Dakigaeri Valley and Lake Tazawa

Keenan and I went adventuring today with Eric, Ninoosh and Bean, on a Monday(!) thanks to an extra day off in honor of Veteran's Day tomorrow. This trip took us south and west to Dakigaeri Valley, Kakunodate and Lake Tazawa in Akita Prefecture. It was a lot of time in the car (between 7-8 hours) but we had a great day with friends and saw new places.

Zoomed in: B is Dakigaeri Valley, C/D are Kakunodate

Our first stop was Dakigaeri Valley or Dakigaeri Gorge, I'm not sure which is the official name. The gorge is 10 km long and had an old 8 km logging trail that is now used as a hiking trail. Unfortunately, due to a rock slide, only about 1 km of the trail is still accessible. It winds along the side of the rocky cliff walls and through some dark caves before finally reaching the highest waterfall along the trail, Mikaeri Waterfall. We had hoped to be here at peak time for fall foliage, but we missed it by just a few days, most of the leaves had already fallen. We were a little disappointed, but we pretty much had the place to ourselves rather than having to deal with crowds during the most popular visiting time of the year. The water in the river is an unusual light aqua color, it has such a high acidity that fish can't survive and the farmers can only use it for crops after it has gone through a treatment facility. We had an overcast day and it was still a beautiful color, can only imagine how it would look on a sunny day. Perhaps we'll make it back sometime and see for ourselves?

The hike started out passing a little shrine then across a large bridge before taking us along the sides of the gorge and through tunnels before finally ending at the 30 meter tall waterfall.

Driving from Misawa to the Dakigaeri Valley took about 3 hours and was 200 km (125 mi).

GPS coordinates: 39.608916, 140.654290

Ahh man...where else will I get any?

My favorite pic of this awesome little fam! The Lion King music comes to mind...

Our next stop was Kakunodate, a town founded in 1620. As a former castle town, everything was built around the castle. There's no longer a castle, but many of the samurai residences still exist and are said to be very good original examples. Several of the houses are open to the public for tours, we didn't check any of them out though. We drove down the main samurai street and checked out the downtown area. We shopped around looking for the perfect piece of kabazaiku (cherry bark craft) to take home as a souvenir. Kabazaiku is an art form that originated in Kakunodate, lower ranking samurai started making the products in the 1800's as a side job to get more income. All the products (from tea caddies to platters to canes) are beautiful and are still only produced in this part of Japan. I got an awesome square platter with a cherry blossom inlay, it's hard to see the detail in the picture though.

GPS coordinates: 39.598029, 140.563608

My piece of kabazaiku.

After our short visit to Kakunodate we headed to Lake Tazawa. We were disappointed that the clouds didn't clear, but they made the scenery mystical which goes perfectly with the legends about the area. The lake is small enough we had time to drive around the whole thing, stop for pictures and get fresh brewery beers in about 45 minutes. From late April to early November there are boat rides available on the lake, we think they were already done for the season.
Lake Tazawa is the deepest lake in Japan, about 423 meters deep. That's 1,388 feet deep, wow! There are only three lakes in the USA deeper than Tazawa. On a clear day the water is a deep cobalt blue, with the clouds today...not so much.
One of the lake's famous features is the Statue of Tatsuko. Legend has it that Tatsuko was a beautiful girl who wanted to preserve her beauty forever. She prayed to Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy for 100 days before Kannon told her to drink the water from the lake. Tatsuko began to drink the water and it would not satisfy her thirst, she realized she was turning into a dragon and sunk into the lake. In a lagoon north of the lake there was a man that also became a dragon, when he learned of Tatsuko he moved to Lake Tazawa and they fell in love. Because the lake has two stubborn masters, it does not freeze over even in the coldest of winters. The bronze statue has become a symbol of the lake since it was placed here in 1968.

GPS coordinates: 39.727284, 140.661360

Along the shores of the lake are several shrines, shops, hotels and a brewery, Orae. We sipped our brews, let Bean stretch and watched the sun go down before driving to Morioka for some jajamen at Hot JaJa and then heading home. Was a lot of car time and weather that wasn't perfect, but still a great day of new things with friends!

How to eat Jajamen!

Up next: November Randomies