Wonderful bike & train tour in Fukushima 福島大好きおじさんの自転車・鉄道旅日記

（#Lake Hibara cruise, Urabandai, June 20, 2023. #檜原湖遊覧 裏磐梯 6/20/2023）
I had a few-day family trip to Urabandai. In the first day, as the weather was calm and fine, we enjoyed Lake Hibara cruise watching the huge northern crater of Mt. Bandai. Photo above was a view of the mountain from the lake. This northern crater was created by a massive phreatic explosion in 1888 when Lake Hibara was also created at the same time. The cruise departs from the southern port of the lake and takes about 40 minutes.
家族で裏磐梯に行きました。初日は天気が穏やかだったので、檜原湖遊覧で裏磐梯の巨大な爆裂火口を見ました。写真はその景色です。この爆裂火口は、1888年の巨大な水蒸気爆発で出来ましたが同時に檜原湖も出来ました。遊覧船は、檜原湖南端の港から出発し約40分ほどです。






（#Lake Hibara cruise, Urabandai, June 20, 2023. #檜原湖遊覧 裏磐梯 6/20/2023）Some other views which include boat, small island, and trees are shown above.
上は、ボート、小島、木などが写った他の写真です。

Please take a look at short video (31s) below to feel the atmosphere onboard.
クルーズ船上の雰囲気が、下の短いビデオにあります。（画像が揺れます）




（#Aonuma, Goshikinuma, June 21, 2023. #青沼 五色沼 裏磐梯 6/21/2023）
The next day, we went hiking on Goshikinuma trail starting from western side. Photo above shows Aonuma Pond which comes second. Look at its mysterious color which is created by substances flowing into the pond from Mt. Bandai.
次の日は、五色沼自然探勝路を西側から歩きました。写真は、2つ目に現れる青沼です。磐梯山から流れ出る物質により、神秘的な色合いになっています。


（#Rurinuma, Goshikinuma, June 21, 2023. #るり沼 五色沼 裏磐梯 6/21/2023）
Photo above shows Rurinuma Pond which comes third. Mt. Bandai is in the back.
写真は、3番目のるり沼です。磐梯山がバックに見えます。


（#Benten-numa, Goshikinuma, June 21, 2023. #弁天沼 五色沼 裏磐梯 6/21/2023）
Photo above shows Benten-numa Pond which comes forth. It shows beautiful cobalt blue color.
写真は、4番目の弁天沼です。美しいコバルトブルー色です。


（#Forest tree green frog, Urabandai, June 21, 2023. #モリアオガエル 裏磐梯 6/21/2023）
The final goal for the hiking was Urabandai Visitor Center. Its surrounding swamps are natural habitats for forest green tree frog. Photo above shows a part of the habitat with white spawn hanging from tree branches. Mid-June seems to be the peek spawning season.
ハイキングの終点は、裏磐梯ビジターセンターです。周辺には、モリアオガエルの繁殖する沼があります。写真は、木の枝から下がるその卵（白いあわ）です。6月中旬が産卵のピークのようです。


（#Forest tree green frog, Tenkyokaku, June 22, 2023. #モリアオガエル 天鏡閣 6/22/2023）
Regarding forest green tree frog, a small pond at Tenkyokaku garden is also a natural habitat for the frog. We happened to visit the site the next day and checked the pond and also found some spawn hanging from branches as shown in the picture above. A frog itself was seen on a branch near the spawn.
モリアオガエルの繫殖地は、天鏡閣にもありました。次の日、たまたま天鏡閣に行き、庭の池で卵を見付けました（写真）。カエルも、近くの枝に隠れています（写真）。


（#Numajiri Kogen Lodge, Inawashiro, June 22, 2023. #沼尻高原ロッジ 猪苗代 6/22/2023）
We stayed overnight at Numajiri Kogen Lodge shown above on the day. It is located in Numajiri hot spring site in Inawashiro Town.
その晩は、写真の沼尻高原ロッジに泊まりました。猪苗代の沼尻温泉にあります。


（#Numajiri Kogen Lodge, Inawashiro, June 22, 2023. #沼尻高原ロッジ 猪苗代 6/22/2023）
Its acidic hydrogen sulfide hot spring water is naturally welling out from the middle of Mt. Adatara. The bath as shown above was excellent.
酸性の硫化水素型硫黄泉は、安達太良山の中腹から湧き出ています（沼尻元湯）。泉質は最高です。

