Page 270 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Japan

EXPERIENCE MORE

3 4 5
Usa Kokura Yufuin
宇佐 小倉 湯布院
EXPERIENCE Kyushu recommended gururich-kitaq.com/en/ Known for picturesque wisps
! B5 ⌂ Fukuoka Prefecture
! B6 ⌂ Oita Prefecture
! B6 ⌂ Oita Prefecture £
£ @ Sightseeing bus tour
£ n At JR Stn; www.
n At JR Stn; (0977) 84-2446
The gateway to northern
The center of Tendai-sect
of morning mist rising from its
thermally warm lake, Yufuin
sanctuaries and shrines dedi-
Kyushu, Kokura is a modern
city. This is embodied in the
cated to Hachiman, the god
sits at the foot of Mount
of war, the area around Usa
itself on elegant country inns,
and the Kunisaki Peninsula
Isozaki, especially Chuo
Toshokan Kitakyushu library
is believed to have been the designs of architect Arata Yufudake. The resort prides
boutiques, summer concerts,
nucleus of ancient Buddhist (1974), a curvaceous build ing and a host of museums,
sites. These religious places that has been used as a set for including the Sueda Art
are of Korean inspiration and many movies. The city and its Museum and the Trick 3D
origin. The most famous site, environs – including Dan no Art Yufuin Museum.
Usa Jingu, a shrine to the Ura battlefield, where the JR Yufuin station has a
ancient Japanese deities, Taira clan were defeated, and sooty, black exterior meant to
is also identified with the the straits of Shimonoseki – suggest the boiler of a loco-
influential figure of Hachiman. can be seen from Kokura motive. The station, built in
On the peninsula, to the Castle. Next to the castle, the 1990 by Arata Isozaki, has art
east of Usa, are stone tombs, beautifully laid out Kokura displays in its exhibition hall,
Heian-period statues, and, Castle Japanese Garden and the floors are heated from
at Kumano Magaibutsu, surrounds a samurai house. an underground hot spring.
the largest carved rock-face A walking and cycling path
reliefs in Japan. The ancient Chuo Toshokan follows the shore of serene
ambience of the peninsula Kitakyushu Lake Kinrin. Shitan-yu is an
can be sensed near the ⌂ 4-1 Jonai # Tue–Sun old outdoor bath with a
summit of Mount Futago, thatched roof beside the lake.
where stone guardians mark Kokura Castle The bathing here is mixed, as
the approach to Futago-ji. Japanese Garden baths often were before the
t
Twin avatars of the moun ain " ⌂ 1-2 Jonai § (093) 582- arrival, during the Meiji period,
are enshrined at the temple 2747 # 9am–5pm daily of Americans and Europeans
hall here, built into the side
of a cliff. The oldest wooden
structure in Kyushu, the main
hall of Fuki-ji, dating from the
Heian period, has faint, eerily
beautiful frescoes of the
Buddhist paradise.
Did You Know?
The god of war,
Hachiman was held
to be the guardian
of the samurais.
Traditional torii
marking the entrance
to the famous Usa Jingu
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