Uwajima to Ozu

A day of tunnels

With only 40kms to cover today, we decided we could enjoy a leisurely start which meant two coffees over breakfast in our rooms before we checked out at 10am.  We left the bags with the hotel whilst we cycled to Uwajima castle.  We parked the bikes at the base of stone stairs and then climbed through a forest past impressive stone walls. 

One of the only 12 original castles in Japan, it was built in 1596 and refurbished when the Date family took ownership in 1615.  The castle stands on a hill and the view from the grounds was magnificent as we looked across to Uwajima Bay. . 

The three-storied main keep was well preserved and we were able to climb to the third floor up some extremely steep stairs.  There were some interesting painted screens and samurai in battle dress.

As we returned, we stopped to admire the manhole covers which featured bull fighting scenes which are held in Uwajima 5 times a year. It  seems towns in Japan decorate manhole covers with something to do with that town.  We’ll have to keep an eye out for the different decorations in future.  We also stopped at the park across from our hotel to take a photo of the train engine with its smiling driver. 

Our final stop was the Warei Shrine, one of Shikoku’s Grand Shrines, and famous for its 12 metre stone Torii which is said to be the largest in Japan.  The shrine is meant to be sacred to fishermen and as we mounted the stairs we could hear a choir singing.  This was overlaid with Taiko drums as we approached the Shrine.  These drums are used in ceremonial rituals and it appeared that a Omiyamairi was taking place with a couple seated in the Shrine with their young baby.  Meaning “a visit to a shrine” this is similar to a Christian baptism ceremony, and occurs when the baby is about one month old. 

As we left Uwajima, a large sculpture was engraved with “Goodbye Pearl City Uwajima” in recognition that the city is Japan’s largest pearl producer.  It was the last interesting thing we saw for a while as we made our slow way uphill, before descending down to a little harbour.  Then it was back climbing again, this time passing through multiple tunnels.  Unfortunately these did not have a dedicated path, but rather a narrow shoulder.  Drivers were courteous and didn’t pass too close to us, but it was a relief when we reached some roadworks and we were able to use the closed lanes whilst the cars waited to travel on the remaining open lane. 

Finally we reached the final tunnel some 1.3km in length before descending to find a road side station for lunch.  We enjoyed some gyoza from an outdoor stall followed by ice cream.  We had to peruse the ticket machine to choose our flavour, but when we pressed on double serve, it gave us a ticket without us making our choice.  Fortunately the girl at the counter understood which flavours we wanted and we enjoyed the most delicious ice creams of our journey so far. 

It was still another 20 kms with another climb and another massive tunnel, this time around 1.6kms - our longest yet.  After that it was all downhill to Ozu and our accommodation at Hotel Ota.  I had another bath to use the remaining bath salts that I had taken from yesterday’s Bath Salt Buffet and after a relaxing beer and snacks, we ventured out to Ippuku yakitori restaurant. 

We took the chef’s recommendation of five skewers and ordered the Jako again - however, this time the tiny white fish weren’t minced but rather served with grated radish.  We also had some cucumber tataki, which was served sesame seeds and dressing.  Most of the skewers were delicious  - but we couldn’t eat the chicken liver.  The chef also suggested we try some minced chicken meatballs which were very tasty.  We sat out the counter and conversed in my bad Japanese aided by google translate. It was all good fun.