Iya Interlude

Between our two meals, we rested, caught up on blog writing and went for a walk. In one direction is the Hi-no-yi, a dramatic bend in the Iya river, and in the other a statue known as the Peeing Boy. A typical Japanese knock off of something foreign (in this case Belgian), the statue was placed "honour' centuries of boys who dared each other to stand on this danger ledge and relieve themselves into the valley gorge, and especially in memory of one boy who died doing it in 1968. A drone was filming the site while we were there - to the joy of every man in the vicinity, which was my husband and 6 Japanese men. 

The night before, the onsen had taken us and other guests to see the local vine bridge, which is otherworldly by night, but more prosaic by day. We also saw a lovely waterfall and then taken to a dark patch of the road to star gaze. Most of the world sees the brightness of stars making the land a black silhouette, while we city dwellers are blinded by our own ambient light. 

In the afternoon we booked the open air onsen, the small private one, so that we could commune together and take photos (not allowed in the gender segregated ones for obvious reasons. It was wonderful sitting in water just a little warmer than our own bodies, but smelling vaguely of sulphur and feeling slippery silky. We had forgotten to take off our silver jewellery before hand and they tarnished instantly. First world problem.

Martin "driving" the funicular

it travels 250 metres, and drops 170 metres
so that tells you how steep it is

private onsen

view form our onsen

the original stairs - glad we don't have to go or down those!

We had the sound of the icy, clear river, and the birds to ourselves for an hour, and watched the trees grow before heading back to our pre-dinner preparations.