━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
  Multi Lingual Internet Mail Magazine

  jp-Swiss-journal  ━ Vol. 121 – October 16, 2010 (Swiss Time)

   http://www.swissjapanwatcher.ch/
■━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━■

 

 

目次 / INDEX / INHALTSVERZEICHNIS

 

 J

2010年日本旅行 「山陰編」

明子 ヒューリマン

 

 

 

E

Japan travel "Sanin" 2010

Akiko Hürlimann

 

 

□━━━━━━━━━━━━━【 日本語 】━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

 

 

2010年日本旅行 「山陰編」

 

     明子 ヒューリマン

 

 

旅は羽田から山口宇部空港 *1) に飛んで始まった。瀬戸内海に面した本州西端の空の玄関口だ。厳密に言うと周防灘に面していて、真向かいは九州の福岡県。今回の滞在先は山口県の萩 *2) と 島根県の松江なのだが、羽田から午前中に到着する便があるのは宇部空港だったので、ここへ飛んだ。今回も結局道中はレンタカーで移動する事にした。時差ボ ケ状態で土地勘の無い所でレンタカーを借りる場合は、空港で車を借りるのが安全。街中の隘路での運転は避けるに越したことは無い。宇部空港は周辺に高い建 物も無く、広々とした平原に在った。都会の喧騒とは無縁の棕櫚の街路樹が立ち並ぶゆったりとした空港だ。

 

萩は萩焼 *3) で 名高い土地だが、市内は正に焼物の町そのもの。窯元やギャラリーが至る所で見られる。滞在先の旅館や街中でスイス人をはじめ外国人がよく訪れるという話を 聞いた。人口5万人強と日本では小じんまりとした町だが、かつては港で栄えた浜崎伝統的建造物群保存地区や萩城跡を囲む武家屋敷、町人屋敷町が保存されて いて風格のある街並みを維持している。弓なりの美しい「菊が浜」 *4) があり、整備された萩港はのどかな風情だが、「密入国を監視しよう」という看板を見た時には現実を思い起こさせられた。明治維新前後に活躍した人物を多く輩出した歴史ある町は、町全体を博物館と捉えた町づくりを進めている。萩博物館 *5) は武家屋敷の造りになっている反面、モダンな建物の山口県立萩美術館 *6) に は浮世絵の収蔵品が数多く展示されていた。萩八景遊覧船の船頭さんに聞いた話だが、景観維持の為高い建物の建築は制限されていて、塀も白壁以外には許可さ れないそうだ。そうした地元の意思と土地の人々の丹精の甲斐あって、町中の植栽も実に見事で、町の佇まいに落ち着きを添えている。宿の石庭も又見事で見飽 きる事が無かった。

 

萩から日帰りで行ける笠山自然研究路に行ってみた。名高い笠山椿群生林を目指した。毛利藩が萩城の鬼門(北東)の方角にあたる為に立ち入り禁止にして以来、数百年間自然林になっていたものが、明治になってから禁が解かれたそうだ。虎ガ崎の10ヘクタールの山林に、数十種類のヤブツバキ25,000本 が自生している。実に不思議な空間を形成していた。花の時期ではなかったが、ゆったりと散策するには十分楽しめる異空間だった。長門峡へも1日ハイキング に出掛けたが、阿武川上流域の見事な渓谷をたっぷりと散策出来た。旅行中、町の中ばかり歩いていると酸欠のような気分になるので、合間に自然の緑陰を求め る散策は欠かせない。

 

5日間滞在した萩を後に松江へ向かう為、カーナビを設定すると所要時間が7時間半と出て仰天した。立ち寄る予定だった松陰神社には寄らず、ひたすら松江を目指した。ところが走るにつれて所要時間がどんどん減って行き最終的には4時間半程で宿に着いた!GPSのこの誤差は以後肝に銘じることにする。日本海側の都市では道路の渋滞等まず起こらないという事情からなのか?自動車道はよく整備されていて、実に快適なドライブだった。社会実験実施中のお陰で、高速料金は殆ど無料だった。

 

