Livin' the McDream: Geibikei Gorge and Chuson-ji (Morioka-area Weekend Part 1)

It's Memorial Day weekend which means it's a long weekend! Yay! Now what to do? I had a few things in mind (surprised?)...we settled on checking out some places in Iwate Prefecture including Morioka and a couple spots just south of there. Morioka is about 150km (95mi) and 2 hours south of Misawa (when taking the toll roads, about ¥3500 each way). We actually started off the trip by going all the way south to the Geibikei Gorge (light blue marker) near Ichinoseki and Hiraizumi (took the Mizusawa Exit off the toll road, another hour and ¥1600 from Morioka).

The Geibikei Gorge is a 2km gorge formed by the Satetsu River, There are tall cliffs and rock formations that can be seen best by taking a 90 minute ride on a flat-bottomed boat. The boat ride (¥1500 per person) was fun and the river was really calm. The guide steered and propelled the boat along with a long pole and he sang us a folk song during part of the ride. We had to take our shoes off and sat on little cushions. Huge carp were swimming in the river and we fed them some fish food we'd purchased at the dock. The guide only spoke in Japanese and I'm sure he explained every important rock formation, cave and waterfall, of course we couldn't understand a word he said. Everyone else laughed frequently so he must have also had some jokes! We did get a little English brochure with pictures and explanations about the rocks so we weren't completely lost. At the turnaround point we got off the boat and were able to go for a short walk. There was a little hole in the rock wall across the river and we purchased some "undama" or "luck stones" and tried to throw them into the hole...our aim was not lucky today! They were 5 stones for ¥100. After the boat ride we checked out a couple of the souvenir stores (I got a hand woven vase made from vines and a sweet sugegasa (conical hat)) and we tried a not so bizarre flavor of ice cream.

Wisteria in bloom!

"Undama" or "luck stones."

Yes, my form was impeccable. Haha!

Here's a short video of the song our guide sang...

Flavors included: Tofu milk (No. 1 best seller), musk melon (No. 2 best seller), sakura flower "cherry blossom" (No. 3 best seller), green soybean "edamame", blueberry yogurt, jellyfish, grating apple sherbet, strawberry milk, wild vine sherbet, mango, green tea and horseradish "wasabi". We went with the blueberry...

Onward to Chuson-ji! Chuson-ji is a Buddhist temple complex in Hiraizumi that was founded in 850. (Dark blue marker on the map) It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The most famous part of complex is the golden temple, Konjikido. It was the first structure to ever be designated a Japanese National Treasure. There is also a museum that contains over 3,000 other treasures that survived a massive fire in the 1300's. Visiting the temple grounds is free, however, to visit Konjikido and the museum the admission is ¥800.

Konjikido was built around 1124 and is COMPLETELY covered in gold leaf (except for the roof). The inlay and decoration is amazing. It's housed inside of another building for protection, and unfortunately, pictures are not allowed. These are a few I'm borrowing from Chuson-ji's official web page: http://www.chusonji.or.jp/en/precincts/konjikido.html. The page also has more detailed info if you're interested...