Yudonosan

From Ga-san we went on to Yudono-san.
The atmosphere was quite different - unlike Gassan it was clearly a shrine (the torii below marks a shrine entrance) and had a definite money making feel to it.  In addition to the entry fee there was a 300Y bus that you could take up the mountain to the main shrine - 5 min bus or 40 min steep walk - it was a no brainer.  The  bus tickets were marked as being religious donations, which has favourable tax implications for the shrine, and were collected at the end which felt a bit dodgy.
In general it's fair to say that Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Japan operate as businesses and do not see social welfare as their responsibility (this is something I have a bee in my bonnet about so I am sure I will come back to it at another stage.)
We passed 2 groups of white robbed pilgrims walking down the mountain as we went up in the bus - my first impression was of the KKK...     The bus stopped next to a statue of a cow - statues of cattle are not that common at Japanese shrines; I guess as a mountain area where cropping was unviable cows assumed some degree of sacredness.  From the cow statue there was a stairway, leading down to the main shrine, flanked with signs announcing that taking photos was forbidden... it doesn't make a lot of sense to me that a mountain can be off limits to photos.   The photo ban extended to the shrine itself which was quite crowded.  (No objection to this part of the ban.)  You could pay 500Yen (6$) to take off your shoes, walk barefoot - very rare in Japan - along a path, wash your feet and come back.  I didn't particularly like the atmosphere, partly because it was crowded, and partly because it seemed purely a money making venture devoid of spirituality.  Both of us in need of something to eat, felt no need to linger. Of the 4 mountains we visited over silver week, I'd definitely rank it at the bottom.

Just as a piece of trivia, I read on Wikiepedia that in terms of the official list that grades shrines by significance, Yudono san's shrine is below both Gassan's  and Chokkai san's and on par with Haguro san's (which we didn't visit).

The torii at the entrance of Yudonosan

The cow shrine

The white bits you can see flank the walking paths - on the left down to the shrine, in the middle on a walking path inside the shrine.

Yamagata: Ga-san

We were up bright and early and after a quick dip in the onsen were on our way to Ga-san via Yamagata city.  Ga-san 月山 (which when you read it looks like Tsuki-yama or moon mountain) is one of 3 mountains, holy to Shinto, that make up Dewa Sanzan. (The three mountains of Dewa, Dewa being an old name for the region.) Had we been pilgrims we would have walked from mountain top to mountain top, fortunately we weren't.

Befitting tourists that come by motorbike, we planned to catch the ropeway part of the way up Ga-san and walk up from there, but we got there to find the ropeway under repair. The Pollyanna in me was glad they opted to repair it rather than risk a disaster on a busy tourist day.  It actually turned out to be a stroke of fortune as it was a beautiful climb with autumn leaves beginning to turn.

In addition to being a pilgrim destination, Ga-san is famed for skiing - apparently it is possible to ski here in early July.... which presumably means the pilgrimage season is very short.

Yamagata - Zao onsen Sat night

Zao is on the border of Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures. After stopping off at Zao - you can drive almost the whole way to the crater lookout - we headed down into Yamagata to Zao onsen where we stayed the night.

The road down to Zao onsen was quite lovely with autumn leaves in the higher places beginning to turn.

With its milky, sulfurous water it was plain to see why it was an onsen (hot springs) town.   The sulfur smell that hung over the town gave good reason to accept the veracity of warning signs on the public baths to take care with onsen cloths as the strong sulfur in the water would disintegrate fabric fibres.

The upside of 'famous' onsen town is, naturally, the onsen water; the down side is that the accommodation is invariably priced for the water rather than the accommodation.  (To be fair though we did book very late for a 5 day weekend.)

The place we stayed at had an onsen - the pictures of it make it look quite grubby - it was old but clean. The onsen culture there was very Tokyo (where I assume most of the guests came from) minimal eye contact, no speaking, no splashing, no bothering anyone, and minimal time spent in the onsen.   In contrast an onsen in Akita - where it is all locals using the onsen instead of the bathroom at home - there people soak, chat, do pedicures, scrub backs, in some cases sit on the floor to  scrub, stretch, do exercises, sit in every bath available, often spending an hour or even two.... perhaps the television programs in Akita aren't as good...

A quaint feature of the town was a public foot bath with excruciatingly hot water - the 8 or so year old girl sitting next to me assured me that though it was hot, I would get used to it....such wisdom...

Zao

Sat am. saw us sleep in beyond the alarm; 6 was always going to be optimistic.

When setting out, a bit before 8, most cars northbound cars were Tokyo plated, by the end of our first break however much more of the traffic was from places south of Tokyo. 1 As could reasonably be predicted, on a 5 day holiday, traffic was heavy. The information sites that give frequent updates on the 'jutai' or heavy traffic situation had little cheery news; the 'jutai' extended from Tokyo through Saitama, Tochigi, Fukushima and Miyagi with expressway traffic travelling at 30-50kms for much of the trip. A BIG bonus of motorbike travel is being able to weave through traffic at a standstill.

Turning off the Tohoku expressway at the exit for Zao less than 300 ks but 6 hours laters, we stopped for some much anticipated lunch - soba noodles.
Inspired by Japan Rail East's promotion posters from a couple of years ago,  I've been wanting to go to Zao for a long time. Could it really be as impressive as the posters?

It was. It was exactly like the posters. A comment which could be interpreted as one of disappointment, but it wasn't. It was spectacular. It was also very cold and very windy, which meant we opted not to climb to the shrine at the top. My ears were happy with the decision. It reminded me of being in Kaifeng where the Siberian winds necessitated buying a scarf to cover my head - ears- as well as one for my neck. Brrrrrr... no old ladies on the mountain selling silk scarves. Perhaps that's a business idea for when the new govt. axe Hiro's job....

Footnotes

1. Japan divides number plates into quite small areas - usually a couple for each prefecture - so you can tell with reasonable accuracy where a car is from. Just in case you are interested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Japan.