My interest in revisiting the same sites I adventured to when I was here last time has waxed and waned. I took so many photos, had rich experiences that have changed my life, on one hand I would love to find new and exciting places to see, but the reality is that last time, I really did go everywhere on Kyushu. My question became, can I have new experiences in the same places? Of course! Nothing is ever the same, change is one of the constants of existence and thankfully for that I’m delighted to have re-adventured to Arita; the pottery town. I took Rachel and Silence and we strolled down the main road peeking in windows of closed pottery shops at vases, dishes, and ceramics of all sorts. There was a fair amount of road construction going on which did give the town a different feel than when my Tiger twin and I found this bright place last time. It is interesting how a dramatic sky and jack hammers change the vibration of an experience. I also noticed that the waters that Shaina and I played in last year were flowing, bright, and pristine, and this year the waterways were a bit cloudy with trash. After walking along the main road, we walked up to the Arita Dam which did prove to be just as beautiful as last time. The movement of light through clouds in the sky made for beautiful scenery. In addition, it was nice to hear birds rather than construction machinery, and smell the sweetness of the forest as opposed to exhaust fumes.
Just past the dam, I spotted a piece of pottery art that told the story of the Kurokamiyama Dragon. As the legend says, when you look right from the Kurokami Bridge, on the top of the mountain you will be able to see Tendoiwa. The second year of the Chokan (1164), in September, the villagers started complaining to Takamune Goto, who was the leader in the Arita area about a Dragon that occupied the pond called Shirakawa. The Dragon flew to Mt. Kurokami by way of a black cloud and would circle Tendoiwa with its body. The Dragon’s eyes shined like a mirror, he puffed out red fire, and acted violently. Rice crops were not able to be harvested and many people died. The people wanted the Dragon slain. The complaint was reported to the Emperor, who ordered Takamune to slay the Dragon aided by Hachiro-Tametomo Chinzei who was exiled to Kyushu as a punishment. Takamune went back to his home and gathered villagers to talk about destroying the Dragon. The villagers proposed to make a high pier on the surface of the pond and let a beautiful girl sit on that pier to lure the Dragon out of its lair, thus enabling his slaying. At the time, there was a beautiful girl called Manju in Koze, Takeo that was taking care of her sick mother and her younger brother. When she heard the rumor she thought that is she responded to the call to become a hostage she could make money to tend to her family and her brother could become a Samurai, therefore she allowed herself to become a hostage for the villagers plan. Manju sat down on the pier and very soon the Dragon appeared from the water with the black cloud and was just about to attack her when Hachiro-Tametomo Chinzei shot it with an arrow. The arrow went through the Dragon’s head and it soon died. The bridge at the front entrance to the dam was then named Manju bridge. A friendly local passing by gave us the oral transmission of the legend, in Japanese. Thankfully it was also written in the English or I may not have been able to share this story here.
Just past Manju Bridge, we crawled up a short trail to a rusted lookout point which provided a mesmerizing view of the dam bakced by Mt. Kurokami behind us. Descending from the Arita Dam, we had a short amount of time to get back to the train station. The trip concluded with another wonderful vending mahchine experience. Last year, I enjoyed watching Shaina drink Pungency tea while holding a browning banana to her face to invoke a smile, this year I enjoyed watching Silence drink a hot bean drink. I’m not sure which was worse, other than I can say I tried the bean drink and it was pretty disgusting. Imagine, semi-sweet, hot, milky, thick, soupy, beans in a can from a vending machine. The Arita train station is forever tainted by strange edible experiences ranging from hot soupy beans, to semi-rotten bananas, and all things pungent.
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