We took up my hotel in Beppu City on July 16th. After bathing in the prominent spa town of Beppu, while I was wondering where to go the next day over a nightcap, I came across a slip of paper, which was handed out at the front desk at check-in. I didn't mind it, because I assumed that it was a mere flyer or something. Looking at it closely, it was a free ticket for several dozen hot spas in Oita Prefecture. That would be also one of the measures for boosting tourism.
I was going to visit Kunisaki Peninsula vaguely, in which lots of Buddhist temples are located, but I changed my mind to go for a drive to Kuju Highland to enjoy other "free" hot springs. My car, a Mercedes-Benz SLK200, went really well with the scenery of Kuju Highland.
To start off, we came by a suspension bridge, which is said to be the highest in Japan. I was interested in its height, but I suffer from acrophobia and I just took a picture of the bridge at enough distance as you can imagine from the following picture.
The last two pictures show Mt. Aso, which is compared to a lying Kannon, the Buddhist deity of mercy. The volcanic crater is at its facial part. The area you can see in the picture is inside the somma, i.e. the flat place between a somma and a volcanic cone of the double volcano of Mt.Aso. The opposite side of the lying Kannon is the seriously devastated area of the last earthquake which occurred in April. I really wish for their rapid restoration.
(Vocabulary)
somma 外輪山
１６日の夜は別府に宿泊した。日本でも有数の温泉を満喫し、寝酒をやりながら翌日にどこへ行こうかと考えているときに、チェックイン時にもらった書類の中に小さなチケットがあるのに気がついた。大分県内の温泉の無料入浴券だ。これもおそらく観光産業を活発化させようという試みの一つだろう。
仏教の歴史を学ぶために国東半島にある仏閣を巡ろうと思っていたが、そのチケットを利用してあちこちの温泉に浸かることにした。で、向かった先は久住高原。もとよりのんびり気の向くままの旅の予定だったので何の問題もない。別府から湯布院を通り久住高原へ。この道は実に快適でメルセデスベンツＳＬＫ２００がとてもよく似合う。何度も車から降りて写真を撮った。車が一段と美しく見えた。
まずは日本一の高さを誇るという吊り橋へ。地元の活性化のために生活には全く関係の無いこの橋を架けたという。高所恐怖症なので、橋を遠くから眺めただけだが大勢の観光客が渡っていた。
写真の最後の２枚は阿蘇山を捉えている。観音像が横になった姿に例えられ、顔の部分に活火山がある。この写真に見えている範囲は外輪山の内側で、元々は噴火口だった場所。噴火口の中に阿蘇山が盛り上がったというわけだ。この山の反対側がこの４月の地震で酷く被害を受けた場所。早い復興を祈るのみ。
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