#hitoyoshi

[yoooko-o]

20/04/2023 part1

[marauderfan]

Kumamoto, on Kyushu, was a great experience. The bearlike Kumamon was welcoming us at the hotel :-). Then we took the Kawasemi train to Hitoyoshi, from where we steamed back with the SL Hitoyoshi steam train. The reception at Hitoyoshi wore the best tie. Even sewer grates were decorative. In front of the most famous temple of Hitoyoshi, there was a beautiful pond.

[syncopatedid]

Natsume Yuujinchou, Hitoyoshi, 2008~?; Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto prefecture, 2017

Hitoyoshi City (人吉市) was one of those areas in Kumamoto I’ve wanted to do for an unbelievably long while now because of my unabashed love for Natsume Yuujinchou, and finally the time has come! But it was also one of those trips where small oversights meant huge misadventures along the way. I actually passed by a few locations without knowing they were scenes from the anime till later, though they mostly came from areas out of Hitoyoshi (like Kumamoto and Yatsushiro station). ”You should have done your homework properly”, I remind my inner child. But ah, such is life.

The places featured are: 1~3:Tengu Bridge (天狗橋) 4~5: Hitoyoshi Station (人吉駅), 6~7: Tamachi Sugawara Tenmangu Shrine(田町菅原天満宮) 8: Kuma-gawa/Kuma River (球磨川) 9~10:Hitoyoshi Castle ruins park (人吉城跡). Not a bad roundup, all things considered.

My favourite finds were the last two spots at Hitoyoshi Castle Park, as they were spots that didn’t ping on my radar while I was researching for Natsume. I was wandering around Kuma-gawa and saw the long white wall, and it struck me as looking rather familiar. So I went digging through my image archives and  managed to uncover one screen shot that matched that particular wall (the one with Shibata and Natsume). Finding the exact spot where the reference shot was taken for the anime took a bit longer - if I recall, it required some extra leg work to scale up a high stone wall that was overlooking those white walls.  It’s not a spot where I would have explored nor have found had I not been looking for it, but it’s got a pretty nice view! Wasn’t able to find the screen shot for the last photo while I was there, but I just had this feeling it might be relevant so I took a picture of it anyway (and my hunch was right)!

Story time! I thought that Tengu Bridge would be close enough to Hitoyoshi City that I could clear with the other locations I was planning to hit within the day, but it turned out to be a whole other station away, accessible by a local train that only ran every other hour. Another miss was underestimating the distance between each location hunt, so there was no time to budget a trip to the bridge and back before evening. I was due to leave on a 9:30am train so there wasn’t much time to attempt a next day quest either. It did seem silly to be so hung up on one location when I’ve already got most of the ones on my checklist, so I decided to sleep on it, hoping that I’d get over Tengu Bridge by morning.

Spoiler alert: I did not get over it. 

Full luggage in tow at 7:50am, I got into a taxi to take me to Tengu Bridge. Now the thing about me and Japanese taxis is - 1) I still don’t know how to call for one on my own and pretty much relied on hotel/ryokan staff to do that for me; and 2) Tengu Bridge was located pretty far away from…. everything? But I hadn’t really thought that far ahead yet, and when we got to the bridge I explained my predicament to the driver. The plan was to negotiate for her to wait for me for five minutes while I sprinted off across the bridge for a picture and back. And part of the reason why I’m sharing this story is so I could give a shout out to this lovely lady driver in her shiny pink taxi who did me a real solid, and granted me ten minutes to enjoy Tengu Bridge while she waited for me with the fare meter paused, which meant she didn’t charge me for the waiting time at all. 本当に ありがとうございました～！Also, she knew about my 9:30am ride and was mindful of the time for me, so I even made it back to the station and was able to board that train after all. All in all, a last-spurt side adventure that thankfully turned out well. To think I was almost prepared to give it up! (p.s: you can actually spot the pink taxi waiting in the third photo at the far end of the bridge).

I keep procrastinating this post but to be honest there’s quite a bit to unpack for this trip. Tl;dr, other dramatic misadventures happened on that faithful 9:30am train I was on, and it seemed that my travel plan was destined to be delayed no matter what I ended up doing that day anyway, ahaha…

And そ, I continue to ponder about questions that I do not have the answers for. But ah, such is life too.

Other fandom travel musings:

[Bungo Stray Dogs] Yokohama [Digimon Tri] Odaiba [Durarara!!] Ikebukuro [Durarara!! X2] Ikebukuro I &II &3 [Free!] Iwami, Tottori |Sydney I&II [Haikyuu!!] Sendai City Gym, Miyagi [Hotarubi no Mori e] Kamishikimi [Hyouka] Hida Takayama [Kyoukai no Kanata] Nara [Natsume Yuujinchou] Hitoyoshi [Tsuritama!] Enoshima Island I & II [TWEWY] Shibuya [Yuri On Ice] Karatsu, Saga & Fukuoka

[fuckyeahjapanandkorea]

熊本。人吉 by ViktorLeung

[yoooko-o]

30/03/2023 part1

[yoooko-o]

30/03/2023 part2

[marauderfan]

Hitoyoshi temple has a roof like the gassho in Shiwakawago. It looks old and venerable.

[evasionsrebelles]

Hitoyoshi

Hitoyoshi dans la préfecture de Kumamoto est célèbre pour les excursions en bateau sur la rivière, les sources chaudes et le sanctuaire Aoi Aso #japon #voyage #tourisme #culture #evasion #hitoyoshi #kyushu

Hitoyoshi dans la préfecture de Kumamoto est célèbre pour les excursions en bateau sur la rivière, les sources chaudes et le sanctuaire Aoi Aso, l'un des trésors nationaux du Japon. Hitoyoshi est connu comme le "Petit Kyoto" de Kyushu grâce à son atmosphère paisible et rétro. Ruines du château La dynastie Sagara a régné sur Hitoyoshi pendant 700 ans. Le château a été construit selon les…

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