Egesz elviselhetoen kipihentem magam a nekem jutott hatvan centis matracon. Erkezes elott ugy egy oraval ebredek. Ami nem olyan jo hir, hogy Teodoranak kisse faj a torka a japan modi szerint irto hidegre allitott legkondi miatt. Remeljuk hamar elmulik.
Kagoshima kikotoje elso latasra nem tul biztato... de masodikra sem
kikotnek minket
A kikotoben rovid teblabolas utan magunkhoz terve indulunk egy gyorsetterem fele reggelizni. Jol esik a tojasrantotta piritos kenyerrel mumadarcsicserges kisereteben. Kovetkezo hajojaratunk egy masik kikotobol indul Yakushima fele. Ezt a mintegy feloras utat stoppolassal oldjuk meg. Hamarosan egy kedves bobeszedu holgy vesz fel kocsijaval, aki nem egeszen oda menne, ahova mi igyekszunk, de azert egeszen a hajojegy irodaig elvisz minket. Ugy latszik Japanban ez mar csak igy megy, ha valaki stoppost vesz fel. Sot, mivel kisse nehezen talaljuk a keresett kikotot, meg erre arra kiteroket is teszunk. Betevedunk pl erdeklodni a japan partiorseg orulten uvoltozos dzsudo edzesere, ahova mint megtudtuk szigoruan tilos barkinek is bekukkantania, igy kedvesen de hatarozottan ki is kiser az egyik harcos. Am ugyanazzal a lendulettel szinte futolepesben vezet el minket egeszen a nem tul messzi kikotoepuletig, annak pedig megfelelo ajtajaig. Szamurajos meghajlas, elkoszon. Hat igy. A holgy meg tavozoban ugy integet, mintha csak kedves unokaoccset hozta volna ki a hajora felesegevel.
a Hibiszkusz "kikotoepulete"... nem csoda hogy nem talaltuk meg rogton
a Hibiszkusz
bepakolas
Delelott tizenegy korul jarunk, es hajonk este hatkor indul. Korulboklaszunk a kornyeken, megebedelunk egy vasarcsarnok elotereben. Az a gondolatunk tamad, hogy jo lenne kiprobalni hogyan mukodik utcai eloados tervunk. Igy a kovetkezo mintegy ket oraban szekelyes doromb improvizaciokat hallhatott a kagoshimai elegge ritkasan arra setalgato Nagyerdemu. Megkerestem az ebedem arat.
halpiac a Hibiszkusz kikotoje kozeleben
Yakushima szigete tulajdonkeppen nincs nagyon messze, de az altalunk valasztott oda vezeto hajout elegge trukkosen lett kitalalva. Harom es fel orai ringatozas egy lepukkant oreg cargo-lady-n, a rozsdasodo, rozsaszinu "Hibiszkusz"-on es elobb Tanegashima-n kotunk ki. Azon a szigeten, ahol a Japan urkozpont is talalhato. Ebbol mondjuk, mivel este fel tizre erkezunk, mi csak egy meretes kavicsrakast latunk, amit megvilagit a meglehetosen vilagveginek tuno teherkikoto egyik gyenge lampaja. Itt megejszakazunk a hajon, es masnap reggel csak atslisszanunk Yakushima-ra, mintha mi sem tortent volna. Es itt mar augusztus 8-an, csutortokon jarunk.
Hajonk, mely Akebono (Pirkadat) nevre hallgat, hatalmas, jo karban levo keso kozepkoru holgy (mert ugye a hajokrol azt tartjak, hogy kivetel nelkul mind nonemuek…).
"Pirkadat"
Jol birja a tempot, lenduletes meltosaggal hasitja a hullamokat. Vagyis hasitana, ha lenne hullam, a tenger ugyanis tukorsima. A lakosztalyunkat, melyet mintegy huszonot utastarssal kedvesen megosztunk, eloszor mozgolepcson, aztan meg tovabbi lepcsozesekkel, folyosokon kanyargassal kozelitjuk meg az otodik emeleten. A tagas nappaliban a sarokban azert megtartunk magunknak egy kb szazhusz centi szeles savot (kb ennyi ket egymas melletti matrac szelessege egyutt), a tobbi teruletet felajanljuk a mogottunk beozonlok szamara. Kozvetlenul mellettunk egy edesanya telepedik le negy eleven kisgyermekevel, akik idonkent kedvesen oldalbarugnak, ugyhogy nem unatkozunk.
