From Kyoto to Fukuyama

From Monday, May 4th to Saturday, May 9th, from Kyoto to Fukuyama

To write this article, it was difficult to find new inspiration after visiting the two most important cities in Japan.

On Monday, May 4th, we left Kyoto under a very grey sky, heading towards the islands of Shikoku and Hyushu. The former is about 350km away. The roads are located in less populated areas of the country, passing through towns and mountains.

Shortly after our departure today, we witnessed a Buddhist procession: the transport of a Mikoshi to a shrine. This is a statue mounted on a frame and carried by about twenty bearers. The procession wound its way through the village streets to reach the Buddhist shrine. In contrast to the Christian tradition, this procession includes a blessing at the end.

The rest of the day is very quiet and we end our day in Takarazuka, a city that is not really interesting, where it seems few tourists linger.

Children’s Healthy Growth Holiday

On Tuesday, May 5th, we climbed our first real mountain pass. An 8km ascent, quite difficult and on top of that, it was hot. The road was pleasant, and we then passed through some small villages. In one of them, we stopped at a classic car show, which, incidentally, did France proud with the presence of a good old Renault 4L.

We ended our day in Himeji, known in Japan for its beautiful castle nicknamed the White Heron because of its color. It’s a pleasant city with monumental covered shopping arcades; it’s quite impressive and unusual. As it’s Children ‘s Day, there’s a lot of activity in the streets. It’s also a day when families traditionally:

• To eat kashiwa-mochi (rice cake wrapped in oak leaves) and chimaki (sticky rice).
• Also, the Koinobori are flown in the air. These are windsocks shaped like carp; the fish that symbolizes courage and perseverance because it is known for swimming upstream against the current. This day also marks the end of Golden Week, a week with four public holidays.

A town, a castle

The next three days we continued our journey towards the island of Shikoku with few particular events.

We will have the opportunity to visit two other castles and their grounds; Okayama Castle is black and Fukuyama Castle is white. They are built in the same style. They often house museums recounting Japanese history. For us visitors, understanding them is virtually impossible due to the lack of even minimal English translation and also our unfamiliarity with Japanese history.

A fishing village

The journey takes us through the fishing village of Hinase. Here you’ll find oyster beds, and the main catch is scallops. Interestingly, oyster shells are crushed to make substrate, while scallop shells are returned to the sea to create artificial reefs.

Sanctuary:

On Friday, May 8th, we visited Kibitsu-Jinja Shrine. It’s perched high in the mountains, and its entrance is through a 400-meter-long kairō, a tunnel made of torii gates. A beautiful temple built into the mountainside, overlooked by tourists. We ended our day in Fukuyama, where we decided to take a rest day after a rather intense week of cycling.

Meetings

• Eric is a Brazilian who lives between the USA and Brazil. He’s cycling across Japan before heading to Hungary for a north-to-south trek. Afterward, he plans to return home. He’s athletic and participates in numerous Ironman triathlons.

• We also encountered many Japanese people who spontaneously stopped to give us water or cakes. It was a nice touch, but the encounter was always brief and rarely resulted in a photo.

A philosophical moment: can we imagine a French driver who drives slowly, respects speed limits, waits patiently behind a cyclist to avoid crossing the solid white line, and only uses their horn in emergencies? I don’t know, but in Japan, with very few exceptions, this is the behavior of all drivers.

Did you know: In Japan, speed limits are between 30 and 50 km/h in cities, 60 km/h on secondary roads, and between 80 and 100 km/h on highways. There are never any speed limit signs on the roads unless otherwise indicated.

Our route: we covered 329km from May 4th to 9th. Find the route map by clicking HERE