Aoshima Island south of Miyazaki city in the prefecture of the same name is one of Japans most spectacular geologic formations. The heavily forested island is home to a Shinto shrine and a walking path that circles the island. When I was studying Japanese at the University of Arizona I had a picture of this island in my folder. I looked at it when I needed inspiration to study Japanese. My idea was to go down to Miyazaki when I was going to school at Konan University in Kobe, but I never got around to that until last August. I'm glad I went, but I was covered by sweat before I got halfway around the island. Miyazaki is a very tropical place.
The rock formation that rings the island is called the "Ogre's Washboard." You can see the rocks from above on
Google Maps. With all those parallel lines it almost looks like it's man made.
The shrine on the island has this unique tradition where people tie 50yen coins with pieces of colorful string to a pole. I'm sure its for some type of luck. I couldn't read the Japanese sign that explained it all.
5 comments:
I used to live near here and I miss it! I hope you made it to a few of the onsens near by!
The Aoshima Island is so beautiful, that rock formation is amazing.
Do you remember "The Devils Post-pile"?
@Sandra
It's a beautiful, if not too remote corner of Japan. I wouldn't mind living there, even with the sweat, but I don't know if Yuko would be up for it.
@Mom
Yuko and I almost made it to the postpile, but it was snowed over when we went by there. I'd like to take you down to Kyushu, but I'm not sure what would be the best route to take you. We'd probably go by car too.
"Ogre's Washboard" - I can see how it got its name...
These were basically beds of shale uplifted and overturned to one side, after which water action eroded away the weaker constituents, forming the grooves in between...but then again, I'm only guessing..
@Envoy
Thank you for explaining it. That sounds about right. I found a website once that went more into detail about the geology, but I can't find it again.
Post a Comment