2012年01月31日
Rice Cake Scramble
The Japanese are often described by words such as reserved, courteous, and considerate. These attributes are very prominent in this culture. But there are certain occasions when the Japanese let loose. In Kagawa, one of these is fukumochi-nage (good luck rice cake throwing), which is held every January 3rd on top of Mount Unpenji. This 970-meter peak is situated in Kagawa's southwest corner and the temple, Unpenji, at the top, actually falls inside neighboring Tokushima.
A huge crowd converges at the top of the mountain, waiting for the event to start.
Every year the temple invites a celebrity to throw bags of rice cakes into their midst and the crowd waits expectantly.
Once the throwing starts,
the mad scramble to get a bag begins.
Some people use their hats and even baseball gloves.
The elderly and children all dive in, too.
I think the temple must also invite someone who plays baseball fairly seriously because some of those bags flew all the way across to the hill where I was standing behind the crowd. And they hurt, too. Mixed in with the mochi, which bring good luck and health, are bags containing coupons for prizes such as kitchen appliances, TVs and computers. This is probably what makes the competition so fierce.
Lucky winners.
The rice cakes can be roasted over the bonfire – a nice treat after all that hard work.
Unpenji, by the way, is worth a visit at any time of year. If you like snow, winter is a good time. There is skiing and snowboarding at the top and I'm guessing the slope offers a spectacular view.
Snowboarders
The price of the cable car (Japan's longest by the way) is 2,000 yen and if you want to go skiing or snowboarding, it is an extra 2,000 yen (2,000 total for children and 3,000 total for junior and senior high students). It's beautiful at other times of year, too, as are the views from the cable car
And from the top of the mountain looking over into Tokushima.
The temple is the 66th in the 88-temple circuit around Shikoku Island and has a history of 1200 years. Like many of the pilgrims who visit, you can opt not to take the cable car and hike up the mountain instead from either side. It's a paved path but quite steep. In winter, the top can be very snowy
and the hikers I met recommended bringing tie on cleats for safer passage over the slippery snow near the top.
Hiker wearing cleats standing on the right
Some of many lifelike statues lining one of the trails.
Access: The easiest way to get to Unpenji is by car and you will need some help with navigation. It takes about 90 minutes if you use the expressway from Takamatsu. Get off at Onohara IC (about 1 hour) and then take Rte 11 back towards Takamatsu until you come to Rte 8. Turn right (away from the sea) onto Rte 8 and head towards the mountain. The only maps I could find were in Japanese. Here is a link to the map on the Unpenji Snow Park website.
http://www.shikoku-cable.co.jp/snowpark/
Posted by cathy at
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2012年01月10日
Happy New Year!
For me, it was a very happy New Year. We had the kids home and did traditional Japanese New Year’s things, such as… waking up at 6 AM to watch the first sunrise of the New Year.
Or, at least, my husband and I did. The kids actually stayed up all night and kindly (?) woke us up to join them. Considering that we had already stayed up until 2:00 AM writing (late) New Year’s cards and doing other traditional things, this was a bit painful but still we dragged ourselves from our nice warm futon and headed for Mt. Yashima. (At less than 300 meters in height, this is actually a hill by Canadian standards.)
Mt. Yashima as seen from our house.
To be really true to tradition, we should have made the steep 30-minute climb on foot and many people still do. As this was our first time, however, we chose the easy way – a 5-minute car ride up Yashima driveway. To my surprise, there was actually a lineup at the tollgate and the parking lot at the top was getting quite full even at 6:30 AM. Many people had also staked out choice viewing spots along the driveway. It finally dawned on me that seeing the first sunrise of the year is a popular event! There must have been at least 400 people on Yashima alone, and there are plenty of other good viewing spots in the city that probably had their own crowds.
Once at the top, the booming of Wadaiko (Japanese drums) led us to the viewing site.
Drummers and spectators greeting the sun
Crowd waiting
There is something primeval about walking through the dim pre-dawn light on a mountaintop, accompanied by the deep rolling thunder of drums, and then merging with an anonymous crowd of people all gazing expectantly towards the horizon.
Brave drummers sleeveless despite sub-zero temperatures.
The sun slowly but surely showed its face, welcomed by a cheering crowd and the clicking of camera and cell phone shutters.
Great panorama of the Seto Inland Sea from this spot
Here comes the sun!
This tradition is called Hatsu-hinode, meaning “first sunrise”. All “firsts” in the New Year are awarded special attention in Japanese culture and each important action is given the character 初(“hatsu” or “hajime”) when you do it for the first time in the New Year. Such as “hatsumode”, the first trip to pray at a shrine or temple. Once the sun was up, that’s exactly where the crowd of sun spectators headed – to pray for the coming year at Yashimaji, a temple with a shrine beside it.
Crowd pouring through the temple gate
And heading for the temple
We, however, went home for breakfast!
View on the way down
Yashima Access: If you want to see the sunrise, you’ll need to go by car or on foot. If you want to sightsee during the day, the train and shuttle bus are also options. Please note that the shuttle bus does not run from Dec. to Feb. except on January 1, 2, and 3 and the earliest bus is after 8:00 AM.
