Category: LOVE Imabari

Isn’t this tree magnificent? It stands front and center on the grounds of the Oyamazumi Shrine.

Located on the island of Omishima, Oyamazumi Shrine is said to have been built in 594. It is the head shrine to over ten thousand Yamazumi and Mishima shrines throughout Japan and many come to pray to Oyamazumi-no-kami, the God of mountains, sea and war.

The shrine itself is surrounded by many camphor trees, but there is one you can’t miss. Said to be over 2,600 years old, it stretches its branches across the sky from where it stands in the center of the shrine grounds. It even has a name, “Ochi-no-mikoto-oteue-no-kusunoki (乎知命御手植の楠),” so you know it’s pretty special.

It may have been due to the surrounding trees but the grounds of the shrine felt very quiet, even though there were many people about. We unfortunately didn’t have time to visit the Treasure museum, which looked really interesting. I’m hoping I can visit some day. Apparently in the ancient days, whenever someone won a war after praying for victory at this shrine, they would gift their armor as a tribute to the Oyamazumi God. So they have quite the collection here, many which are designated as a National Treasure. I’ve heard rumors of a body armor that may or may not have belonged to a female.

Also, if you’re in Japan, you may have heard of Hitori-zumo (一人角力), an important match where a sumo wrestler goes against the Spirit of Rice (稲の精霊). The outcome is said to have an affect on the year’s harvest. Good thing so far the Spirit of Rice has won every time 😉

Here are some photos:

OYAMAZUMI SHRINE (大山祇神社)
3227 Miyaura, Omishima-cho, Imabari JAPAN
愛媛県今治市大三島町宮浦3327番地
TEL: 0897 82 0032

OYAMAZUMI SHRINE TREASURE MUSEUM (大山祇神社 国宝館)
TEL: 0897 82 0032
HOURS: 8:30am-5:00pm
FEE: Adults 1,000 yen, Students 800 yen, Children 400 yen

Isn’t this a great view?

You may have heard that Imabari is promoting itself as a cycling town. And it seems to be catching on, I see more cyclists on the streets everytime I go back home.

Well, when my dad first retired a couple years ago, he bought a bike with 16 gears. My dad’s cousin had been participating in the Shimanami Kaido bike race that the city promotes and invited my dad to join her. I should mention that my daddy is the best but not really the fittest person on the planet. So we were all pretty excited when we learned that he would be cycling and getting in some exercise!

After the weekend of the race, I called home to see how he did in the race. He said, “yokatta yo (it was okay).” But he didn’t sound 100% satisfied. He also said that he’d be entering the next race and was determined to make better time and I thought, wow he’s really getting into cycling! My dad gave the phone over to my mom and I expressed how impressed I was that he was actually training and getting exercise through this race. But she says, “Nani itteru no (What are you talking about)?”

“Gear no ohii bike wo katta dake yo (He just bought another bike with more gears)!”

So as you can imagine, my daddy’s cycling career did not last, although he did get a better time in his next (and last) race, and now we just have two great bicycles sitting in the garage.

Well, this Silver Week, my sisters and I decided to make use of the bicycles. We didn’t do the Shimanami Kaido course (like Dru did!) but kept it local and went to my favorite corner of Imabari.

Osumi Kaigan Park is a very local spot at the northern tip of Imabari. We’ve been swimming here since we were younger, visiting our late grandmother, and I have a ton of great memories. What’s great for hardcore cyclists is that Osumi Kaigan also has camping grounds. So you can pitch a tent and even have a barbeque by the sea. There’s also an observatory with a great view of both the Seto Inland Sea and the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge.

We had a fun afternoon cruising the streets of Imabari. Definitely got our dose of exercise that day!

Here are some photos:

OSUMI KAIGAN PARK (大角海岸公園) 
893-1 Otsu Namikata-cho, Imabari-shi Ehime JAPAN
愛媛県今治市波方町波方乙893-1
PARKING: 80 cars
ENTRANCE FEE: free

Heading home for the holidays is always a treat.

This September, the 5-day holiday Silver Week was back on the calendar and gave us an extra long weekend.

Silver Week first became an “official term” in 2009, when the stars first perfectly aligned. It’s a combination of the weekend, Respect for the Aged Day and Autumn Equinox Day. As one holiday is always on a Monday, due to the Happy Monday System, and the other an astronomically determined holiday, depending on the year, it becomes a consecutive holiday. And with the help of a law that automatically makes the day sandwiched between public holidays a holiday of its own, it becomes a 5-day weekend.

God bless whoever made that law.

My baby sister was staying with me in September, which I loved. Living alone has its perks but having someone there to welcome you with an “Okaeri-nasai!” is pretty great, too. Not to mention, not having to do the dishes by yourself. Ha.

As Silver Week isn’t due back on the calender until 2026, my sisters and I took full advantage of it this year to head back home to Ehime. We rarely fly home together, due to schedule conflicts, but this time I got to take extra time off work and my baby sister and I both got on the same flight to Matsuyama. Other than the usual family dinners and catching each other up on everything, I’ve noticed that there are certain things our family does every time we’re back together at home.

1. We bring out the old family albums and go through them for the millionth time. There are some photos that just crack everyone up each time. I wish I had a record of everything we remember and notice from these photos. Sometimes all six of us have different memories from the same photo, which I find fascinating.
2. We play the piano and any other instrument lying around. Seeing how close our neighbors live, my dad rarely plays the trumpet at home. But both my parents play the ocarina, half of us play the piano, and my dad and baby sister have a great voice. Not quite the Japanese Von Trapp family, but we do appreciate music. And my brother lets us know whether it’s good music or not with his facial expression 🙂
3. This is just us girls (mom+sisters) but we have a drawer full of manga we collected during our junior high/high school years. I have a number of Mitsuru Adachi‘s older manga. Also very old school manga like Hot Road and Tenshi Nanka Janai. My sisters also have various series such as Naruto and One Piece. When we have the time, we all just grab a manga and dive in. This time I finally read the entire series of Slam Dunk! (And yes, it was good as every one says it is!)

Wow, this ended up being a fairly long post. But then again, I do tend to be long-winded when it comes to family. Don’t we all? (What, no?)

Well, I have a few other Silver Week posts coming up, so you’ve been warned!

Here are some photos:

What are some things you always do when you’re with family? x