Hiraizumi

After a Japanese set breakfast, we took taxis to Hiraizumi Station to catch a local bus for the drive through the pleasant countryside to Geibikei.
The first activity of the day was paper-making with a porridge liquid and then adding colours and leaves to make a pattern. The picture was labelled with me name and board-number and put outside to dry. They were forwarded to the Blossom Hotel in Tokyo in case we wanted to take them home but I'm unsure whether anyone did.
We went to the Yugendo limestone cave which had been discovered in 1980. We alked through passageways and up and down stairs to see fossils and shrines.
Taxis returned us to Geibikei where we ate our snack lunches besides the Satetsu River before boarding a punt to take us into the Geibikei Gorge There were beautiful autumn colours on the 120m cliffs. We saw a black kite, cormorants, and carp. The boatman sang a local song in the otherwise peaceful surroundings.
Two local trains took us back to Hirazumi via Ichinoseki with a short walk from the station to the hotel in light rain.
Dinner was another Japanese set meal dressed in our yukata gowns.Read more