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Tag Archives: Kumamoto Prefecture

Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, July 2013

07 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by scalesoflibra in Rolling 'round Kyuushuu

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amakusa, Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, Christianity in Japan, Kumamoto Prefecture, Oe Church, Sakitsu Church

Unbeknownst to me, I started learning about feudal Japanese history, Japanese pronunciation, and Kyushu dialect when I was 11 or 12 years old, sitting in front of the tele and the Super Nintendo.

「話にもならんわ!」I couldn't understand it back then, but that's what Amakusa says when he wins a battle. We could translate it to "You're pathetic!" or something like that.

「話にもならんわ!」I couldn’t understand it back then, but that’s what Amakusa says when he wins a battle. We could translate it to “You’re pathetic!” or something like that, but he says it in Kyushu dialect (which is considered very rough in other parts of Japan) with a sentence-final “wa,” considered a marker of feminine speech outside of certain Tokyo dialects.

There was no one named “Tokugawa” in the game Samurai Shodown so some of Amakusa Shiro Tokisada’s lines left me a bit confused. That was about 20 years ago. But little by little, I came across more things in real life that I’d first seen in the game. I learned about the Tokugawa Shogunate, I learned about the problems with romanizing Japanese, and understood why the voice overs in the game pronounced this character’s name as “Shirou” even though the letters said “Shiro.” And most interestingly for me, I learned that Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, presented in the game as an evil sorcerer with poor taste in makeup, had actually been a boy in the 1600s who led a failed Christian uprising on Kyushu, the Shimabara Rebellion.

When I first heard about the “kakure kirishitan,” or “hidden Christians” in Japan, I was fascinated by how people so far from Christianity’s origins would end up such stout converts as to lay down their lives for their new-found beliefs. In contrast, I enjoyed going to Mass because the church and artwork inside were visually stunning; yet even so, I hadn’t gone all that often, and never did the catechism. Between this and my colorful, pixelated introduction to Christians in Japan, I was bound to end up in Amakusa some day.

As I wrote in the previous post, I went to Amakusa in July of 2013 thanks to the kindness of a fellow gym member who offered to drive there. She didn’t have much time so it was a day trip, which is a bit insane considering it’s a 4-hour drive from Fukuoka. All we did in Amakusa was see two famous churches, have lunch, and walk around a couple of touristy spots. As such, perhaps this post won’t be particularly edifying, but I still thought it was an interesting trip. For a brief, but deeper explanation of the history of this place, read this article: Amakusa and the Hidden Christians.

First, we went to Sakitsu Church (崎津教会, also 崎津天主堂 Sakitsu Tenshudou). It’s tucked away among sleepy, narrow streets.

We didn't have time to go in to Gallery Café Nazareth, but it was clear we were on the right track.

We didn’t have time to go in to Gallery Café Nazareth, but it was clear we were on the right track.

The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. With koi!

A representation of the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes near the church.

A beautiful Gothic church near the sea!

A beautiful Gothic church near the sea!

The plaque informs us that the first church built in this spot was built in 1883 (the 16th year of the Meiji Era), after the ban on Christianity was lifted. The current, Gothic building was erected in 1934 (the 9th year of the Showa Era) by Father Harubu (Havre?).

The plaque informs us that the first church built in this spot was built in 1883, after the ban on Christianity was lifted. The current, Gothic building was erected in 1934 by Father Harubu (Havre?).

Photography was not allowed inside, but I picked up the postcard set the church had for sale. (On an honor system at that. Put 500 yen in the box, take one of the sets laid out on the table.) Unfortunately, I can’t find said postcard set, though I know for sure I brought it with me, as I showed it to my mother. Hmm…well, in any case, here’s a Japanese site with pictures of the interior, as well as a more detailed history of the church, if you’re curious. The tatami mats are the only things that make it seem different from a Catholic church in the West.

The sea lies just a few steps from Sakitsu Church.

The sea lies just a few steps from Sakitsu Church.

Next, we headed to Ooe Church (大江教会, also 大江天主堂 Ooe Tenshudou). On the way, we saw a junior high school student riding a motorbike. That’s how you know this is the countryside (=inaka). There’s just no other way to get around, so even the lil’uns have to (or “get to”) drive.

Anyway, Ooe Church sits atop a hill. We actually saw a couple at this church who had also been at Sakitsu Church. Maybe they were looking for a place to hold their wedding?

