Northern Honshu - Tono Valley and Matsushima

Most foreign travellers in Japan consider nothern Honshu low priority, but i was determined to discover some hidden treasures in the area on my way back down towards Tokyo. The previous day of train journeys gave me ample time to research the area quite thoroughly and, after much consideration, I settled on the Tono Valley as a first stop, home of Japanese folklore and allegedly home of Kappas (see image below), mischievious water sprites who are said to stop travellers and pull their intestines through their anus, just for fun; I knew I should have brought my butt-plug with me!


Very early during my approach to Tono Valley I could tell that I had made a good choice; the view from the train was getting more and more beautiful as the journey progressed. Clearly this region was Japan's rice country as there were water-logged rice fields all around. When I arrived I took a bus to the hostel, rented a bike and cycled the various trails around the town till dark. These are some of the views I saw.



As i was riding around the valley, to my delight I spotted a very large low flying bird gliding above the stream. I was sure this was an eagle again so i set about trying to track it and get some good shots with the camera, which wasn't easy. I was able to identify the eagle from my pictures as the Japanese Golden Eagle, apparently an endangered species, so this was a rare priviledge. I was lucky enough to witness the eagle's skirmish with a raven, after the eagle attacked it's nest. This is the stuff folk tales are made of. What a thrill!

Late in the day, many kilometers later, my bike's chain kept coming off track, subsequently delaying my progress significantly, which resulted in me cycling back to the hostel on my now disfunctional bike in almost complete darkness. Now i didn't come across any Kappas on the way, but it sure felt like i had as my arse was killing me so much from the bike, it felt like something large had been pulled out of it.

The next morning i set off really early to catch a train to my next distination, the city of Sendai in the Miyagi Prefecture ("Daniel-San, wax on, wax off"). This was the closest destination to Matsushima a coastal town with views of over 250 small islands scattered all around the coast. Matsuo Basho, Japan's greatest writer of "Haiku" - Japanese poetry - who famously wrote about his travels around Japan in the 1600s after quitting both a life as a samurai and a published poet, seemed lost for words when he wrote about this place: "Matsushima, ah! Matsushima! Matsushima!" Well here's why: