Walking Goto Islands: Day 3
Travel diaries: March 4th, taking the long route and reading the Silence.
I woke up to another sunny day, and this was the first day since I had arrived on the islands that I felt the need to take off my jacket while walking.
After catching up with some work emails and a quick breakfast in the common kitchen of Hostel Ta Bi To, I took the 9 a.m. bus to the northern part of the island. My plan for the day was to walk from Miyabara Catholic Church to Kishikumachi by taking the detours to Miyabara Observatory and Dondon-Buchi Waterfalls. With both detours, the walk would take me around three to four hours. Knowing there would be no open lunch places along the route, I bought my lunch at a very well-stocked Ellena Supermarket near Fukue Terminal.
The plan worked out nicely. While I had sunny skies and dry weather for the walk, some (very) dark clouds accompanied by a shy rain showed up as soon as I reached the bus stop.
My first stop, Miyabara Church, was built in 1971 to honor Miyabara's history as one of the settlements for the Hidden Christians of Japan. The church is strikingly modest. If it was not for the cross visibly standing out, one would have difficulty telling that it was a church but not a modest one-bedroom housing. The door was open, and I could tell that the church was still fully operating, possibly every Sunday (not the case for every church on Goto Islands).
After the quick stop at the church, the hike up to Miyabara Observatory took around 20 minutes. While you get a pleasant view of the vast ocean and the narrow cliffs, this is one sight you can safely skip if you are short on time.
The road then followed Toki Bay, where several people were doing day fishing. Unable to resist the secluding sunshine and the mesmerizingly blue water, I sat on the stairs of one of the docks for a good twenty minutes and had an (unnecessarily) early lunch.
Soon after, I was climbing up to the forest road that went through, unfortunately, a planted forest (very common in Japan). I, however, still enjoyed the change of scenery. Only two cars passed by, making the road feel like a designated walking route.
In an hour or so, I arrived at the signpost for Dondon-Buchi Waterfalls and took the detour. I have to admit that the sight was a little underwhelming (I did not even take any photos). I could have hiked a little further to see if the scenery got more exciting, but strangely, the atmosphere felt a little eerie, and I felt the urge to get back to the main route.
Almost right around the time that I reached the bus stop, the rain had started. While it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, if you do this walk on another day or drive by, I highly recommend Shimashoku Gino Italian restaurant located right next to the bus stop. I ate there during my first visit to the islands, and they have excellent and very reasonably priced lunch sets.
Scenery-wise, today's walk was a little less exciting than the previous two days, but I still enjoyed being outdoors for the better part of the day and getting a good four-hour walk in.
The highlight of the day was the Silence by Shusaku Endo, which I am almost halfway through (200 pages long). I first heard of the book when I watched the movie adaptation by Martin Scorsese and, therefore, hesitated to read it, feeling it would feel duplicative. But how wrong I was. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the book tells the story of two Jesuit priests who, against all valid warnings, traveled to Japan during the period when Christianity was banned in Japan with systematic persecution of those who disobeyed the ban - an era that led to the formation of Hidden Christian (Kakure Kirishitan) communities. Goto Islands, thanks to the remoteness, was one of the places where the Hidden Christians found or tried to find refuge.
Endo does an excellent job delicately delving into impossibly complicated topics of faith in the face of silence and endless forgiveness. I am not Christian, and I am not a religious person. I am, however, always intrigued (but not necessarily very pleased with) by the immense role religion plays in our societies and the question of what faith means. One of the reasons I loved Endo's book is that, while there are many references to the Christianity, the story at its core is what faith individually means for each of us, if it means anything at all.
As always, thank you for being here. More tomorrow. In the meanwhile, here is a link to the page where all Goto travel diaries are listed.
It makes me feel like reading Endo Shūsaku that my late Japanese mother loved :) Thank you for sharing these letters from a country I love so much Burcu :)