Ooe ChurchOoe PlaquePhotography inside this church is also prohibited. I picked up a postcard set here as well, but alas. (One day, I’ll find those postcards and update this post. ^_^;) But again, you can see some interior photos at this Japanese site. It’s impossible to tell from those photos, however, that there’s a figure of a samurai up on the altar. Wearing his swords and everything.

Ooe's grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. It's tucked away on a lower part of the hill, at the side of the church.

Ooe’s grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. It’s tucked away on a lower part of the hill, at the side of the church.

While there, a blue dragonfly alighted on the stones of the grotto.

While there, a blue dragonfly alighted on the stones of the grotto. (You can see it more clearly by clicking the image for the full size.)

Before leaving, my friend insisted I take a picture in front of the church. It felt a little strange, ahaha....

Before leaving, my friend insisted I take a picture in front of the church. It felt a little strange, ahaha….

After seeing these two churches, we set out to look for lunch. We found a restaurant not too far from the foot of Ooe Church’s hill with a banner saying they had lunch specials, so we decided to go there. Amakusa is particularly known for seafood, so that’s what we had.

I don't remember what most of these fish were. But it was good and fresh!

I don’t remember what any of these fish were. But they were good and fresh!

After lunch we hit the road for Fukuoka. We happened to come across some octopuses being dried outside, which apparently is also something Amakusa is known for.

If I remember correctly, this is 干したこ (hoshi tako), meaning simply "dried squid."

If I remember correctly, this is 干したこ (hoshi tako), meaning simply “dried octopus.” You can eat it as a snack!

We went to a rest stop so that I could buy omiyage. I wasn’t planning on taking any of it home with me, rather it was for the school, as a “thank you” rather than as souvenirs. I was pretty amused by the chibi Amakusa Shirou Tokisada imprinted on various omiyage boxes.

Left: Amakusa Shiro as drawn in Samurai Shodown III. Right: Shiro-kun on a box of manju. I'm willing to bet both representations would be funny to the real Amakusa Shiro if he could see them.

Left: Amakusa Shirou as drawn in Samurai Shodown III. Right: Shirou-kun on a box of manju. I’m willing to bet both representations would be funny to the real Amakusa Shirou if he could see them.

On the way back to Fukuoka, we were unexpectedly stuck in traffic. As we crawled forward, I saw why: we were near a huge statue of Amakusa Shirou, and people were crowding into the small parking lot before it. Given that we were short on time I said I wouldn’t mind if we didn’t turn around to see it ourselves. Later, I found out that it was the Aino Amakusa Mura. Other monuments to Amakusa Shirou are in Shimabara, which we couldn’t also visit given the time constraint.

We had set out around 7 in the morning, and were back in Fukuoka at 7 in the evening. I said goodbye to the kind woman who’d taken the time to make a rushed trip far south, and went back to the mess of moving in my apartment. I made very few trips on JET, and this was the last.

☆

おまけ! Bonus! ①

The first kanji I learned were the numbers from 1 to 13, thanks to Samurai Shodown.

As I played, I noticed that some of the symbols changed with each battle while the others stayed the same the whole time, so I figured the symbols that changed represented the number of the battle. Of course, it's fairly easy to confirm, since 1, 2, and 3 are 一、二、三. But still...who says video games don't teach you anything?!

As I played, I noticed that some of the symbols changed with each battle while the others stayed the same the whole time, so I figured the symbols that changed represented the number of the battle. Of course, it’s fairly easy to confirm, since 1, 2, and 3 are 一、二、三. But still…who says video games don’t teach you anything?!

The above screencap, as well as the one at the top of this post, was taken from AcidGlow’s Amakusa playthrough video. I found it really interesting to watch the playthrough now that I can read and understand all the untranslated Japanese elements! And I realized that Haohmaru’s stage is Ganryuu-jima, which I’ve also been to.

おまけ!②

Samurai Shodown was apparently based on an 80s movie called Makai Tenshou, in which Amakusa Shirou is also the villain. Huh. I wonder if I can find this movie somewhere.

おまけ!③

This was the church I’d sometimes go to in my neighborhood. I found it pretty interesting to hear Mass in Japanese. Since Christianity was first introduced to Japan by the Portuguese, many elements are in said language, and since Portuguese is very close to Spanish, I could figure things out. For example, “Mass” is ミサ (misa) in Japanese, and that’s also the Spanish word (and Portuguese word too, I assume) for it.