山口県から島根県の西部では赤い石州瓦 *7) の屋根瓦が美しい。東へ移動するにつれて次第に黒い瓦屋根に変化して行ったが、銀灰色や黒の瓦も見事だ。以前砺波平野でも見かけた立派な屋敷林「垣入(かいにょ)」は今回出雲地方でも随所で見かけたが、この地方では「築地松(ついじまつ)」*8) と呼ばれている。因みに仙台平野では「居久根(いぐね)」と言うそうだ。田園の中のに松の防風林で囲まれた農家は、棚田と共に日本の豊かな農村の象徴のように思える。高さ10メートル以上にもなる松塀の手入れをする作業は慣れた人にしか出来ない危険な作業だと思うだけに、維持されている景観には自ずと敬意を表したくなる。猛暑の影響で稲の収穫が例年より少し遅れていると聞いたが、その証拠に田んぼは未だ半分位は黄金色だった。

 

松江 *9) の玄関口は宍道湖夕日スポット *10)7日 間滞在する予定で天気予報も晴れマークばかりだったが、それでも今回は湖面を真っ赤に染める夕日を拝む事は遂に出来なかった。再訪を期すしかない。日本に 三つある国際観光都市の一つだとタクシーの運転手に聞いたが、日本人でこの事を知らない人は多そうだ。因みに他の二つは京都と奈良だ。賑わい方からこの二 都市の後塵を拝する感のある松江だが、観光名所は市の中心部に集中しており、歩いて散策するには程良い規模だ。長逗留しても飽きない風情と見どころがあっ て、萩と共に住んでみたいと思う町の一つになった。松江城は周辺の公園部分と共に広大な地域で緑陰の散策が楽しめる。「松江城を国宝にしよう」運動を展開 していた。国宝の松本城と比べて格段に大きい規模と風格を有するこの城が未だ国宝ではない事に、この土地の人々の大らかさが感じられる。日本の風景美の象 徴である「白砂青松」 *11) は今回至る所で堪能出来た。出雲地方は又「日本神話」 *12) のふるさとであった事も「古事記」*13) ゆかりの地名等から思いだす事が出来た。昔話を思い出したせいか、何となく懐かしい思いに浸れる旅だった。

 

 

【 参照 】

 

*1) 山口宇部空港: http://www.yamaguchiube-airport.jp/ (J)

*2) 萩: http://hagishi.com/index.html (J)

*3) 萩焼: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%90%A9%E7%84%BC (J)

*4) 菊が浜:

http://www.city.hagi.lg.jp/portal/bunrui/detail.html?lif_id=10004 (J)

*5) 萩博物館: http://www.city.hagi.lg.jp/hagihaku/index.htm (J)

*6) 萩美術館・浦上記念館: http://www.hum.pref.yamaguchi.lg.jp/ (J)

*7) 石州瓦: http://www.sekisyu-kawara.jp/ (J)

*8) 築地松: http://www.tsuijimatsu.com/166.html (J)

*9) 松江: http://www.kankou-matsue.jp/ (J)

*10) 宍道湖夕日スポット:

 http://www.kankou-matsue.jp/shinjiko_yuuhi/ (J)

*11) 白砂青松:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E7%A0%82%E9%9D%92%E6%9D%BE (J)

*12) 日本神話:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E7%A5%9E%E8%A9%B1 (J)

*13) 古事記:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%A4%E4%BA%8B%E8%A8%98 (J)

 

 

【 編集後記 】

 

旅は出掛けてみなければ分からない事があるのを今回も実感した。個人的な印象としては、本州に関してはやはり日本海側地方の落ち着きと文化的な蓄積が好ましく思える。混雑も無く、物価も比較的安くて、人々は穏や

かだ。

 

 

□━━━━━━━━━━━━━【 English 】━━━━━━━━━━━━━□

 

 

     Japan travel "Sanin" 2010

 

     Akiko Huerlimann

 

 

Our travel has started from Yamaguchi Ube Airport *1) by flying from Tokyo-Haneda. The place is facing Seto Inland Sea and is an air gateway of the west end of Honshu Island. Technically speaking, the airport is faced to Suo-nada, and the opposite side is Fukuoka in Kyushu. We stayed in "Hagi" *2) in Yamaguchi prefecture and Matsue in Shimane prefecture this time. From Tokyo-Haneda airport, only Ube airport offers a flight arriving in the morning. We decided to travel by renting a car again this time. Renting a car during a jet-lag condition and in an unknown area, to rent a car at an airport is the safest and easiest. It's better to avoid driving in narrow streets in a city. Around Ube airport, there are no high buildings and it is located in an open plain. The airport is nothing like hustle and bustle of a big city, but is surrounded relaxingly by palm trees standing on the boulevard.

