What did we see on the way

Here, I'll tell you the places we went on the way to Kirishima. We stayed at Kirishima Iwasaki Hotel (霧島いわさきホテル), located in Kirishima hot springs in Kagoshima Prefecture.

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First, we stopped at Hatozu Beach (波当津海岸 -kaigan) in Saiki, Oita. This is a beautiful beach located in the southernmost part of the prefecture. It has been chosen for hakusa-seisho hyaku-sen (白砂青松百選) or the best 100 beach in Japan.

Next, we went to the Sea of Cross (クルスの海 kurusu-no-umi), a scenic spot in Hyuga, Miyazaki. The columnar rock is split over 200 meters between east nad west, 220 meters between north and south and 10 meters in height due to erosion of waves, and it looks like a cross. There's a small rocky place outside the rock broken into crosses, and when it is combined together it looks like the letter wish (叶う kanau in Japanese). Peoples say make a wish to come true when praying for healing. 

The time is already 5. We really want to go to the nearby attraction called Umagase (馬ヶ背), but we don't have enough time to visit. We'll go there next time.

Before going back to Hyuga Interchnage on the Higashi-Kyushu Super Highway, I took pictures of sunset at Oguragahama Beach. I saw one guy very enjoyed windsurfing.

After that we were going straight to Kirishima on the super highway. But we made a great mistake on the way, we got off the highway at Kiyotake in the suburbs of Miyazaki city! Fortunately, there is a gas station at the corner of the interchange. Filling up the tank and refreshing our minds, we were going to the hotel again. We took National Highway 269 until Yamanokuchi Station, then follow the prefectural roads to the hotel. We arrived at there at about 8 o'clock.

Tsurumisaki lighthouse, Saiki, Oita

We went to Oita, Miyazaki and Kagoshima for 2 days on November 15 and 16.

First, we had visited to the Cape Tsurumisaki Lighthouse (鶴御崎灯台 -doudai) in Saiki, Oita. The lighthouse at the easternmost end of Kyushu stands at a cliff of about 200 meters above sea level which is built in the former site of Tsurumisaki Battery. There are sea cliffs with a height between 50 and 200 meters at the tipping point. These are being maintained as a theme park, so called as Museum Park Tsurumisaki such as the World Camellia Park and a panorama viewing bridge. From the bridge, you can see the scenic view overlooking the lighthouse below your eyes and the Bungo Channel (豊後水道 Bungo-suido) that extends beyond.

Driving on National Routes 217/388 and Oita Prefectral Routes 615/604 from Saiki Interchange on Higashi-Kyushu Expressway and passing some gentle curves, we'll get to the tip of the Peninsula. Although there are some narrow roads along the way, it was easier to run as many roads on one side as one lane.

We arrived there at 1:15 pm. We stopped our car in the parking lot first, then walked through a sidewalk to the lighthouse viewpoint. From here, you can see a view of the Shikoku Island far away on sunny days.

A day trip to Raizan Sennyo-ji Temple

On October 26, we made a short trip to Raizan Sennyo-ji (雷山千如寺), a Shingon temple in Itoshima, Fukuoka. Previously there were about 300 temples existed in this area, now there were still remaining this temple.

Passing the nearest gate from parking lot, pay an admission fee (400 yen per person) to go into the temple. You'll see the big maple trees immediately after going through the gate. Big trees, which has been designated as a natural monument of Fukuoka prefecture, has been said to be planted by Tsugitakata Kuroda, the 6th feudal lord of Kuroda clan.

After taking pictures of the maple trees, we were going to the main hall where the Buddha statue is located. There are both way to go to the main hall, the one is going up the long wooden stairways from the priest's lodge, and the other one is climbing the stone stairs from the prescient. How did we get there? We got into the main hall while looking at the beautiful landscape of garden and climbing up the stairs from the prayer hall or kannon-do (観音堂). It's the easiest way to go there.

Looking down the Shinji Garden from a veranda.

Going down the wooden stairs from the main hall, we went into the Shinji Garden. The tree which is curved on the right of the photo below is named juniper. It has been a quite long time in history, with an age of 600 years old.

Going back to the main hall, we saw a big Buddha. The 4.8 meter wooden Buddha statue is the work of Kamakura period.

The big maple tree standing alone in the garden.