As strange as this may sound, our favorite attraction in Izumo was not the Izumo Taisha, but a majestic and yet defunct train station stuck in the past century.
Like any first-time visitor to the San'in Coast we paid our obligatory visit to the grandmother of all Shinto Shrines, one of the known birthplaces of the Japanese civilization and a designated National Treasure. We're tiptoeing on ground-zero of Japanese creation myths in the ancient land of Izumo, held in distinct reverence in the Japanese psyche for the past millennium.
This was the third day-trip destination from our homebase of Matsue, the first two being the historic town of Kurayoshi and the world famous Japanese garden at Adachi Museum. We checked out of our rented apartment in the morning, took the JR train to Izumo-shi, stashed our bulky luggage (which didn't fit into the standard coin locker) at Ichibata Railway's ticketing office, and hopped on an Ichibata bus which delivered us straight to the closest entrance (i.e. side entrance) to Izumo Taisha.
Despite having visited another one of Japan's so-called Three Great Shrines, I was still taken aback by the palace-like compound with bureaucrats (i.e. Kannushi) dressed in white uniforms, application offices for wedding ceremonies and group visits, and walls to protect the Main Hall from being desecrated by curious tourists. Peek-a-boos over the wooden barriers offered the only glimpse at a brand new thatched roof, last replaced in 2013 as part of the shrine's major renovations every 60 years.
Perhaps it was the inevitable side effect of history and fame, but the Grand Shrine simply felt way too grandiose for our preference, constantly surrounded by megaphone-touting tour operators setting up that mandatory group photo with its iconically ginormous straw rope, thickest in the world and heavier than most pickup trucks. After barely 80 minutes we left Izumo Taisha searching for another centuries-old local tradition that would prove more fulfilling for us.
Food Review: YAKUMO HONTEN (Izumo-shi)
Address: Taishacho Kizukihigashi 276-1, Izumo-shi, Shimane Prefecture
Hours: 09:00-16:00, Closed on Thursdays
Map: from Google Maps
Directions: From the main shrine, exit through the western entrance instead of the main (southern) entrance. Keep following the side street for about 200m towards the main road. Yakumo is on the right hand corner of the main road.
While Izumo is revered by Shintoists as the meeting place of spirits, it is likewise revered by foodies as one of the meccas for Soba, the original Japanese noodles and soul food before the 20th Century importation of Ramen. One of the Soba specialists in town claiming to have served the Japanese royalty was Yakumo Honten, whose head chef had apprenticed at Shiga's 300-year-old Tsuruki Soba, official supplier to the Emperor.
What put Izumo on the map for Soba enthusiasts is the regional specialty of Warigo Soba, a colorful variant of chilled Soba in which the noodles are served in a series of lacquered bowls stacked on top of one another, with the Tsuyu sauce directly poured into the first bowl and the leftover transferred to subsequent bowls.
The two of us shared a stack of five Warigo with a deliberate sequence of toppings: light-tasting grated yam in the first bowl, a raw egg in the second, crunchy Tempura bits in the third, flavorsome Katsuobushi in the fourth, and palate-cleansing grated Daikon in the final bowl, all served with seaweed, spicy Momiji-oroshi and green scallions.
Chilled Soba always calls for the essential pairing of a good Tempura Mori, served here at the slightly inflated price of 1200 yen. While premium ingredients such as prawns and a Kisu fillet were included to justify the price, my personal favorites were leafy vegetables such as Shiso and Yakinori, along with the Shishito pepper.
Aside from Warigo Soba we sampled another local specialty of Agonoyaki, a tube-shaped Kamaboko made out of flying fish from local fishing ports, with a much chewier texture compared with your typical supermarket Chikuwa.
I could not resist one final bowl of local Shijimi clam soup prior to leaving Lake Shinji behind. That afternoon we would depart from the flatlands of Izumo and venture into neighboring Iwami, better known for rockfishes reeled in from its craggy coastline.
