Japan lived up to its sobriquet as the 'Land of the Rising Sun' this morning as we watched a perfect dawn from the onsen on our hotel’s rooftop… 
A lone fishing boat, illuminated by the sun’s crepuscular rays, sailed out into the Bay of Beppu on Kyushu’s east coast as we luxuriated in the steaming mineral water that flows directly from the hot-spring ’neath our hotel. It sounds like a romantic interlude, but this is Japan, not Germany. There is no mixed naked bathing here. We separately enjoyed the springtime spectacle in total silence, surrounded by Japanese without a word of English between them. And then we had Japanese breakfast together - just 13 dishes each! We are glad that we are not washing-up…
We are in Beppu, a place virtually unknown to foreign tourists on Japan’s third largest island of Kyushu. Beppu is renowned for the many colourful natural springs that we will be visiting later. But first, we took a local train to the onetime samurai stronghold of Kitsuki. This is the castle that overlooks the sea…
Like many of Japan's 'ancient' castles this is actually a fairly recent reproduction. Following a disastrous fire in 1800, there’s not much that is original in this once important city. Relatively few foreigners venture this far off the beaten track, so there is almost no information in English. However, we soon discovered that anyone wearing a kimono got free entry to all the historic sights. These two young women from Tokyo were enjoying a freebie in the garden of the Ohara Residence…
The Japanese name, Ohara, should not be confused with the Irish O’Hara. The fearsome looking samurai warriors who lived here were well armed and had excellent armour and would take offense at being called Paddy…
The thatched Ohara Residence was the home of the highest ranking Kitsuki samurai – the Ohara clan – from 1603 to the end of the Edo era in 1867, It is one of the several preserved samurai houses in Kitsuki that were built atop the cliffs and accessed by stepped inclines…
It’s still early spring and the cherries are only just budding; however, this japonica in the Ohara Residence garden was in full bloom…
And the warm sunshine is wakening all manner of trees… 
We are hopeful that the photogenic Japanese cherries will blossom in the next three weeks as we slowly make our way to Tokyo, but the many walled gardens with elaborate gateways in Kitsuki are pictures in themselves…
This featured blog entry was written by Hawkson from the blog Blissful Adventures.
Read comments or Subscribe