The exact GPS locations and routes for Urabandai are shown in a map below. The map can be scaled up and down with click and scroll.
裏磐梯のGPSによる場所とルートは、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。

（Driving a bare horse at Nomakake, Odaka, July 29, 2019. 野馬懸の野馬追 小高 7/29/2019）
Today I was one of the large spectators at Nomakake, the last day event for 3-day Soma-nomaoi Festival in Soma region. Nomakake retains the very original style of the Soma-nomaoi, which was originated in military exercise in 900’s started by ancestors of Soma clan. At that time, wild horses were released as mock enemy. Today, three unsaddled horses were once released, one at a time, and then several mounted horsemen drove the horse into a corral in front of Soma Odaka Shrine. After all the three horses were driven into the corral, then several men, called Okobito, wearing white Shinto clothing and headband tried to catch the horses with their bare hands. Once the horse was captured, then it was offered to the shrine, where guardian god for Soma clan was enshrined. Photo above shows a horseman leading a bare white horse along a slope toward the corral.
本日は、相馬野馬追の最後のイベント、野馬懸を見ました。野馬懸は、900年代に相馬家の祖先が始めた相馬野馬追の原型を残している行事です。当時、軍事訓練で野馬を敵に見立てたのが始まりです。今日では、3頭の野馬が1頭ずつ放たれ、騎馬武者達が小高神社前の敷地に追い込みます。そのあと、白装束と白はちまきをした「御小人」達が、素手で野馬を捕まえようとします。捕らえられた馬は、相馬家の氏神が祀られている神社に奉納されます。写真は、騎馬武者が白い野馬を導いて坂を登る姿です。


（Conch shell horn blowers at Nomakake, Odaka, July 29, 2019. 野馬懸 の ホラ貝吹き 小高 7/29/2019）
Right before the horse driving began, conch shell horn blowers, as shown above, came in the middle of the slope to signal a start. You may see the closer view of the conch shell here.
馬の追い込みが始まる直前には、写真のように、ホラ貝吹きが坂の中間にきて、合図の準備をします。ホラ貝の形がよく見えます。


After the bare horse led by a mounted horseman, several chaser horsemen followed, as shown above, running up the hill.
野馬の後には、写真のように、数人の騎馬武者が追って駆け上がってきます。

By watching a short footage below, you may feel the atmosphere of the scene of driving a horse up the hill. This was of the second horse drive.
下の極短いビデオを見ると、野馬を追い込むシーンの雰囲気が少しわかると思います。
これは、2番目の野馬でした。



In the last drive, an unsaddled horse chased by mounted horsemen from behind barely crashed into spectators’ area as shown above. (No one was injured.)
最後の野馬の場合は、写真のように見物客の極近くまで迫り、危ういところでした。（問題ありませんでした。）


（Chasing bare horses at Nomakake, Odaka, July 29, 2019. 野馬懸 の 野馬追 小高 7/29/2019）
Photo above was a scene that three horses driven into the field in front of the shrine are trying to escape from Okobito men in white shrine suits trying to catch them.
写真は、3頭の野馬が神社前の囲い敷地で、白装束の「御小人」達に捕まえられないように、逃げている場面です。

And here is a very short video that a young Okobito man tried to catch a horse but finally failed at this time. You may feel the atmosphere.
下の極短いビデオでは、1人の御小人が野馬を捕らえかけましたが、最後は失敗しました。雰囲気がわかると思います。


During the first and second days of Soma-nomaoi Festival, I attended a group as a translator. But the last day was free and I stayed overnight there and visited this event for the first time. The event venue was Soma Odaka Shrine which was located 20-minute walk from JR Odaka Station.
相馬野馬追の最初の2日は、あるグループの通訳ガイドでした。しかし、最終日はフリーとなり野馬懸を初めて見ました。会場は、JR小高駅から徒歩20分の相馬小高神社です。
（お客の数は、前日より減りましたが、会場ぎっしりでした。）

The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll. GPS data for a part of the section from Odaka Station was missing due to slow detection of my GPS device, so I added a line on the map.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。但し、小高駅から少しの間、GPSデータが無く（機械の反応が遅く）地図上に線で補足しました。

