(5) Kyushu Trip: 16-17 Dec 2016 - Kumamoto / Kagoshima / Satsuma

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16-December-2016

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We woke up early this morning and checked-out of the Airbnb apartment. We drove to Kumamoto Castle but it had been closed for major repairs due to being damaged by earthquake, too bad... we could only visit the shops outside the castle and see reconstruction scaffolding from outside the barricades. It would be out of bounds to the public for several years to come.

We could only see the undamaged portion of the castle from afar.

Kumamoto Castle update: Artisans are determined to complete “at any cost” the restoration of Kumamoto Castle, which has been heavily damaged by a series of powerful earthquakes in Kumamoto Prefecture. Work to repair collapsed stone walls, the tenshukaku (castle keep), and other damaged properties is expected to face difficulties over the initial decade or so of reconstruction. This is especially so because many of the properties are state-designated cultural assets. “It will take decades to restore Kumamoto Castle, given the number of damaged buildings. A long time will be needed just to decide on the restoration method,” said Masayuki Muto, a senior official at the Japanese Association for Conservation of Architectural Monuments.

We got to savor deep fried horse meat patties at a shop there.

Next, we proceeded to another attraction in Kumamoto.

Suizenji Garden (水前寺成趣園, Suizenji Jōjuen) is a spacious, Japanese style landscape garden in Kumamoto, best enjoyed by strolling along a circular path. It was built by the Hosokawa family in the 17th century. The garden reproduces the 53 post stations of the Tokaido, the important road, which connected Edo with Kyoto during the Edo Period, in miniature form, including a small Mt. Fuji.

Picturesque landscape garden.

It was cold and windy at this open space.

While strolling in the garden, we came upon the Izumi Shrine.

Izumi Shrine (出水神社) is located in Shimizu Jojuen garden, Kumamoto. It was established in 1878 and dedicated in recognition of the cultural, moral and intellectual leadership of the successive Hosokawa clan. Jojuen is the precinct of Izumi Shrine.

It was close to noontime and we were going to have a long drive down south towards Kagoshima. We had a stop at Izumi Crane Observation. We arrived in the early afternoon and it was not the best time to watch the cranes as most of them were out there in the wild. Best time to watch them would be either in the early morning or before sunset, where they would fly out to catch their meals and fly back to feed their young.

Izumi Crane Observation Centre: It is said that cranes started to arrive in this place in around 1700, a few decades after the reclamation project in Arasaki, the current Izumi City, by the Satsuma Domain and Shimazu Domain (domains were the administrative units in those days set by the Edo Shogunate). The area was registered as a natural monument and sanctuary as one of the Japan’s largest wintering places for cranes in 1921, and the Izumi crane migration grounds were designated as a special natural monument in 1952. The total area of the site is about 254 ha. You can enjoy a 360 panoramic view from the observation center, and the magnificent nature and the behavior of the cranes will take your breath away. The migration of cranes used to be seen in several places in Kyushu, but currently Izumi City is the only place where cranes come to spend the winter. It is such a major migration ground, with about 13,000 cranes here every year. The types of cranes also vary. You can observe hooded cranes, white-necked cranes, common cranes, and sometimes Sandhill cranes, Siberian cranes and Demoiselle cranes. Information on cranes is shown in panels and footage in the Observation Center building. Spend a few hours here and you may become a “crane master.”

We set off on another long drive to Kagoshima and we arrived in the late afternoon.

Before we enter Kagoshima city, we decided to visit Senganan Gardens before sundown.

Senganen Garden (仙巌園), also known as Isoteien (磯庭園), is a Japanese style landscape garden along the coast north of downtown Kagoshima. One of the garden's most striking features is its use of Sakurajima and Kagoshima Bay as borrowed scenery. The garden also includes small ponds, streams, shrines and a bamboo grove. Senganen was constructed in 1658 by the wealthy Shimazu Clan, one of the most powerful feudal clans during the Edo Period (1603-1867). The Shimazu ruled the Satsuma domain (present day Kagoshima) for almost 700 years until the end of the feudal age in 1868. They continued to be influential into the modern era as some of the earliest adopters of Western science and technology.

