October 13, 2016

After a chilly night in Kinugawa, where the temperature dropped to 8-9 degrees Celsius, I couldn't sleep any longer. A voice seemed to be calling me to explore the charm of this town.

Early that morning, I was up and about, the only one awake in the house. The group was scheduled to leave at 8 am, and being the hyperactive person I am, I left my husband and son sleeping soundly in their futon. After dressing up to my satisfaction, I woke up my much older travel companion, whom I had instructed to join me early in the morning. Haha! At 6 am, it was time to explore the town together.

(Note: At 5 am, the town was already bathed in light, as is typical during the autumn season.)

Kinugawa

Kinugawa, named after the Kinugawa River, is a town located about two hours from Tokyo in Tochigi Prefecture. The name "Kinugawa" translates to "Wrathful River," referencing the deity of anger. Hot springs were first discovered in Kinugawa during the early Meiji era, leading to the development of a tourism industry in the 1970s. Despite facing significant economic challenges, Kinugawa has grown into one of Japan's most renowned hot spring destinations. Situated near the Edo Wonderland amusement park, Kinugawa offers a serene atmosphere perfect for relaxation and leisure. With activities catering to all ages and interests, Kinugawa provides a tranquil escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Upon exiting the hotel, our "lost" instincts guided us to turn left.
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A factory of some sort, diagonally across from our hotel. We stopped to capture the red leaves...
..beautiful..

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Restaurant

- - From the angle of the hidden camera - -

Then I had to decide whether to continue walking straight on the main road or turn right without knowing what was ahead. Oh well... It's just a dog, right? At that time, I only thought about being familiar with the way in Thailand and forgot that I was walking in Japan.

With the sky, where the pictures are stored

And turning back... no one followed. Fine, I'll walk alone then. (More afraid of dogs than ever)
But with a view like this, I don't care anymore. I almost walked right in.

No longer waiting at the corner of the building, the sharp turn was unusual... not at all.
The wind that constantly hit my face, the 11-degree cold, Kinugawa, a peaceful city that had not yet woken up, made the ordinary things around me at that time "not ordinary at all".

A Thai person was heard saying "Wait a minute."

It is understood that he was probably a partner with his friend.

He came to say that his knee was bad, so he should walk slowly.
Um… the author forgot that their ages were different.

Stop waiting... and then you will find the word "calmly, slowly" that hyper people don't understand easily.

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Waiting for my partner with knee problems. I started walking slowly, realizing that it's okay to walk slowly sometimes, no need to race against time. We're here to enjoy the trip, right? ^^

It's time to decide whether to go straight or turn right.
In front of the hotel, I met two Japanese ladies. I tried my Japanese with them, asking for a shrine, temple, or anything that would show the local culture. The ladies said there was nothing around here, and if there was, it would be a long way away. They asked if I could walk that far. I told them I was more worried about time. So the ladies told me to come this way if I wanted to pray, turn right... We followed their advice.

"God of Wrath"


The deity of the Kinugawa River
Protecting and watching over this city
This is what the aunts said they wanted to go to the temple
If you turn this way to the shrine, you will find it
Walk 5 steps and you will find it 555+ (I guess I'm too lazy to describe it)


Besides the statue we found
At the end of the bridge by the stairs
This picture has something that draws us there…

But wait... let's digress for a moment.

From one side of the bridge we are standing on to the other side we are about to cross,
He made various pictures related to this city on the ground - the walkway on the bridge. There are many pictures, I don't understand them, but I can guess that they are related to this city.

The naive person thinks that if I stand on a bridge, there must be a river… Oh, right, let's look at the river.

So beautiful… I can't help but feel a pang of regret that I didn't get to stay in a hotel with such a stunning view. But what I regret even more is that I didn't have time to spend another night in this city. I wish I had more time to explore it at a leisurely pace, perhaps by taking a leisurely bike ride and soaking in the atmosphere.

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We climb the stairs to encounter what awaits above,
yet we never forget to look back at the path we have traveled.

Art
Is everywhere
It's really in every corner of this city

Traditionally, each person should post only a few poses, right?

At the top of the stairs, we found a public restroom and another road. We were confused about which way to go, so we decided to turn left.

Found a street named Sakura. The sign says:

The sight of the train reminded me that I had been walking for a while. What time is it? It's time to go back. It's almost time for the wheels to move the city. The slow life I wanted to experience is over. Let's walk back the same way to "Kan Long" to meet up with the group.

Kinugawa River

After returning to the hotel and loading our luggage onto the bus, the guide took us on another loop around the hot spring town. We learned that the guide had never been to this town before and was following the GPS, which led us back to the same route we had just walked. However, we discovered that if we had walked past the railway crossing, we would have found a public footbath. Oh well, we missed that spot. If we had had bicycles, we could have saved more walking time. We returned to take pictures at the bridge because many people in the group had not been there.

After that, we stopped by Seven-Eleven for breakfast. The author had hot oden to warm up, which was filling and gave her enough energy before heading to Ibaraki in the afternoon.

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Farewell, Kinugawa, the golden ring of the sky. I promise to return for two nights one day.

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