Day Trip to Iya Valley and Zentsu-ji Temple

Today's day trip was with a good friend and co-worker of mine and her husband, another co-worker and her friend, and moi. Usual partner in crime from TX was off on another trip with one of our friends, so we each got different experiences up in the mountains of Shikoku. Because it was a day trip, I'll start with the usual map then go by a timeline...

8 am
(A)Saijo City--->(B)Iya Valley
Headin off in the car, the mountains looked particularly forbidding today, wrapped in mist and the like. Started off heading east, then started to move south, through tunnels that separated different sections of mountain ranges and really amazing valleys, with views through over winding rivers from the towns on the cliffs hugging the riverbanks. I was really amazed with the scenery. I have to say with the clear water running through the boulders in the riverbed and the rolling mountains covered in the changing leaves of fall surrounding us, it really was a magical morning. At one point we got out to walk over a small bridge and cross the river about 300 feet below. These are some pictures from that first view, over the river (Yoshino river) and across to some of the great views of the fall leaves on the mountains. (The only place that can compare to me in the US is the area around Pittsburgh, and I have to admit I was struck by the same atmosphere in these mountains..something about really old, rolling mountains. they have a good atmosphere about 'em!) Then, it was deeper into the heart of Shikoku to Iya Valley...
...for an island that's the most remote of the 4 main islands of Japan, Iya Valley is the most remote location. That puts it as a forerunner for most remote valley in All of Japan. Back when the battle was raging between the Genji and Heike clans for rule over Japan (immortalized in Quentin Tarintino's atemporal juxtaposition of Western and Japanese history in Sukiyaki Western Django) and the Heike clans realized they were losing, they retreated to the only location where they knew they were likely to never be found by those fighting for the Genji (winning) side... that's right, Iya Valley. I was pretty stoked to be going somewhere so isolated....luckily, we were going there behind the Kazurabashi taxi buses, so we couldn't lose our way. And we got to park on the second deck of a bi-level parking area underneath a tourist mall. So...back to the most remote location in Japan! =)
We got to the area where there's a bridge famous for being the largest (=longest) vine bridge left in Japan, and paid the obligatory 500 yen (about $5.50) to cross the bridge. So I get on thinking, sure, vine bridge, slats between the wooden beams supporting us, big freakin deal...until I stand about a 1/3 of a way across the bridge readying my camera for a picture and suddenly the guy behind me's leg falls between two of the slats and his leg plummets down--completely beneath the bridge at this point--and by this time he's grabbed my ankle for support. I immediately grabbed the side of the bridge --jammin my fone between me and the vines so that i don't lose it--and go into damage assesment mode. I pick him up by the ankle while his wife's screaming at him, grabbing his other arm and telling him to be more careful while taking pictures. Noticing thats what he was in fact doing, I grab his 800 dollar Nikon and hand it back to him. From that point on I made it a point to never underestimate things with holes in them, including vine bridges! Well, eventually made it across after all these photos, and then it was off to see a waterfall and grab some grub!
So, we walk downhill a ways to this waterfall--let me just say that in advance my host, the gracious Japanese co-worker of mine--had asked if I was willing to try the regional specialty, and of course I said yeah, who wouldn't be? Luckily for me, the regional specialty was: a piece of potato, a piece of tofu, and a piece of a rubbery substance (called konnyaku) fried and all slathered in a sweet soy sauce. Hm. Well, the potato was good, and the tofu was edible. And we got to eat it all under the sheltered cove of a wispy, 50 m tall waterfall, again some of the clearest water I'd seen in my life. There's definitely something to be said for mountain water.
And--as if the three-texture variety of sauced up carbs wasn't enough, we went in for the kill--we each got a whole small-uber-salted salmon on a stick! Yum! Actually, no sarcasm there, it was so delicious I even caught myself eating some of the skin. Tasty.

12 pm
(A)Iya Valley--->(B)Zentsu-ji
Well, then it was time to hit the road again, after doing just a little shopping for my teachers (here it's customary to bring back food as souvenirs for your co-workers wherever you visit.) We twisted back through the winding roads out of the valleys and got back on the expressway for Takamatsu. All 4 prefectures having been driven through and 70 minutes of mixed English and Japanese conversations later, we arrived on the outskirts of the town housing the famous 'Zentsu-ji' temple, one of the bigger temples on the 88 temple pilgrimage I plan on doing and the temple famous as being the birthplace of the head honcho himself, Kobo Daishi (Kukai, monk who founded the 88 temple tour and is a widely renowned historical figure both as a scholar and a religious figure in Japan.) We get there, and it's not so busy! Awesome! We even got to peek into the inside stairway leading up to a 125 year old house. Boy, were those ceilings low for the entryway! We walked up to the gate, with the usual Nio figures, and after walking through paused to soak in the 5 story tall pagoda. Last, but not last, after viewing a lovely 1700 year old tree, we posed as henros (pilgrims) at these lovely wooden figures set up near the entrance. Lovely! I can definitely get some fashion sense from these guys! =)
Then, it was up the steps to the first temple building, and viewing a wooden statue of the medicine Buddha by Uncho, famous Japanese sculpture. There were several small about waist-high stone statues of religious figures with strange, funny, and sometimes grotesque expressions on their faces and body contortions. What they were all about I don't know, but I noticed people rubbing their heads. I decided to rub the ones head that looked like he was having the most fun. Should've gotten a picture of him, it looked like he had had a Lot of head rubs! Then, it was through a long outdoor hallway to another of the main temple buildings, with an incense burner and another boddhisattva image, then it was another 500 yen for a walk through a darkened underground tunnel (they love these here at temples! you can't see anything and have to guide yourself by running your hand along the well...) Then, to a museum of national relics, where I impressed my hosts with my knowledge of the Vajra symbol from Tibetan Buddhism (the sect of this particular form of Buddhism is derived from Tibetan Buddhism.) Thanks Buddhist Art class for that one! Then it was back to begin the drive home...but not before we stopped off on the side of the road at what looked like an abandoned shed for someone's farm equipment.
Nope.
Turns out it was a restaurant, hidden away by its hideous decor from wanna-be tourists, and instead serving the best Sanuki (meaning the Kagawa region that we were in) udon (noodles) I've ever had. They were clearly homemade noodles, even the scallions were hand cut and fresh from the backyard. It was sooo delicious... the cats that lived out back, all 100 of them, had to have been lured there by the tantalizing smell of noodles cooking and fish being fried. Yum! And...to top it all off.. only the equivalent of 4 bucks. How's them apples?

4 pm
(A)Zentsu-ji---->(B)Saijo City
Well, that was my day trip to Iya Valley in Tokushima prefecture and to the Zentsu-ji temple in Kagawa prefecture.