By car: From downtown Takamatsu, take Route 11 east towards Tokushima and turn left at the MacDonald’s that is on the left side of the road. Yashima Driveway runs up the hill past Shikoku Mura. The toll for passenger cars is 610 yen. The parking lot at the top has 400 parking spots.
On foot: It takes about 30 minutes to walk up the hill and it’s quite steep. The hiking trail starts on the east side of Yashima Elementary School, which is not on a bus or train route. I recommend biking there if you live within decent biking distance. The trail can also be reached on foot from Kotoden Yashima station, which adds an extra 10 to 20 minutes to your hike. You will need to ask someone who knows the area to give you directions to the trail.
By Kotoden train: take a train from Takamatsu-Chikko Station to Kawaramachi Station (4 minutes, frequent departures) and transfer to the Shido Line. Get off at Kotoden Yashima Station (13 minutes, 3 trains/hour). The entire trip takes about 20 minutes and costs 310 yen. Sanjo Shuttle bus runs once per hour to the summit (10 minutes, 100 yen).
By JR train: take a local train from JR Takamatsu Station traveling in the Tokushima direction. Get off at Yashima Station (15 minutes, 210 yen, 2 trains/hour). From the station the Yashima Sanjo Shuttle bus runs once per hour to the summit (20 minutes, 100 yen).
Or, at least, my husband and I did. The kids actually stayed up all night and kindly (?) woke us up to join them. Considering that we had already stayed up until 2:00 AM writing (late) New Year’s cards and doing other traditional things, this was a bit painful but still we dragged ourselves from our nice warm futon and headed for Mt. Yashima. (At less than 300 meters in height, this is actually a hill by Canadian standards.)
Mt. Yashima as seen from our house.
To be really true to tradition, we should have made the steep 30-minute climb on foot and many people still do. As this was our first time, however, we chose the easy way – a 5-minute car ride up Yashima driveway. To my surprise, there was actually a lineup at the tollgate and the parking lot at the top was getting quite full even at 6:30 AM. Many people had also staked out choice viewing spots along the driveway. It finally dawned on me that seeing the first sunrise of the year is a popular event! There must have been at least 400 people on Yashima alone, and there are plenty of other good viewing spots in the city that probably had their own crowds.
Once at the top, the booming of Wadaiko (Japanese drums) led us to the viewing site.
Drummers and spectators greeting the sun
Crowd waiting
There is something primeval about walking through the dim pre-dawn light on a mountaintop, accompanied by the deep rolling thunder of drums, and then merging with an anonymous crowd of people all gazing expectantly towards the horizon.
Brave drummers sleeveless despite sub-zero temperatures.
The sun slowly but surely showed its face, welcomed by a cheering crowd and the clicking of camera and cell phone shutters.
Great panorama of the Seto Inland Sea from this spot
Here comes the sun!
This tradition is called Hatsu-hinode, meaning “first sunrise”. All “firsts” in the New Year are awarded special attention in Japanese culture and each important action is given the character 初(“hatsu” or “hajime”) when you do it for the first time in the New Year. Such as “hatsumode”, the first trip to pray at a shrine or temple. Once the sun was up, that’s exactly where the crowd of sun spectators headed – to pray for the coming year at Yashimaji, a temple with a shrine beside it.
Crowd pouring through the temple gate
And heading for the temple
We, however, went home for breakfast!
View on the way down
Yashima Access: If you want to see the sunrise, you’ll need to go by car or on foot. If you want to sightsee during the day, the train and shuttle bus are also options. Please note that the shuttle bus does not run from Dec. to Feb. except on January 1, 2, and 3 and the earliest bus is after 8:00 AM.
By car: From downtown Takamatsu, take Route 11 east towards Tokushima and turn left at the MacDonald’s that is on the left side of the road. Yashima Driveway runs up the hill past Shikoku Mura. The toll for passenger cars is 610 yen. The parking lot at the top has 400 parking spots.
On foot: It takes about 30 minutes to walk up the hill and it’s quite steep. The hiking trail starts on the east side of Yashima Elementary School, which is not on a bus or train route. I recommend biking there if you live within decent biking distance. The trail can also be reached on foot from Kotoden Yashima station, which adds an extra 10 to 20 minutes to your hike. You will need to ask someone who knows the area to give you directions to the trail.
By Kotoden train: take a train from Takamatsu-Chikko Station to Kawaramachi Station (4 minutes, frequent departures) and transfer to the Shido Line. Get off at Kotoden Yashima Station (13 minutes, 3 trains/hour). The entire trip takes about 20 minutes and costs 310 yen. Sanjo Shuttle bus runs once per hour to the summit (10 minutes, 100 yen).
By JR train: take a local train from JR Takamatsu Station traveling in the Tokushima direction. Get off at Yashima Station (15 minutes, 210 yen, 2 trains/hour). From the station the Yashima Sanjo Shuttle bus runs once per hour to the summit (20 minutes, 100 yen).