 

 

Two Days in Hitoyoshi

29 Sunday Aug 2010

Posted by scalesoflibra in Rolling 'round Kyuushuu

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aoi Aso Shrine, Eikokuji, Hitoyoshi, Hitoyoshi Castle Ruins, Kumamoto Prefecture, Onsen, SL Hitoyoshi, SL人吉号, 人吉

As you may know from the previous post, Thursday the 19th I took a trip down to the city of Hitoyoshi in neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture.  My main goal was to ride on Steam Locomotive Hitoyoshi, but I got to enjoy some other things as well.  If you haven’t already seen the video, scroll down to watch it eh.

…

…

Did you watch it? ^o^

DAY 1

Anyway, I left at 10 in the morning for Hitoyoshi via Kumamoto Station.  On the way there I rode regular (electric) trains.  I guess it’s not too often that people ride down that far, since on the train from Kumamoto to Hitoyoshi, on the Trans-Kyuushuu Limited Express (九州横断特急), one of the attendants went around with a poster board with a picture of the train for people to take a photo with.

Anyone else feel like bumpin' some Kraftwerk? >o<

At Hitoyoshi Station I went to the information center to get a map of the area.  The attendant also gave me a few pages explaining important local sites in English.  After getting the map and info I hopped on a cab to the ryokan (旅館 a traditional style inn) I’d be staying at, Suiranrou (翠嵐楼).  Since I got there too early I chilled in the lobby for an hour going over the map and making a plan since I hadn’t really made one other than “get on the choo-choo at all costs!!!” ^o^;  I also got to enjoy kakigoori (かき氷), which is shaved ice, that was made with water from the onsen (温泉 hot springs).

Once the room was ready I pulled out the futon and conked out for two hours.  When I woke up, I went for a stroll alongside the Kuma River.  I saw many interesting butterflies on the walk, but they wouldn’t stop long enough for me to photograph them.

Compositionally one of the best photos I took, but thematically...I feel like I've seen this before. Probably on a motivational poster.

I also came across this little shrine to the God of the Hot Springs.

After that I went back to the ryokan and chilled in my room till dinner was brought up.  It was a FEAST.  First course:

Nom nom nom

There’s sashimi, shrimp, tofu, and the little cup is umeshuu (plum wine).  The pot with SL Hitoyoshi drawn on it was “SL Nabe.”  You’ll get it a few photos down. ^o^ Then, second course:

Ayu! But not Hamasaki. *Rimshot*

Ayu is a fish from the Kuma River.  The big one in the photo was still cooking when it was brought up (there’s hot coals in that thing it’s on), but the little ones were done.  The woman told me to eat the little ones entirely, from head to tail.  I asked about the big one, but was told that the head would be too bitter to eat.  They were very, very tasty!

Now, the dish called “SL Nabe” is naberyouri, which is a stew cooked at the table, usually in a regular looking pot.  But since it’s SL Nabe:

Get it? It's steaming! ^o^ ♡

Once it was ready, it looked like this:

*Mouth waters*

It…was…OH MY GOD DELICIOUS.  Especially the pork.  Kumamoto pork.  So tender and juicy! Mmmmmm!

In the same photo you can see the miso soup (it’s covered ^_^;) and to the right of that, some purin (flan).  This was brought up after the ayu, along with rice which I was told was particularly delicious since it was cooked with water from the hot spring–I think it really did taste particularly good, and not as mushy as rice elsewhere–and a poached egg cooled off in cold harusame (clear noodles).

Afterward, when an attendant cleared the dishes she asked if I had gone into the onsen yet.  I told her no and confessed that while I wanted to go, I was a bit embarrassed by the thought.  I’d been debating with myself whether I should go or not before the attendant asked.  On the one hand I thought it’d be wasteful not to, plus I would feel bad if the attendants later asked what I had thought of the onsen, and also I thought that I should try onsen at least once while in Japan but…on the other hand going to the onsen meant I had to shower in front of other people and walk from the shower to the onsen bath with nothing but a puny towel some 10 x 20 inches.  In the end what made me go was the thought that I always tell my kids to have courage in class, so how could I run away from entering the onsen?  There’s two things I’ve always tried not to be: a bother and a hypocrite.

Before she left, the attendant said, “Well, tonight will be your onsen debut.” XDDDD

So I put on the provided yukata and headed down to the 露天風呂 – rotenburo, which means “open air bath.” I heard voices coming from the bath below that one, which I’d been told was the most popular.  But luckily, when I entered the rotenburo…

…there was no one else there! *Victory Fanfare* XDDD

It was wonderful!  I like the feeling of water nudging at me, and this particular bath had a soft fragrance. While it was a rotenburo, it wasn’t completely exposed. It had bamboo walls about 10 feet high, but no roof.  Unfortunately it was a cloudy night so I could only see one bright star.  Still, it was so relaxing. The temperature in this onsen was 50℃ (122°F).

I soaked for about 20 minutes.  I got up, rinsed off, dried off, and was putting the yukata back on when I thought, “how likely is it that I’ll get the chance to enjoy onsen by myself ever again?” Yeah, you know what happened next. Back in for another 15 minutes!

When I got back to my room I was hoping I could do some 月見 (tsukimi – moon viewing) and star gazing, but the clouds persisted.  I wanted to enjoy the night air at least, so I turned off the AC and opened the window, turned out the lights, and put trippy music on. Miguel Bose’s “Agua Clara” to start things off. ^o^ Fittingly enough for staring at a river. Well, good things come to those who wait, and eventually the clouds started moving out, giving me glimpses of an orange waxing moon.  After 30 minutes the clouds were gone entirely.

DAY 2

In the morning, I went down to the ryokan’s restaurant for breakfast.  That morning I’d seen the news about the egg recall in the States, and what should be in the breakfast?  Raw egg. ^o^; It didn’t taste bad, but I don’t see the appeal.  Dipping the toast into it was pretty good, but…not something I’ll go out of my way to eat again.  The best part of breakfast was definitely the 湯豆腐 (yudoufu – boiled tofu).

While I ate, an attendant said to me, “When I heard we’d be having a foreign guest I tried to brush up on my English, but I can’t remember anything after all.”   I said to her, “Oh, surely you remember your self-introduction?” Of course…she did. ^o^; </ALT humor> Also, the attendant who’d brought me my dinner the previous night told me, “you should go to the onsen again before you check out if you have time.” Since I’d requested my breakfast early (because I had a mind fart when I picked the unholy hour of 7:30AM) I had plenty of time before the 10AM check-out.

I decided to try the aforementioned popular onsen, the “retro” onsen.  It was the first onsen to open in Hitoyoshi City, back in 1910.  It looks today the same way it did back then.  It was also very good, and thanks to the somewhat strange hour for bathing, 8AM, completely empty! More WIN. I took two 15-minute soaks.

When it was time to go, I was driven to the train station in one of the ryokan’s cars.  I put the messenger bag with my clothes into a coin locker and set off to look around.

First up: National Treasure Aoi Aso Shrine.

Aoi Aso has a unique style featuring these weird little heads/masks up in the eaves.

At Aoi Aso I got an omamori that I’d never seen before: an 足腰健康御守, that is, a good luck charm for leg health. How appropriate!  It’s in the shape of sandals. Maybe it’s for old people, not young people who slip on ice and break themselves.  Oh yeah, also the sidewalk in front of the shrine tried to kill me, so I figured it’d be a good charm to get. ^o^;

Entrance to Eikokuji. I like this gate better than the main hall. ^_^;

Next I went to Eikokuji, a Buddhist temple.  It has a very old painting of a ghost. According to materials I got in English at Hitoyoshi Station’s information desk, the story goes that a man’s beautiful mistress committed suicide but became a ghost who haunted the man’s wife.  The wife went to the priest of Eikokuji for help.  When the ghost appeared before the priest, he made a painting of her, and she was shocked to see that she’d become an ugly ghost.  The priest then gave her some edifying spiritual lessons and a memorial service, which made her go away.

I didn’t see the painting in person because there were several people praying up in the main hall, and I didn’t want to distract them with my foreigness.

After that I went to the Ruins of Hitoyoshi Castle.  All that’s left of it is its stone foundation.  The castle proper, completed in the 1600s, was dismantled in 1871 when feudal domains were abolished. The materials were sold.  While the information I got doesn’t make this clear, it seems to me that the castle suffered this fate because nearly a decade earlier it had been damaged in a fire that had nearly consumed the whole city.

Part of a rampart, I think.

Trees growing where there used to be castle.

Because I thought I wouldn’t have enough time, I didn’t go to the Castle Museum.  I wish I had.  Oh well.

Next I headed to a soba restaurant that was recommended in the travel brochure for this trip package.  It was pretty tasty and affordable.  Right when I left, it started to rain.  It only lasted about 10 minutes but it was hard so I got soaked.  Blergh. With feet wet, I went to one omiyage store and bought all the gifts for the school, killed another hour by going to a little store with a mini-cafe, then watched the automaton clock.  Killed some more time, and finally, it was time to get on SL Hitoyoshi!