Bill for Two Persons
| 5-Shiki Warigo Soba | 1640 yen |
| Tempura Mori | 1200 yen |
| Agonoyaki | 650 yen |
| Miso Soup with Shijimi Clams | 250 yen |
| TOTAL | 3740 yen (CAD$44) |
Whereas Izumo Taisha was the main attraction for domestic Japanese tourists, even more fascinating for me was the Museum of Ancient Izumo, one of very rare museums in Japan tackling the touchy subject of the origins of Japanese civilization ... particularly its intimate ties with the advanced cultures of Continental Asia 2000 years ago. Greeting visitors at the foyer were three unearthed gigantic cedar stumps which formed ...
... one of the main pillars from a 12th century incarnation of Izumo Taisha, 48m in height and certainly one of the most impressive wooden structures of the medieval world. Shanxi's 1000-year-old Yingxian Pagoda might have been taller (67m) in comparison, but this would have looked magical with a whole shrine perched on top of 12-storeys tall cedars.
Even more impressive was the entire wall of bronze swords unearthed in Izumo, testimonies to the most advanced civilization in 3rd century Japan before the rise of centralized power at the Yamato courts in modern day Kansai. For those who have visited bronze age sites on the Asian mainland such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an, the collection of bronze ceremonial bells here, merely 300km off the Korean shoreline, should look very familiar.
And this inevitably leads to questions about the birth of Japanese culture and Korean influences, highly delicate subjects amidst decades of animosity between Japanese and Korean governments. That said, local folks in Shimane seem much more accepting compared with Tokyoites of cultural exchanges with their western neighbour, one man even boasting to me about visiting Seoul more than 30 times due to the convenience of short flights from Izumo Airport. Apparently Izumo still remains Japan's gateway to Continental Asia, 1800 years after the bronze bells.
The shrine was nice, the museum was better, but our day-trip would have been slightly underwhelming without this one final sight, much more hands-on and therefore more enjoyable to us than the Grand Shrine itself. Within a seemingly unremarkable residential area south of the shrine stands possibly the most beautiful train station anywhere in Japan ... except that the last train had departed a quarter century ago.
Architecturally exquisite enough for a classy Ryokan or a hotspring bathhouse, the defunct Taisha Station once served as the important terminus for trains from all corners of Japan transporting Shinto pilgrims to the Grand Shrine. In its heyday chartered trains for schools and private companies would call alongside express sleepers sprinting directly from Tokyo, all converging at this stunning building now designated as national heritage.
Archaic hand-operated ticket machines, VIP waiting rooms in elegant dark wood, meticulous details such as logos of train wheels on traditional Onigawara roof tiles -- unsuspecting visitors are transported back to the good old days of Emperor Taisho, before the Great Depression and subsequent years of war and suffering.
Posted next to the tourist info booth and ticket windows was a hand-scribbled table for ticket prices left behind when the station was decommissioned in 1990, when a slow train to Tokyo would set you back 11200 yen, surprisingly current compared with 11900 yen in 2017. That's a powerful illustration for anyone wishing to understand the reality of Japanese economic stagnation over a quarter century.
According to the final timetable, Taisha Station was respectably busy even at the time of decommissioning with 15 trains a day connecting to Izumo-shi and beyond. All that remains now is one pre-WWII D51 steam locomotive left to decay at Platform 2, to be explored at the visitor's own risk.
Pilgrims back in the day would be greeted by a listing of every major Ryokan with their prehistoric 5-digit phone numbers, surely a lifesaver for first timers unaware that the Grand Shrine was a 25 minute walk away. Today's visitors would arrive much closer at Izumo Taisha-mae Station of the quaint little Ichibata Railway, which has so far staved off extinction as a community-owned railroad.
We came across only 6 visitors -- all Japanese -- in 45 minutes at the old Taisha Station. By 15:10 we were on a bus back to Izumo-shi to pick up our luggage and take the next local train down the San'in Coast. We would spend the next two nights at the UNESCO World Heritage hotspring town of Yunotsu, but not before stopping for what turned out to be our best meal in West Japan.
No comments:
Post a Comment