Food glorious food

Sunday, May 12, 2024
Gujo Hachiman Castle, Gifu, Japan
Misty mountain air
Life from the heart of the earth 
Refreshes the soul
We were up early, packed and out the door. The check out process was just as bizarre as the check in. A young man told Ken how to enter the cards into the terminal instead of just taking them from him. The hotel has been so nice. It is very luxurious and the onsen was a bonus. 
We walked to Kyoto Station and made it there in plenty of time. We bought cans of iced coffee to have on the train for our breakfast. We watched the Shinkansen train (the very fast bullet) arrive and depart as the waited for our turn. We were only going as far as Nagoya, a 35 minute trip. We got on the 8am train and rolled our suitcases down the aisle. We had booked the Green Car to make sure we would have some extra room for the luggage. Ken had to lift them onto the racks above the seats - his Santorini Style experience coming in handy. We sat back and enjoyed the all too short ride. The Scenery whizzed past - suburbs and then countryside and finally into the city of Nagoya.
We followed directions and found our tour leader, Junko and her assistant for this trip who is learning the ropes - Mitzy. We have 7 other travellers with us. Kate from the UK who is doing a feature article on the tour for the Australian, Ian and Debbie from Sydney, Snowy and Loh from Hong Kong and Allan and Jo from California. They are a nice group of people. 
We got the run down and then walked out to find our bus and settled in for a drove of just over an hour out into the country. It was a gloomy day with a slight drizzle. As we drove along Junko gave us a history lesson on the dynasties and periods of Japan.  
We drove through the official central point of the country. The region we will be visiting is the central area. There is a lot of timber production in the region in a very protected industry. The scenery is vivid green and mountainous with rivers running through and mist rising in places. We drove over bridges to cross the rivers and through tunnels to get through the mountains. Little towns were perched on the sides of the rivers.
We arrived at our first town, Gujo Hachiman and arrived at the hotel at the top of the town near the castle. We were not able to check in but did get organised as we found out that we would be doing a onsen off site before dinner and would not be coming back until after that. Then the bus took us back down the hill - we cannot be walking too far on this walking tour - and we did a leisurely stroll around town in the rain. There are a lot of little craft shops that we looked at. We stopped at a cake shop and chose a mochi to have after lunch.
Lunch was at a 4th generation restaurant, serving traditional hotpot. So we had to cook our first meal ourselves. It was chicken and cabbage in a delicious broth. We also had pickles, rice and a red miso. It was like a fondue, with a solid fuel (maybe paraffin) to heat it up. We had individual pots to tend. It was tasty, but I do think you could smell the fuel. Everyone was quiet as they stuck to the task of cooking and eating. The mochi were good. I had a soybean one and Ken had cinnamon,.
After lunch we continued touring around the pretty little castle town. It was still raining, but it added to the atmosphere. We stopped at a shrine. Junko had trouble trying to translate the intention of the particular god. Turns out he is the character in charge of toilets and your nether regions. You want to keep your private parts healthy and you need to keep your toilet clean. Good god to have around!
We passed the god of fertility next, just in case any of us were looking to have anymore children. Then we visited a most stunning garden in the temple complex. It has been designed to be viewed seated. We sat on the tatami mat and took it the wondrous creation. It is such a perfect space, created to make the most of each season. We had spring green foliage and gentle rain falling on the pond with the natural rock backdrop. It was designed by a Zen priest with the aim of making us happy. In autumn the maples turn red and in the winter the trees are covered in snow.
We then viewed the indoor garden of rocks before sitting in the meeting hall where they pray. The former monk’s wife came in and spoke to us, with Junko translating. They were a 2 person act and quite entertaining as we discovered how to be happy, heal our aches and pains, and get rich. We repeated a mantra to make sure we were all protected. 
We wandered around town again, stopping in at an indigo dyeing operation. They are 15th generation in a building that is 440 years old. They explained the laborious process and showed us the beautiful textiles and prints. 
This town is where the imitation food that is out the front of all the restaurants here started. Went to the shop where they make it. The reproduction is pretty amazing. They did a demo and asked for volunteers to make tempura veges and then a lettuce. Only Ken and I would give it a go. It was fun but I don’t think we will be offered jobs here any time soon. We did get to take the fake food we made home with us. Not sure it will make it home. We managed to offfload one set of tempura to Kate to take to her young daughters. Unless she decides to bin it - fair enough. The shop has strange museum type areas set up and  a role playing dining area where you can sit and pretend that the food you just made is real. It is very “home corner” at kindy stuff. There was a young couple having the best time doing just this when we arrived.
We got taxis to the train station and had coffee while we waited for the train to take us to the onsen. This is a public bath and pretty hard core for those who have not tried one before. Thank god we gave it a go in Kyoto in pretty private way. As we got on the train a big group of loud and pushy tourists joined us. We were very worried and found it hilarious that they would get off at the onsen and we would all be squished in there together. Fortunately, they didn’t get off.
The onsen stop services just the onsen. It is the Minamilodakaraonsen Station,  in the country surrounded by lush forests. It wasn’t too busy but we were not alone. We separated rom the men, undressed and took our little towels with us into the bathing area. There is an inside section and an outdoor one. We started inside, but it was quite hot and the outside one was just a little cooler as you feel the cool air on the bits out of the water. It was lovely, with mist rising, the smell of the forest and a little sprinkle of rain for a while. 
Back into taxis and into town again to our dinner restaurant, Tatsakuki. The owner is a former sumo champion. He joined a sumo stable at 18, quickly rose up the ranks, eventually retiring at 29. He is now 69. He came and chatted to us, with Junko translating. Our dinner was his “Chanel Nabe”, sumo wrestlers’ stew. It was a shared hotpot. While it was cooking we were served agadashi, then sashimi and some hidi beef (the Kobe beef of the region). Then we ate the hotpot with an assortment of proteins before ramen noodles were added to extend the already substantial meal. Ken started with a beer and we both had the warm sake, which was pretty good.
Completely stuffed, we got taxis back to the hotel and were soon up in our rooms which are surprisingly large. It is an early night for us, but we will be back on the eating, bathing trail again tomorrow so we will need our sleep!
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Comments

Danelle
2024-05-13

Oh my! You certainly packed a lot of activities into one day. Ken’s tempura prawn would certainly make a unique souvenir. As always, am enjoying the photos. That shot of the temple garden exudes calm.

2025-02-17

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