| Pages | ||
|
Iwate Day 1 The first day of the trip, we stopped by at Sendai, famous for Tanabata Festival which I had never seen. I thought a museum visit would make up for that. It was not what I expected, being a small private one owned by a kamaboko (fish cake) company, but got some idea of the scale of their decoratiions.
| |||
| Relaxing on Shinkansen | Tourist Brochure | Sendai Tanabata Museum | |
| Lunch at Kamaboko Factory | Genbikei Gorge | Onsen Jinja at Genbikei Gorge | |
| Dinner at ryokan near gorge | |||
| Iwate Day 1 - Sendai and Ichinoseki | |||
|
In Tohoku Shinkansen on our way to Sendai
| ||
|
_23apr09-bw_1059.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1100.jpg  |
|
|
This tourist brochure we picked up in Sendai coincides well with the scope of Noriko's plan. It extolls all the "must see" places and experiences. (We missed a few little attractions and nearly all the food.)
| ||
|
_iwateclassicroadp1.jpg  |
_iwateclassicroadp2.jpg  |
_iwateclassicroadp3.jpg  |
|
_iwateclassicroadp4.jpg  |
_iwateclassicroadp5.jpg  |
_iwateclassicroadp6.jpg  |
|
_iwateclassicroadp7.jpg  |
_iwateclassicroadp8.jpg  |
|
|
First stop Sendai. Having been there before, we skipped the tourist places we had been before and went to the Tanabata (star festival) Museum.
Also known as the Star Festival, the Tanibata Festival introduced to Japan by the Empress Koken in 755. It originated from "The Festival to Plead for Skills", (Kikkōden), an alternative name for Qixi, which is celebrated in China and also was adopted in the Kyoto Imperial Palace from the Heian period. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on 7 July of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August. | ||
|
_23apr09-bw_1229.jpg First, we thought we would go to the market near the Sendai station to have lunch, but being Sunday and after noon, all the stores were closing or closed except for this one where they served fresh roased bamboo shoots for free.  |
_23apr09-bw_1342.jpg Tanabata Musuem  |
_23apr09-bw_1344.jpg It is said that Lord Date Masamuen (1567-1636), the founder of the Sendai Domain, encouraged the Tanibata Festival so that women and children could improve their skills such as calligraphy and needlework. The picture shows a town view of Edo, where many bamboo trees are seen with decorations such as paper strips, long paper streamers, paper casting nets and so on. The Tanibata Festival was very popular and spread to the general public. In Sendai, seven different colored strings were also put on bamboo trees.  |
|
_23apr09-bw_1344a.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1345.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1346.jpg  |
|
_23apr09-bw_1346a.jpg In 1946 after the war, the Tanabata Festival returned with 52 decorated bamboo trees. The turnout to the Tanabata Festival increated year by year and the 1960 Tanabata Festival attracted (1.7 million people. Decorations became more beautiful and colorful, producing a very flamboyant festival.  |
_23apr09-bw_1347.jpg Today With spectacular and flamboyant bamboo tree decorations, Sendai's Tanabata Festival has the reputation as the most priminent in the nation. Some bamboo decorations are trendy and others use traditional haned-made ornaments such as the seven decoration (nanatsu kazari). The 400-year tradition of the Sendai Tanabat Festival as been handed down to the present.  |
_23apr09-bw_1347a.jpg  |
|
_23apr09-bw_1348.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1348a.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1349.jpg  |
|
_23apr09-bw_1351.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1352.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1354.jpg  |
|
_23apr08-nn_0959a.jpg  |
_23apr08-nn_1003.jpg  |
_23apr08-nn_1004.jpg  |
|
Having missed lunch at the market, we were starving. Luckily the kamaboko company had a cafe serving lunch. It seemed like a place where tourist buses stop so they can buy kamaboko for omiyage.
| ||
|
_23apr09-bw_1421.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1422.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1423.jpg  |
|
The gorge was much smaller in scale than imagined but still very scenic.
| ||
|
_23apr09-bw_1733c.jpg  |
_23apr08-nn_1348.jpg  |
_23apr08-nn_1350.jpg  |
|
_23apr09-bw_1733d.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1734.jpg  |
_23apr08-nn_1403.jpg  |
|
_23apr08-nn_1404.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1747.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1748.jpg  |
|
_23apr09-bw_1749a.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1749b.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1751.jpg  |
|
_23apr09-bw_1751b.jpg  |
_23apr08-nn_1407.jpg  |
_23apr10-bw_0918.jpg  |
|
_23apr10-bw_0919.jpg  |
_23apr10-bw_0920.jpg  |
_23apr10-bw_0922a.jpg An enterprising household on the far side of the gorge vends tea and breakfast to visitors in the morning via this cable and bucket.  |
|
_23apr10-bw_0921.jpg Counting the cash to send over in the bucket.  |
_23apr10-bw_0922.jpg  |
|
|
_23apr09-bw_1754.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_1755.jpg  |
_23apr08-nn_1409.jpg  |
|
The first day of the trip, we stayed at a ryokan in Ichinoseki near Genbikei Gorge. The view of sakura from our window was beautiful.
The washoku food at the ryokan was pretty good. For its sake we had to forego sampling the interesting cuisines extolled in the tourish brochure. This kind of huge old onsen ryokans are in decline. Young people vacation differently. | ||
|
_23apr10-bw_0608.jpg View from our room.  |
_23apr09-nn_0250.jpg  |
_23apr09-nn_0251.jpg  |
|
_23apr09-bw_2008.jpg  |
_23apr09-bw_2009a.jpg  |
|