming behind this abandoned house...
These went straight down for a while...glad I was going down...
Some buildings in that village I was talking about...
Some random short video clips from along the hike.... Click here for the link.
Eventually I ended up with a view of Kobe, and I found that my position was west of Kobe station/harborland area. Which wasn't quite where I expected, but I kept going to find out where the path ended. It took me to a temple next to Suwayama Park (which I have been to once before), and since I was right there anyway, I also found a sign pointing in the direction of the Venus Bridge (which I hadn't been on before). Since it was only another 200m or so, I decided I might as well check it out. It had a nice view, and yes, I think it would probably be nice in the evening as well (Kobe's night view is very famous...)
I came out behind the temple, and there were all kinds of these...
Found some sakura at the temple...
As it says...the Venus Bridge...
Apparently this is a restaurant at the top of the Venus Bridge
Place for couples to hang locks...
View of Kobe from the Venus Bridge
All in all, I'm pleased with the way my adventure turned out today! It was nice weather, a really pretty walk, and I didn't run into any boars, so pretty perfect!
So for context...this is the map at the start of the trail...I started where the star was, and did really well...got to the circular trail..started around it, got to Futatabi Park, went back down the other side of the circle to the temple...and then somehow ended up where I put the arrow in the bottom left corner...