（Japanese serow at Mt. Karo, Shinchi, July 1, 2019. 鹿狼山 の 日本カモシカ 新地 7/1/2019)
Today I walked along a countryside road and mountain trail in Shinchi Town which was a northernmost town in the coastal Fukushima. The route was mostly along Shinchi section of Michinoku Coastal Trail or walking trail along the coastal area of Tohoku Region. This was defined and promoted by Ministry of the Environment of Japan aiming to revitalize the coastal region which was devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Today’s route was 17km long and included light trekking on Mt. Karo (430m). When I was descending along the ridge, I suddenly came across a Japanese serow near the northern end of the trail. He was grazing on the vegetation. Both of us were frightened but he just stared at me and showed no sign of intimidation. I took his picture as shown above and then he moved away.
本日は、福島県沿岸部の最北端の新地町を歩きました。コースは主に、みちのく潮風トレイルの新地町部分です。東日本大震災で被災した東北沿岸部の復興を目指し、環境省が設定した歩くコースです。本日のルートは、約17kmで鹿狼山（430m）の軽い登山を含みます。今日後半、尾根伝いに降りていたら、山道の終わり近くで、日本カモシカに出会いました。両者共にびっくりしましたが、カモシカは私の方をじっと見たまま脅かす様子はありませんでした。私は熊鈴を鳴らしていましたが、カモシカには効かないようです。そういうわけで、写真を撮っていたらそのうち逃げていきました。


I started to walk from JR Shinchi Station this morning as shown above. When I visited the town four years ago (2015) by bike there was no railway station. It was destroyed and washed away by the tsunami. But today the new station was built as well as many new public facilities, hotels, and residential area with new homes in the vicinity.
今朝は、写真のJR新地駅から歩き始めました。4年前（2015年）に来たときは、駅も無かったです。破壊され津波に流されていました。でも今日は、新しい駅舎で電車の運行もしており、周りには新しい公共施設やホテル、住宅地の新しい家もたくさん建っていました。




In about two hours of walking I arrived at the trailhead for Mt. Karo. A pair of animal stones called “komainu”, deer on the left and wolf on the right, welcomed me as shown above. These were for Karosan shrine or Mt. Karo shrine, where deity of the mountain was enshrined. A local legend described on the panel shown above said the animals were always with the god.
2時間ほどで、鹿狼山の登山口に着きました。写真の狛犬、鹿狼山神社の鹿と狼が出迎えます。神社には、この山の神が祀られています。現地の説明板（写真）には、この地の伝説が語られています。


Shortly after, I came to a hydrangea habitat as shown above. But today it seemed not the best season for this flower.
登っていくと、すぐに写真のアジサイの自生地が現れます。でも、旬の時期ではなかったようです。


In about an hour I came to the summit where second-order triangulation point was placed. It was very foggy, misty and even rainy at the top, but for a very short period of time a glimpse of blue sky appeared on top of sea of clouds as shown above.
1時間ほどで、2等三角点のある頂上に着きます。今日は、霧やもやがかかり雨も時折降る天気でしたが、一瞬だけ写真のように青空と下の雲海がのぞきました。


In the last half of the route there were two watering places along the way which was very grateful for walkers. Both were natural spring water. The first one was Mayumi spring water as shown above. This has even been used as the source of public tap water supply for local residents until some 40 years ago.
後半には、有り難い水場が2カ所あります。湧き出る清水です。最初は、写真の「真弓の清水」と言い、40年前の昭和時代にこの地区の公共水道としても使われてきました。


Another one was called Ukon spring water. A small rest area with roof has been built as shown above. “Ukon” was named after Date Ukon who was a descendant of Date family and who lived and loved this place and the water. I also refreshed myself with these excellent spring waters. It took 7.5 hours to get back to Shinchi Station.
もう1つは、右近の清水と言い、写真のように屋根付きの休場もありました。伊達家の子孫である伊達右近が、この地区に住みこの水を愛飲したことにちなみ、名前がつけられました。私も両方の水場で水を補給し休みました。7時間半かかり、新地駅に戻りました。

The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll. However, today, the GPS data did not reach the goal of Shinchi Station due to battery outage.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。但し、GPSのバッテリ切れで終点の新地駅まで描いていません。