Headed east from Hikone City towards the city of Gifu this morning. With my new backpack on my back and 5kg of luggage off the rear of my bike, it was much easier riding.
My new Adidas backpack - 2,320yen
Along the way to Gifu City, I passed by the town of Sekigahara. This little town is situated in the plains of Sekigahara where the largest ever domestic battle was fought during the Civil War period. After this battle, the warlord Ieyasu Tokugawa united Japan under his banner.
The Plains of Sekigahara
Location of Ieyasu Tokugawa`s Command Post
The ride from Hikone to Gifu City was rather flat and uneventful and I made it to Gifu in good time, reaching at around noon. It was still way too early to check into the hotel so I went to a little park in town called Kanazono Park to wash my bike. Degreasing my drivetrain and re-lubricating took me a whole hour! But I guess its about time to clean my bike after more than 1,000km of dirt... hahaha...
Gifu Castle (the speck in the top left corner) and the 3 Storeyed Pagoda
Check out these parking lots! What if the owner of the car on top wants to go out for supper at 1am?
Checking into the Weekly Kanazono Business Hotel, I left my stuff and took a walk towards Nagara River to catch a glimpse of Ukai or cormorant fishing. Apparently, the fishermen use birds called cormorants to catch fish. Strings are tied around the throats of these birds so that they can`t swallow the fish they catch. I have no idea what a cormorant is, but I guess it looks something like the bird in this statue.
I was much too early to watch the fishermen go out and catch fish with their birds, and I didn`t want to pay 3,000 yen to get on these boats to watch them fish, so I just snapped a few photos and headed back to the hotel.
More boats on the other side of the bridge getting ready to watch the Ukai
I made my way back to the hotel via the bank of the Nagara River. The view at dusk was spectacular!
The Nagara River at dusk
2 comments:
looks great from here! i wish i were where you are man! itsu mo nihon wo omoimasu ne! I can't wait for my turn again. but of course, mine won't be so much an adventure as compared to yours.
ki wo tsukete ne! genki de~ :)
wow! so my name is after a river after all :D
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