 

The city of Hagi is a famous place with "Hagi ware" *3), and inside of the city, it is just like a town of pottery. We can see potteries and galleries everywhere in the town. The number of inhabitants of the town is nearly 50,000 people and that is rather a small number in Japan. However, Hagi preserves the Hamazaki-district which prospered by a port in the past, old samurai residences around Hagi castle ruins, and merchant residences those maintain a stately view. There is also a beautiful arched sandy shore called "Yumigahama Beach" *4), and the well maintained Hagi-port was idyllic, but a sign written "watch illegal immigrants" reminded me the reality. This historical town produced many personalities around the restoration of Meiji and now is developing into a museum town. The Hagi museum *5) is built like a samurai residence, but on the other hand the modern Prefectural Hagi Museum *6) exhibits a great number of Ukiyoe collection. I learned from a boatman of Hagi-Hakkei sightseeing boat, that tall building are restricted due to landscape preservation, and fences around a house are allowed with white wall only. The intention of the town and the lovingly care of local people for the plants provided a calm atmosphere. The stone garden of our lodging was also wonderful and we never got tired of looking at.

 

We made a one day excursion to Kasayama natural research trail. Our goal was the famous Kasayama Camellia forest. <Mohri domain> prohibited to enter the area because the direction was towards the demon's gate (northeast) of Hagi castle. Since then, the area was a wild forest for several hundred years, but the ban was lifted in Meiji era. 25,000 pieces of Camellia of several ten kinds grows naturally in 10 hectares forest at Toragasaki (cape). The space was really fantastic. That time of the year was not bloom; nevertheless there was a special space for enjoying slow walking. We also visited <Chomon> gorge one day, and we could enjoy walking enough along the wonderful upstream of Abu River. During the journey, if we walk only in town, we feel like oxygen less, that’s why walking in leafy shade in nature for us is indispensable from time to time.

 

After a 5 days stay in Hagi, I set the car navigation for Matsue. Then I was shocked that the required time was indicated by seven and a half hours. We planned to stop at Shoin-Jinjya (shrine) but we gave it up and drove straight away for Matsue. However, as the driving proceeded, the required time shrank all the time, and finally we arrived at our accommodation in Matsue in about four and a half hours! I'd remember the error of GPS. I wonder of the reason why that error could have occurred; is it, that the software regarding to cities along the Japan Sea side would almost never happen to have a back up? The motorway was very well maintained and we could enjoy comfortable driving indeed. Because of the pilot program, almost everywhere the expressway was free of toll.

 

>From Yamaguchi prefecture till the western part of Shimane prefecture, a row of houses roofed with red tiles was beautiful. As we moved east, roof tiles gradually changed to black, however, silver gray or black tiles are also wonderful. I saw admirable "Yashikirin" called "Kainyo" in Tonami plain in the past, and this time I also saw Yashikirin many places in Izumo region. In Izumo it's called "Tsuiji-matsu" *7). By the way, Sendai plain called it as "Igune". Farmers' houses surrounded with piney windbreak forest in the pastoral is the symbol of a prosperous Japanese farming village same as "Tanada (= terraced rice fields)", I think. Keeping up the piney wall with up to 10 meters high must be a dangerous work and that allows only well trained person; I cannot stop admire the well-kept view. I heard that due to the heat wave, harvesting rice was delayed compared to past years. As it was proved, about a half of the rice fields were still in golden colors.

 

At the Entrance of Matsue *8) was the Sunset spot of Lake Shinji. Our plan was to stay for 7 days and the weather forecast for the coming week showed all sunshine, however, we missed to see a sunset with a red coloured lake this time. We have to visit there again. A taxi driver told us that Matsue is one of the three international tourist cities in Japan. I guess many Japanese do not know this. By the way, the other two cities are Kyoto and Nara. As Matsue is placed behind the two cities, however, the sightseeing spots are concentrated in the city center, and the size of the city is just right for walking around. Even for long staying, the city has attractiveness and many places to visit; the same as Hagi, Matsue has become one of my favorite cities where I even would like to live. Matsue castle together with the surrounded park was a huge area, and everybody can enjoy walking around. A campaign "Let's make Matsue-castle as a national treasure" was just going on. Compare to Matsumoto castle (national treasure), the size of the Matsue castle is much bigger and stately, but Matsue castle is not yet a national treasure that implies the magnanimous character of people there. The beautiful symbol of Japanese landscape "Hakusaseisho" *10), we could enjoy to see here and there this time. I also remember that Izumo region is the home ground of Japanese Mythology through names of places that are related with "Kojiki" *12). Somehow the travel made me feel nostalgic that might be because of those folk story.

 

 

Reference

 

*1) Yamaguchi Ube Airport:

http://www.yamaguchiube-airport.jp/ (J)

*2) Hagi:

http://www.hagishi.com/data/hagi_sightseeing_guide_and_map.pdf

(E)

*3) Hagi ware: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagi_ware (E)

*4) Kikugahama Beach:

http://www.globeholidays.net/Asia/Japan/Chugoku/Kikugahama_Beach/

Maps1.htm (E)

*5) The Hagi Museum:

http://www.city.hagi.lg.jp/hagihaku/index_eng.htm (E)

*6) Hagi Uragami Museum:

http://www.hum.pref.yamaguchi.lg.jp/ (J/E)

*7) Sekishu-gawara: http://www.sekisyu-kawara.jp/ (J)

*8) Tsuijimatsu: http://www.tsuijimatsu.com/166.html (J)

*9) Matsue:

http://www.city.matsue.shimane.jp/kankou/en/index.htm (E)

*10) The Lake Shinji Sunset spot:

http://www.kankou-matsue.jp/shinjiko_yuuhi/ (E)

11) Hakusha seisho (= Hakusa seisho)

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/

%E7%99%BD%E7%A0%82%E9%9D%92%E6%9D%BE (J)

cf. http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/kyoto/

amanohashidate.html (E)

*12) Japanese Mythology:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_mythology (E)

*13) Kojiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kojiki (E)

 

 

Editor's comment

 

I recognized again that the place I have to visit and see with my own eyes, otherwise, I cannot really judge. Personally I got an impression as for Honshu Island that Japan Sea side regions are favourable because of their calmness, and rich and varied cultural heritage. There is no congestion, prices are relatively lower, and people are gentle.

 

 

□━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━□

We are intending to offer you current topics, based on Switzerland and Japan with global view as a multi lingual magazine. Irregular release: Weekly Swiss News Headlines will inform Issuing schedule. Please subscribe both mail magazines. Some amendment can be made later.

 

スイスと日本を基点にグローバルな視点で、ニュース性に重点を置きなが

ら、適宜日英独仏語の多言語でお届けします。不定期発行: 発行案内は

Weekly Swiss News Headlines からも随時お知らせしますので、両誌共に

ご愛読お願い致します。 後日修正が加えられる場合があります。

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓

jp-Swiss-journal   Number of readers: 609

Melma:         http://www.melma.com/backnumber_41022/

Melonpan:

http://www.melonpan.net/melonpa/mag-detail.php?mag_id=002537

Mag2:          http://www.mag2.com/m/0000044048.htm etc.

E-Magazine:    http://www.emaga.com/info/jpchjrnl.html & etc.

┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

If you wish to refer our text, please send your mail to the

 issuer for permission.

 

無断転載・転送は固くご遠慮下さい。掲載のお問い合わせは発行元まで

メールでお願いします。 jp-swiss-journal@bluewin.ch

 

Issuer / 発行元: the editors' Group of jp-Swiss-journal

Editor & web-master: Akiko Huerlimann

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓

Sister Mail Magazine:

Weekly Swiss News Headlines Number of readers: 2,121

Subscribe & Unsubscribe / 登録・解除・アドレス変更

Melma:      http://www.melma.com/backnumber_40438/ (J)

Melonpan:

http://www.melonpan.net/melonpa/mag-detail.php?mag_id=002526 (J)

Mag2:       http://w.mag2.com/m/0000025024.htm (J)

E-Magazine: http://www.emaga.com/info/chnews.html & etc,

┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

to Back number