Japan: Shikoku - Golden Week

[colin]

Thought I'd try to find a bit more info about the random wooden penis above.... hehe.

Can't find a ton, but here's a quick sound bite:

(source: https://www.jref.com/practical/uwajima.shtml)

Taga-jinja Shrine 多賀神社
Uwajima's principal claim of fame is for its Taga-jinja Shrine sporting a giant penis carved out of log.

There is an adjoining Sex Museum (open daily 8am-5pm; ￥800), displaying all kinds of erotica, from around the world and ages. The exhibits are packed and no explanations are provided, but the explicitness of some is sure to cause some giggling or guffawing - if not yours, then those of other visitors.

This fertility shrine is a remnant of what was once a common sight in Japan. The Japanese having no Judeo-Christian heritage, they have always regarded sex in a more natural way than Westerners do. When Japan started copying the Western world from the Meiji era, giant penises and other explicit object bound to cause offences among Victorian times Westerners were purged.

 

[colin]

That little white road is marked in the mapple as white, looks kinda like a rindo. But man, it is a beautiful 2 lane road all the way up.

Forget the road name, but it went up to what was called Tengu Kogen (plateau) (天狗高原)

Check out the road there.... (mind the clouds!)

Split between Kochi-ken and Ehime-ken. (prefectures.... kinda like states.)

Across the top of the map, i took 383, looking for the 440 to go back south. It really does look like scotland here. Including the rain that was just starting to fall.

After that last pic, the rain started to come down a bit more. I traveled down the road about 500m and then it absolutely started pissing down rain. I found the 440, an incredibly twisty road going down hill in hard rain. yay. I wasn't quite ready for the rain, I didn't have my tank bag covered, didn't have the not-so-waterproof-gore-tex gloves. got drenched. Thunder, lightning, the works. I pulled up under a bridge once the 440 turned into a reasonable road. My iPhone was flickering, basically hosed. Didn't respond to anything. Couldn't find a route inn or toyoko inn in the area. My AU pre-pay phone was out of battery. Man, this sucked.

Went and found the area marked with a michi no eki & riders inn, there was a hotel there (didn't see the riders inn), no rooms. But they let me use a plug with my phone and I found a biz hotel in kochi. 1.5 hours more in the rain. yay. Leaving that hotel, my bike stalled as I backed it out of the parking space. that's new, this one doesn't stall. hmmm. Got going, freezing, cold, visor all wonky cuz water got on the inside.... ugh.

Eventually made it, central Kochi. Parking with bicycles. Yay.

Found a sushi place for dinner, for more of that katsuo stuff, and udon.

I decided to make Day 5 the last day. well, not till the afternoon, but anyway...

 

[colin]

First off, let's find that route 47 as recommended by Egon, who moved back to Canada from Japan and then bought an FJR. (Egon, you on here yet? )

Beautiful views from the road....

Had wakame udon for lunch.

So I got bored with the 55 going to Maruto (the tip of the peninsula). Full of cars, flat, etc. Took a course through the mountains instead... Awesome!

Caught up on the coast on the east side.

Went back through the mountains shortly.

 

[colin]

Headed toward Naruto after deciding to head home at night. Went through the Naruto Skyline (鳴門スカイライン).

Big bridge over there.

Here's the bridge (onaruto ohashi)

The whirlpools were pretty cool. You actually walk under the big bridge.

Can see some of the activity from here.

Got within an hour of high tide.... ! (it was a bit after 5pm)

Under the bridge!

woah....

If you are afraid of heights, this is probably not so cool.

 

[colin]

Here's my shortcut....skipping the bottom bit. Apparently it is actually quite nice down there, much better than the crappy road i was on. I guess that gives me a reason to head back out there sometime....

Long haul back to Tokyo.... Got rained on from Kyoto onward. Pretty brutal, but not so much traffic. Got home around 2a.m. or so.

-the end-

 

[old Pilot]

Great scenery, thanks for sharing.