It ended up being that the seat next to my aisle seat belonged to one of a family of four.  The family must’ve got their tickets late because their seats were scattered throughout the one car. They looked at the situation and after some 10 minutes the father came up to me and said, “You can understand Japanese right? Go ahead and sit by the window, since we’ll all just sit in the observation deck.”  I was glad and said thank you, but I wondered if they’d really be comfortable back there since the seats were narrower and they were traveling with small children. But oh well, their call right?

Getting ready to pull out.

Car 1 is actually the last one.

Now, the trip to Kumamoto Station takes 3 hours, twice as long as a usual Limited Express train. Partly because the train goes slower, but also because it stays at each station it stops at longer.  One of the first stations we stopped at was Shiroishi. It’s been around in essentially the same building for over 100 years.

You can see into the observation deck a bit in this photo.

Now, shortly before stopping at this station, the mother of the one family came and sat in my aisle seat as I was in their window seat, carrying her youngest son, who was asleep in her arms.  I wasn’t going to get off to look around the station to not disturb them, but she asked me if I wanted to go look.  I took it as an opportunity to give them back the window seat, so I got out and told her to please sit by the window.  Before coming to Japan I knew that it wasn’t uncommon to use kinship terms with strangers, but I didn’t know you could even use ‘mother’ and ‘father’ until recently. So I addressed her as お母さん (okaa-san – used for someone else’s mother).  I think this helped break the ice a bit.

After about 8 minutes at Shiroishi, we started chugging along again.

The glass of the windows wasn't as clear as on newer trains, so...

We stopped at another station, Isshouchi, were I bought some pears.

Back on the train, I went to sit in the observation deck for a while so the family could be together.  I stayed back there for about half an hour, when the elder son came to ask me if I’d gotten my commemorative stamp yet.  I guess since I left the card you get the stamp on on the table at the seat he saw that it was blank.  I asked him to show me where to get it and he led me to the front of the train in a little kid rush to get the stamp. ^o^

Then it was time for one of the highlights of the trip.  Along the way, there’s an old man named Hachirou who lives on the riverside opposite the tracks. Every time he hears Hitoyoshi’s steam whistle, he goes out on his deck and waves a white towel at the train.  Once we spotted him, everyone became very animated and waved back, though it’s unlikely he could see the people in the train.  But given that the attendants announce his presence, I’m sure he knows everyone’s waving back at him. ^o^

Besides Hachirou, there were people at several points who waved at the train.  It was obvious some were waiting for it to pass.  There were also plenty of train enthusiasts with their cameras up anticipating the train’s approach.  Every group of rafters on the Kuma River we passed also waved their oars at us.  The mother said to me, “Kumamoto’s people are warm.” (The family was from Shimane Prefecture.)

When the little boy woke up, the family went back to the observation deck, and I went back to my seat.  The mother called me “onee-san” (older sister, but not as her sister, rather the sister of her kids) which made me feel warm and squishy inside. I bought some chuuhai-flavored ice cream on the train as we approached Yatsushiro. When we stopped there I took some photos of the train and bought yakisaba (fried mackerel) sushi.

"I just gotta let off some steam, man."

You think you're hot in the summer? Do this man's job!

Filled with the "locals' love," as the attendant said.

Once we were about an hour from Kumamoto, a family who’d had 2 consecutive benches got off, so the family I’d been sitting with moved into those benches, so I got to sit by the window again.

As we pulled in to Kumamoto Station, another train, likewise a special sightseeing train, coming in from Aso if I remember correctly, was pulling in simultaneously a couple of tracks away. The passengers were holding signs in the windows that spelled out a message, but I don’t know what it said and neither did the family from Shimane.  (They said, “What’s that mean?  Must be a local word.” ^o^;) At the same time in our train an attendant came by and gave the people sitting at the window seats laminated sheets with a single character on them to hold up to the window and make a message.  I got the number “6” so I thought the message must’ve said something about “58645” which is the number on SL Hitoyoshi, but the people to my sides didn’t have “8” and “4” so I’ve no idea what our message spelled out. ^_^;

Then it was time to get off.  The trip was over.  The Relay Tsubame I was riding back to Fukuoka happened to be on the track next to the one Hitoyoshi was on, so I filmed as we pulled away from it and said goodbye to the choo-choo in my mind. ^o^

Well, to anyone who read this whole post without skipping around, お疲れさまでした!

Notice

As my time on JET has ended and I've said all I wanted to say about it, I will not be adding any new content to this blog. I leave it up for reference. However please keep in mind that the usefulness of this reference may drop as the years go by, because sometimes things change. Anyway, thanks for dropping by! ~September 2014

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