Tazawa ko

Lake Tazawa, or Tazawa ko as it is known in Japanese, is a caldera (volcanic crater) lake, and the deepest lake in Japan.  It is also apparently the lake with the second clearest water in Japan, though I am sceptical about how this could be determined. (Both Japan and China seem to enjoy ranking worthy sites -  'the five most scenic, the 3 best..., the 50 most.....' ) Scepticism aside, it was a worthy destination.
Lake Tazawa is embedded in folk mythology, though I will have to get a refresh from Hiro before attempting to write about it... it involved Lake Tazawa, Lake Towada (on the border of Akita and Aomori) and Lake Hachirotaro (a former lake in the west of Akita that was reclaimed for rice cultivation after the war). Beyond that I need to check.  My brief internet checkings give different accounts.

Tazawako used to have unique fish species. In the 1940s though, acid water from the nearby Tama River hot springs area was poured into Tazawa to dilute it, killing all but one species of very resilient carp.   So it's not a fishing destination, but in the summer people swim there - it is much less acidic than the onsen nearby.    The camp sites looked appealing...and it would make an accessible weekend from Tokyo - the  Shinkansen line runs to Tazawa ko then a short bus ride to the lake -  but not on a long weekend....

                                          Lake Tazawa

Boats on Lake Tazawa

                                            Tazawa ko with Akita Komagatake in the background

         Tazawa ko with Akita Komagatake in the background

Tazawa ko

         A really lame picture of a really lame statue... for some reason Japan has a disproportionate number of statues of naked women...(rarely of naked men). .Towada ko on the border of Akita and Aomori has a "lake maiden" that is very similar - though not gold.  It is apparently the highlight of the lake....never mind the nature... go figure..  It relates to the folk story I mentioned at the top.

The road to Tazawa

From Kitakami, the plan was to go north west to lake Tazawa on mountain roads.  (The map here has Kitakami marked, Tazawa is west of Morioka, east of Akita city).  On the way we passed numerous dams.  Even though only 8% or so of Japan's energy consumption comes from hydro power, dams seem to take a disproportionally large part of Tohoku, that said though, many of them are quite pretty.

A dam NW of Kitakami, alongside the Kitakami train line which runs between Kitakami and Yokote in Akita.  It's peak  snow melting season and water levels are extremely high.  Many trees are partially submerged in the photo above.

A river whose flow has been curbed by a dam

Snow in the mountains yet to melt

                                                         Signs of spring

                                           Mountain roads....

      

Mountain road - snow ahead - an abandoned snowmobile.

Snow covered mountain road... impossible to traverse - we turned back and followed a more major road to Tazawako.

http://www.welt-atlas.de/datenbank/karte.php?reg=&kat=&kartenid=6-390   (reference for the map)

Kitakami

Kitakami, a relatively unremarkable town on the Shinkansen line, is home to a large cluster of business hotels (hotels that are cheap and basic designed for business people who have overnight trips), and a lot of empty looking shops.  We had a dinner at an izakaya specializing in fish - it was good, but reminded me that shellfish that curl are wasted on me.....     The claim to fame of the city  is the Kitakami river, lined with cherry trees, and  strings of carp streamers that fly over the river in early May to celebrate children's day. 

Cherry trees by the Kitakami river

Carp streamers through the cherry trees

Down stream

Hiraizumi - Motsuji

We made our way down the hill, through a tunnel of cherry blossoms in full bloom, past the railway station and the bicycle rental shop to Motsuji, arriving half an hour before the 6pm closing time.  Like Chusonji,  it was largely destroyed by the soon to be Shogun, Mimamoto Yoritomo.  There is little evidence of its former grandeur but a peaceful garden with a lake and  irises donated by Tokyo's Meiji Shrine, and no other visitors made for a pleasant detour.

A translation of a haiku written by Basho, arguably Japan's most eminent haiku writer,  in the 1600s when he visited Motsuji.  According to the temple's information, he was reflecting on the life and death of Morimoto Yoshitsune, (brother of the shogun-to-be) a much revered folk hero in Japanese history who was forced to kill  his family and then himself rather than risking forfeiting the fiefdom of his protector.

A weeping cherry

Iris beds

"Coastal rocks" in the lake, with an unfortunately tacky looking dragon boat behind.

Late afternoon by the lake

http://www.motsuji.or.jp/english/keidai/tatemono/tatemono02.html