Japan 6.7: Iwami Ginzan, Omoricho, its Monkeys and Caves of 500 Arhats. The Inari Shrine and Tsuwano Castle.

   The next small town down the coast was Omoricho, known for its Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine.  We parked our car and walked just up the road to view.  We bought the combination ticket to see the Rakan-ji Temple and its related Caves of the 500 Arhats.  Behind the temple was a small cutout of the cliff face, with some neat buddhas.  Across the street was a series of small bridges connected to caves containing reportedly five hundred arhats.  An arhat is a Buddhist saint of one of the highest ranks.

  We backtracked to Iwami Ginzan Highway, the main road of the street, and walked north, admiring the architecture.

An awesome old fashioned vending machine, just like they used to have in the Edo period.

  Miles looked up and caught sight of a monkey on a nearby rooftop, and shortly afterward we saw a monkey hightailing it across the street.  We spotted quite a few of them in the surrounding hilltops.

Note the butterfly in front of the nearest monkey.

  The picture with the babies was the last one I was able to take, because at that moment, Miles dropped a bottle cap on the ground and they all grabbed the babies and fled.  We walked back down the street and spent time watching the swallows swoop in an out, as they had nests built into the underside of the wooden houses.

  We walked southwest along the road, in the direction of the Iwami Ginzan mine, but then we decided to double back and take the car.  We parked in the lot that said that vehicles were prohibited beyond that point.  We followed the path to the Shimizudani Refinery Ruins.  This hike was not at all well maintained, with flora overgrowth nearly hiding the path.  Miles turned back two thirds of the way through the hike due to the amount of insects.  I continued onward and all that I was able to find was a gated mine entrance.  There was a sign for a chute, but when I reached the bottom of the steps, I saw a small snake uncoil and there was a wasp nest near my feet, so I decided to turn back.

A cat on the street toward the mine.

The chute was at the bottom of these stairs, I assume at the end of the hill.

  I met up with Miles at the beginning of the trail and we continued up the road for another kilometer until we reached the entrance to the mine.  It was a long tunnel that we had mostly to ourselves.

  We checked into our hotel for the evening afterwards.  The following day we drove to our third small town in three days, Tsuwano.  This one was my favorite.  We drove straight to the Taikodani Inari Shrine.  It had an interesting machine in the front.

  We enjoyed the views and walked through the line of red torii gates.  It seemed to go all the way down into town, so we turned around and went back up.

  Ten seconds away was the rickety chair lift to the ruins of Tsuwano Castle.  It was a short walk to the rocks that indicated the former castle site.  There was a VR sign in the overgrown grass, advertising to expand the experience.  I preferred the nature.

  We checked into our hotel and Miles opted to stay in.  I walked to the opposite side of the train station and into the woods, to the creepy area surrounding the Otome Toge Maria Chapel.  There was a statue of someone in a cage and a massive book and cross, among this sterile and abandoned area.