Diary: Tohoku Sandai Matsuri – Akita | 05.08.2019

I arrived at Tazawako station at 07:30 am and can feel that I am in the countryside already. There is nothing going on here besides the every now and then sound of a broom brushing at the streets.

08:05: Taking a bus to Tamagawa Onsen and will stop at Tazawakahon

08:30: There is a one-way boat tour to the Tatsuko statue at 9 available. It costs 750, round-trip would be 1200. The alternative would be the next bus which comes at 10:57 so i decided for the one way boat since i wanted to walk to the next Yatsu station on the west end anyway.

The boat tour does not directly connect to the statue but instead makes a detour to the northern end of the lake where the Gozanoshi Shrine is located. The detour is meant to give the opportunity to take a good look before heading to the port where the Tatsuko statue is located. Hands down it is a beautiful lake with unbelievable clear deep blue water and surrounded by green healthy mountains – just wonderful.
Fun Fact: The lake Tazawa is actually the deepest lake in Japan (wiki, 21.10.219)

09:50 There is a small restaurant at the statue side and i could get my first meal this day. The Tatsuko statue is a golden statue of a woman and of course does has a legendary backgroundstory. The summarized version goes like this:
There was once a beautiful woman, but because she knew her beauty doesn’t last forever she prayed to the Buddhist goddess Kanon day and night to preserve her beauty eternally. After the 100th night she received a message to find a sacred spring and take a sip from it. She travelled mountain after mountain and eventually found the spring and did as the goddess told her. However she felt an immense thirst and kept drinking until she realized she transformed into a large dragon. The mountain around here collapsed  and a deep lake was formed – which is today’s Lake Tazawa. (trip101.com, authentic-visit.jp, Accessed: 21.10.2019)

 

10:40 As magnificient the lake appears as remote it is located. It is a great trip if you go by car but i did not so it was already time for me to walk to my next station – The Yatsu station. This trip would have taken me 2 hours of footwalk which i wouldn’t mind, however only now did i realize, that it is asphalt street through and through. Admittingly my feet did hurt and there was no soft ground to mitigate my blisters. In despair i tried to hitchike and indeed luckily two sweet ladies gave me a ride all up to Kakunodate!

11:50 Kakunodate is famous for being a Samurai town since it still has originally preserved houses which were lucky enough to be not destroyed through natural catastrophies or the World War II. Today there is actually only one long main street with Samurai houses. You can only enter some of the Samurai houses and only with a small fee of around 500 Yen. The houses do look like in the movies and I learned a lot such as there are 2 different entrances in a house and the waiting room’s Tatami mats are all lined up so the border of the mats to form parallel lines everything with the goal of signifying hierarchal structure for the guests.

15:00 I am tired my feet hurt I want to sleep 10h straight. I Took the bus from Kakunodate which comes about every hour to omagari and from here getting on a train to Akita to get the lowest fare price possible

17:30 Arrived in Akita and there is still 2 h left until the festival starts. So I decided to go to the nearest park and accidentally discovered the Kubota castle which offers a museum including an observation deck for 100 yen. You can get a good overview here and the wind blows calmly through the deck.

21:00:   That Kanto festival was the most amazing festival so far in my whole Japan experience. People balance huge poles up to 12 meters weighting 50 kg on their forehead or hips. Its so cool to see the kids participate in balancing the lanterns or just drumming away as well. The latter get too less recognition though. The festival was so huge i couldn’t even reach to the end of the street.  As for every festival there is a meaning behind this one as well. This one is held to pray for a good harvest and by lifting up the heavy poles it is said to drive evil spirits away (japan.travel, Accessed: 22.10.219).

23:30 Took the last train from Akita to Noshiro and arrived at my hotel

My feet are killing me and I have no clue how to walk anymore, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day regarding my feet. Still the first of the big three festivals of the Tohoku region was a sight i did not want to miss.

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