Monday, October 12, 2009

A pleasant day in the countryside

I had to wake up early the next Saturday for my first class field trip. I was meeting my classmates and my teacher at a station quite a way from my stop, so I wanted to give myself a lot of time. I was just a little nervous because it was my first time riding the train by myself and I knew it was easy to head in the wrong direction. I had to get to Tambabashi station, and Temmabashi station was far off the opposite way. After checking the map a few times, I hopped on an already crowded rapid express train.
Switching train lines at Tambabashi, I was relieved to see a group of classmates waiting around. Our professor arrived shortly, and after buying the most expensive train ticket I had so far (840 yen!) we headed on to the platform.
At this point, I already knew it was going to be a good day. The weather was beautiful, if a little hot, and… off to the left was a billboard with my second favorite Japanese actor! Cool! I had to get a picture, of course.

We rode the train for over an hour, switching at some point, and for the whole stretch I had to stand. It wasn’t as rough as I was expecting.
Arriving at Asuka, we left the station and headed to rent our bikes (the school paid for them! Woo!). I was a little nervous about biking through the narrow Japanese streets, but after a somewhat wobbly start, I got the hang of it. The worst part was crossing at stoplights, where half the group would get left behind and sometimes lost. More on that later…

Asuka, besides the beautiful scenery, contains tons of history. Before Tokyo, before Kyoto, Before Nara, Asuka was the capital of Japan, and really the first organized one. I had already heard a little about the city in class, but I knew I was about to find out a lot more because my professor is pretty much a walking encyclopedia. It’s amazing.
Our first start was emperor Kimmei’s tomb. It is one of the keyhole-shaped tombs that were popular in the era. And, of course, the shape can only really be appreciated from an aerial photograph. A moat outlines the tomb, and a rock garden decorates the entrance.


Then it was a short walk up the hill to the mausoleum of Kibihime (Hime= princess), which is famous for the Saru Ishi, or monkey stones, guarding the entrance. These guys are really old, and it was hard for me to tell they were monkeys.

The government has intervened in the Asuka area to keep it from being overdeveloped. For this reason, the region is full of acres and acres of rice fields instead of houses stretching as far as the eye can see. However, it’s easy to see the border of the government’s protection…

We hopped back on the bikes to reach our next destination. It was probably the most beautiful day in my life so far.



After a little ride, we reached Oni no Manaita and Oni no Settchin, two large related stones that are set some distance from each other. The photos aren’t too interesting, but the story behind the stones is. These names translate to “Devil’s cutting board and toilet.” Local legend states that on foggy days, travelers going down the same road as us would be captured by the demons and eaten. After their rituals, the demons would head over to Oni no Settchin and well… you know.
In reality, the stones are probably two parts to a tomb that just weren’t assembled all the way.
Next was Kameishi, the turtle stone. I thought it was pretty cute. I don’t know why.

Legend goes that this guy has been rotating throughout the years, and when he faces all the way west, the island of Japan will sink. Wait until I’m headed back to America if you can, Kame-san.
It was getting pretty hot and humid at this point, but we still had another stop before lunch, the foundations of Kawahara-dera, an old temple. Not exactly photogenic either, but the scenery was!


I’m sure the grass isn’t too dried out anymore after Typhoon 18 came through.
On the way to our lunch stop, we rode through a beautiful forest. It was shady and refreshing, and I wish I had had the time to stop and take some pictures. However, I knew I might have been left behind and kept pedaling. (Some of the group ended up taking a wrong turn and getting to lunch pretty late.)
After I ate my riceball and melon bread, I had a lot of time left over, so I wandered a little around the rest stop area. Here’s what I found:


I met back up with the group and we crossed the street to enter Ishibutai, the stone dancing stage, which is actually a tomb that you can go inside. Being inside an actual tomb is very eerie. Also, being the weekend, it was ridiculously crowded.


(That’s my professor with the ballcap on)
The view outside of the tomb:

Our next destination was quite a ride away. We ended up losing half of our 27 person group, and spending a bit of time waiting for them to arrive. In the meantime, I took my touristy picture for the day in front of the beautiful miles of rice fields! I absolutely LOVED riding through the rice fields. The scenery with all the tall green leaves swaying around me was surreal. I felt like I was in a movie.

Asuka-dera was our next stop. It was the only temple of the day that still functions as a temple and has got all its walls and everything.


Asuka-dera is awesome because it houses the oldest statue of Buddha in Japan, dating from the year 606. The building around it has actually burned down twice, but Buddha still survives.

…maybe he is looking a little old now. Our priest guide told us that he is supposed to have a stern face from the left and a happy one from the right. I could tell a little, but my pictures turned out blurry. *sigh*
Hey look! It’s a statue of Shotoku Taishi, who I learned about in class and is nicknamed the “Prince Charming” of Japanese history. He even has a manga written about him… …. …my history professor has the whole series.

Like staring at fish at the aquarium, after looking at these guys for a little while, I start imitating their faces.


*angry face*
Finally, we reached the historical museum, which gave us more information on the area and had more peculiar statues, like this fountain:

It said these were supposed to be a man and a woman, but they look like a couple of dwarves or goblins to me.
Anyway, after that and learning about an awesome water clock that they used during the time Asuka was the capital, we hopped on our bikes for the last time and headed back the way we came, through the rice fields again.
I wasn’t quite ready to tell this place goodbye, because I knew it was a little far to return on my own sometime. If I ever hear the word “serene”, I will picture this place. Although I was hot, sweaty and sunburned when I got back home, it was a wonderful day. Goodbye, Asuka!

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