A landscape view of the Sakurajima from Senganan Garden.

We drove into Kagoshima City Centre and checked in to another Airbnb apartment just before dinner time. We walked to a nearby shopping street for dinner and spent the rest of the evening there.

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17-December-2016

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First thing in the early morning, we went to a nearby park not too far from our apartment, Shiroyama Park.

From there, you could have a landscape view of the Kagoshima City and Sakurajima. This place seemed to be popular among the locals, especially the elderly.

On this day, we focused our time to the Satsuma peninsula, one of the southernmost area of Kyushu mainland. We set off for an hour drive down south to Chiran. First stop was to visit the samurai houses, previously owned by samurai warriors who served their feudal lords.

Chiran (知覧) is a small town in the middle of the Satsuma Peninsula in Kagoshima Prefecture. Within the town there is a preserved samurai district with houses and gardens that date back about 250 years. Chiran's isolated location at the southern end of Kyushu has allowed the district to keep much of its historical character intact. The preserved samurai district consists of a 700 meter long street within downtown Chiran that runs parallel to the main thoroughfare. The street itself is very attractive, with the rock walls and hedges of residences and the forested hillsides in the distance. Unlike some other samurai districts, it is also free of telephone poles and parked cars that would detract from the historic atmosphere. Seven gardens attached to samurai residences are open to the public, while the buildings themselves cannot be entered. The gardens are relatively small and designed to be viewed from the residences. Five out of the seven gardens are of the Karesansui Dry Garden variety. Of the other two, one includes a pond and the other is composed of trimmed shrubs.

We had lunch nearby. After that, it was a short walk over to the Chiran Peace Museum, where you get to see all memorial exhibits on Kamikazi pilots and the aircraft remnants. This location used to be an airbase where they launched the Kamikazi planes towards the US ships during the end of WW2.

The Chiran Peace Museum For Kamikaze Pilots in Chiran, Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Kyushu is a thought-provoking, and to many, a controversial museum dedicated to the lives and deaths of 1,036 suicide pilots or kamikaze (more commonly known as tokkoh-tai-in 特攻隊員 in Japanese), who sacrificed themselves in the name of the Japanese emperor in the latter stages of World War II. A flight training school for young air cadets was established in Chiran as early as 1941 and by 1945 when Japan was clearly losing the war in the Pacific, the two runways at the base where used to launch suicide missions on the US fleet engaged in the battle for Okinawa. There were also other kamikaze bases in Taiwan, Kengun in Kumamoto, Bansei in Kagoshima and Miyakonojo in Miyazaki Prefecture. A statue of Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy was erected at the Chiran site in 1955 and a temple here was built in 1974 with donations from around Japan. The bronze statue of a kamikaze pilot dates from this time, along with the original museum. As interest and visitor numbers increased, the larger, present museum was opened in 1987.

The mural below showed the angels pulling the soul from a downed Kamikazi pilot. This mural could be seen inside the main exhibition hall in the museum, and it left a me a deep impression.

We proceeded driving to one of the southernmost points of the Satsuma Peninsula; Cape Nagasakibana.

We visited the Nagasakibana Parking Garden. It was more of a mini zoo that displayed a variety of tropical plants and animals, such as lemurs, flamingos, squirrels, monkeys, hibiscuses, cacti and mango trees.

From here, it was walking distance to the Cape Nagasakibana.

Cape Nagasakibana (長崎鼻岬, Nagasakibana Misaki) is the southernmost point of the Satsuma Peninsula. However, it is not quite the southernmost point of Kyushu, as the Osumi Peninsula on the other side of Kagoshima Bay extends a further 20 kilometers south. A walking path leads from a small cluster of souvenir shops to the tip of the cape where there stands a white lighthouse. A highlight of a visit to the cape are the views of nearby Mount Kaimondake, which stands 924 meters above sea level. Because of its conical shape, it bears a striking resemblance to Mount Fuji and is often referred to as "Satsuma Fuji". It is possible to hike up the mountain, whose trail winds around the mountainside and gives plenty of breathtaking views of the surrounding area.