During my recent trip to Japan, I had the privilege to visit Iwami, a quaint town in Tottori Prefecture and the setting of the equally famous Kyoto Animation's series, Free!
As a fan of the series, we just had to do seichi junri and decided to head down to the town of Iwami (岩美) .The journey to Iwami Station didn't take that long. As a bonus, we were treated to a view of an array of sakura trees which were along the railway track ( Watch out for an array of sakura trees between Oiwa station and Iwami station during sakura season -- around first week of April. It was breathtaking indeed! )
Iwami is really a small town, and you certainly cannot find convenience store near the station. That Lawson convenience store is still miles away from the station. We had no choice but to hold off our hunger. ( Better stuff yourself with food before you come here unless you plan on staying on the inn here )
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| Iwami Station |
We arrived shortly at past 12, just in time for the first bus out of Iwami station to the town proper. Our first line of action was to ask the tourism board, so we had missed our opportunity with the van. The tourism board was closed on Monday ( good grief! here we thought we can pick out some good advice on how to go to Free! Location ) . We searched for other places that could be open but no luck. We looked into the tourism board site again and saw a posting where we can get the map, which is in the nearby town hall ( well , it was just right beside the tourism board ), so off we went!
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| Inside the station |
Around 1pm, following the advise of the people from the city hall, we waited for the bus/van to arrive ( The bus stop is only wooden chair with the bus stop sign ). The kind taxi driver directed us to the bus stop shed and wait for the bus/van. At the appointed time, the bus/van did arrive. ( Well, they are always on time! )
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| Hop on board! |
Getting There : Uradome Sea Coast
We were advised to go to Uradome sea coast bus stop first before heading to Taijiri Shrine. ( So off we went! )
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| Bus stop : Uradome sea coast |
Upon alighting we paid the driver 180yen ( check local posting for changes in payment. as of this writing, the price was at 180yen ) .
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| Shops along the Uradome coast ( which is closed on Mondays ) |
The sight of the beach was very calming and soothing ( 心が揺れ動く、感動しました ) . We were tempted to walk the shores but since the weather was uncooperative we decided not to. We were blasted by 10C weather and walking barefoot at that kind of weather is out of the question.
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| Uradome Sea Coast |
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| This scene is familiar. Almost reaching the end of the coast line. Walk back up to the main road. |
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| This is the end of the coast line. You can already see the entrance of Arasuna shrine at this point. |
Getting There: Arasuna Shrine
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| Arasuna Shrine |
Reaching the end of the coastline stood a torii gate leading to Arasuna Shrine. We can surmise that this shrine was erected to protect fisherman from the storm and pray for abundant catch.
As we started to ascend to the shrine, we were met by local JK girls who stopped by and said hi ( lovely people! ). The climb to the shrine is quite steep and we had to stop from time to time to catch our breath.
We were looking for the chouzuya ( Water purification location), but there was none nearby ( nor were we aware of it), so we just decided to stand there and pay our respects to shrine god. Casually, we just walk around the shrine and since it was unmanned, we were free to roam around the vicinity. At the back of this shrine is a rough path that leads to a small observatory place. The path is not passable and quite dangerous so I decided not to pursue.
Coincidentally, this shrine was a topic of conversation on the news the day we visited. Apparently, a visitor drew graffiti "For the team" on one of the walls of the shrine. I had not seen it myself but it was all over the news ( and the internet) . I hope that people who will visit the shrine will respect the sanctity of the place.
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