Page 275 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Japan

A sightseeing cruise on
one of the canals in the
town of Yanagawa
Mount Unzen, thought to
be dormant until one of its
peaks erupted in 1990, can be
climbed or partly ascended by
ropeway from the Nita Pass.

r
Yoshinogari Ruins
吉野ケ里遺跡
w e ! A6 ⌂ Saga Prefecture
Yanagawa Shimabara Peninsula £ Yoshinogari-koen or
Kanzaki Stns, then 15-
柳川 島原半島
min walk or take taxi
! A6 ⌂ Fukuoka ! A6 ⌂ Nagasaki # 9am–5pm daily
Prefecture £ Prefecture £ Shimabara ∑ yoshinogari.jp/en
n Okinohatamachi; city g From Kumamoto Pit dwellings and hundreds
(0944) 74-0891 n Unzen Spa (0957) 73- of burial urns excavated at
3434; Shimabara Peninsula
The Stone Quays of Yanagawa Tourism Association (0957) Yoshinogari point to the
are not as busy as they used 62-0656 existence of a sophisticated
to be, but the canals and old Yayoi-period society (300 BC–
moats that run through this Ruled by the Christian Lord AD 300) in the region. Smart
former castle town are still Arima until 1616, Shimabara irrigation systems and rice
vital to its economy, and eel Penin sula is known as the site cultivation were begun in this
remains the local delicacy. of anti-Christian pogroms period, laying the pattern for
Visitors can board donkobune ordered by the Tokugawa later Japanese society. The
(gondolas) for a kawakudari shogunate. How ever, in the area is believed by some to be
(river cruise). As you float 1880s, Unzen Spa became a the home of Queen Himiko,
along the restored canals, resort for West erners. At an mentioned in 3rd-century
you’ll glide past old samurai altitude of 2,300 ft (700 m) Chinese annals. Watchtowers
villas and storehouses. The and surrounded by pine and Yayoi-period homes
canals are at their best during forests, the spa was an ideal have been reconstructed here.
sakura season in spring. retreat from the summer heat.
Other Yanagawa sights Thou sands of azaleas bloom
include Suiten-gu, a pretty on the peninsula in spring,
shrine used by the same sect and in autumn the maple
as the shrine in Kurume; leaves turn brilliant shades DRINK
Kyu Toshimake Jyutaku, an of red. In 1934 the Unzen-
Edo-period tea garden; and Amakusa National Park, one Kuma Shochu
a house-museum, Hakushu of Japan’s first such protected Museum
Kinenkan, the birthplace areas, was created.
of Hakushu Kitahara (1885– Most hotels in Unzen Spa Shochu – usually made
1942), a prolific writer best have their own hot-spring from sweet potato, rice,
or barley – is drunk on
known for children’s poems. baths. Away from the resorts, the rocks, or mixed with
visitors can see the notori ous
water or juice. At this
Hakushu Kinenkan Hells (Jigoku): scalding sulfur- museum, you can learn
" ⌂ 40-11 Okinohata-machi ous cauldrons in which about its production
§ (0944) 72-6773 # 9am– 30 Christians were boiled and sample the liqueur.
5:30pm daily alive after the outlawing of
Christianity in Japan. As a ! A6 ⌂ 1 Sinmachi,
demonstration of the ferocity Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto
868-0052
of the waters, elderly ladies in ∑ denshogura.jp
The formidable bulk of smocks lower eggs placed in
Kumamoto Castle, built baskets into the pools and sell
in the early 17th century them hard-boiled to tourists.
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