Tokushima to the Iya Valley, Day 6 of 8

This morning was a relaxing morning. Which I needed. My calves were surprisingly stiff yesterday. Surprising because they weren’t stiff the day before after I hiked up the 900m. Either it skipped a day, or because last night was the first night my accommodations didn’t have an onsen. Maybe they really are magical… at least in the making your body feel good kind of way.

After my included breakfast, in which I leaned heavily into the Western food (I really do love the food here, but you know, I’m not from here so sometimes french toast just hits the spot), I walked next door to the train station to buy my ticket for today, and tomorrow. That out of the way, I just had a nice relaxing morning getting myself ready and reading up on what was in store for the rest of the trip. A trip that’s quickly coming to a close!

I caught my train with time to spare, and took it from the eastern side of the island to the western to the beautiful Iya Valley. From the train station it was a half-hour taxi ride to Hotel Kazurabashi, nestled in the forested mountains. And for the first time, due I think to the elevation, it wasn’t horrible out. Still muggy, but not sweltering.

But better than that, Kazurabashi is well-known for its rotenburo.1 In order to get to it, you leave the hotel via the third floor and take a cable car up the side of the mountain to the onsen overlooking the valley. And it was beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/O0lkvbIhinQ?rel=0

Obviously I can’t take pictures of the onsen since, well, everyone’s naked and that usually doesn’t fly. But just sitting there in the hot water out in nature just staring at the trees in the distance was what I needed after this long trip.

After a nice relaxing soak, and cooling down afterward, I made my way down to an earlier dinner, which was around these fire bits with sunken feet space. So you’re sitting at ground level, but your feet go below the floor. Food was served my the waitstaff in the traditional manner of kneeling at your table to present the food they’re bringing out, which I believe is why the floor was as it was.

The food was once again delicious, and not surprising, I’ve eaten so much fish this trip. Sashimi I’m generally fine with, and it turns out I like eel which I had never had before, but whole bone-in fish… I am not prepared to eat that on a normal day. Way too many little bones and seemingly little meat. But to eat it with chopsticks? I definitely failed that.

Dinner out of the way, I got ready for a nighttime adventure to see the Kazurabashi Bridge or Iya Vine Bridge. This bridge is the longest of three in the Iya Valley that retains the unique building technique of using the sarunashi2 vines to hold the wooden slats together. A nighttime visit allows you to see it illuminated, but for safety reasons they only allow you to cross it during the day.

But the real highlight of this nighttime jaunt was boarding the rickety old bus full of non-English speakers, no idea what’s being communicated, and then the driver starts playing what sounds like old Japanese opera recorded off a record player. #LivingMyBestLife

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bSzf-PYSFAI?rel=0

And with that, I made it back to my room to settle in for the penultimate night of my tour. Tomorrow night is it, as the following day I’m back to my own devices again, and figuring out my way back to Osaka before I return home on Wednesday.

It’s been a unique trip, that’s for certain. And definitely one that’s been memorable.

an outdoor onsen

literally “monkey pear”