az elso kis sziget, mely mellett elhaladunk, Minna-jima
a fedelzeten - hatterben jellegzetes hegycsucsarol konnyen felismerheto Ie-jima
Meglepo, hogy az olcso repulojaratok mellett milyen sokan dontenek a hajozas mellett. Mondjuk a legtobb utas az utba eso kisebb szigeteken szall fel, ahol az egyetlen osszekottetes a kulvilaggal valoban csupan a naponta erkezo hajo. Az ut elso feleben aranylag gyakran, mintegy masfel, ket orankent kikotunk valahol. Ez az esemeny mindegyre valami latvanyssagot, erdekesseget lop a tenger egyhangusagaba. Mondjuk azert nem panaszkodom, a nyilt tenger napfenyben csillogo, vegtelenbe veszo latvanya is gyonyoru, mely bekesseget araszto elmeny.
Az elso kikoto az Okinawarol is szabad szemmel lathato Yoron szigete. Korabban egyszer mar jartunk itt, eltoltottunk par csodas napot egy ismeros holgynel latogatoban, ugyhogy lelekben integetunk is neki a hajorol.
ozonlik a nep a hajora a yoron-i kikotoben
a yoron-i kikotoben a kotelet eloldo munkas vigyazallasban bucsuztatja a hajot
Mindekozben pedig a kulso fedelzetrol amulva bamulva figyeljuk az oriasi kontenerekkel villamgyorsan szaguldozo villas rakodogepeket, amint kicserelik a hajo vegtelennek tuno gyomraban a tomenytelen szallitmanymennyiseget. Megneznem egyszer szivesen mekkora rakodotermeket rejt magaban egy ilyen hajo, de oda szigoruan tilos egyszeru, sarga sisak nelkuli halandoknak belepni. Igy csak a kepzeletemre hagyatkozhatok kovetkezteteseket levonva a ki be jaro teherautok, hosszu kamionok meretebol. Nem telik bele talan husz perc, es a kikotoben tornyosulo szallitokontenereket maris mind elnyeli a kedves teltkarcsu holgy, Pirkadat-asszonysag. Indulhatunk tovabb.
Kovetkezo allomasunk Okinoerabu sziget. Az utrol nem sok ujat tudok irni, igy nem is teszem. Tobbnyire a kulso fedelzeten bameszkodunk, elvezzuk a mintegy fel futballpalyanyi szabad teret. A masik felpalya szinten el van zarva az egyszeru sisakmentes halandok elol. Okinoerabu kikotojeben is amulunk bamulunk a rakodomunkasok munkatempojan, no meg a kontenerek mereten es mennyisegen, de mar csak annyira, mint akik mar lattak ilyet eletukben.
Tokinoshima kikotoje
epp egy kamion parkol be a hajo gyomraba
A nap tovabbi reszeben megallunk meg Tokunoshima-n, es sotetedes utan Amami-o-shima-n. Az esemenyek meglepoen hasonloan alakulnak mindket helyen, ugyhogy ha kisse visszatartjuk izgatottsagunkat, mar egesz jol sikerul a helyiek megokosodott kozonyos tekintetevel szemlelni a "megunt mindennapos" latvanyt.
a hajofedelzeten siman lehetne focizni is - ha szeretnek focizni... de nem szeretek :)
lement a nap
az elutazo edesapa szines papirszalagokat dob le a csaladtagoknak, melyek a hajo tavolodasaval elszakadnak... bevett bucsuzkodasi forma
a parti orseg hajoja Amami-o-shima kikotojeben
Amami-o-shima-t elhagyva mar csak a vegallomason, Kagoshimaban kotunk ki, ugyhogy egesz ejszakas hajozas kovetkezik megszakitas nelkul.
My friend from university, Takamaru invited us to his village on Yakushima. There is no mobile phone signal where he lives, so we communicated in emails and before we had left Okinawa i told him we would be coming Thursday morning (6 Aug) but since then I could not connect to internet. Well, we know the name of the village and his name, so I was sure we would find him. We were picked up by a local farmer with a small truck and I could smell freedom riding on the back of the truck on the winding roads with the sea to our right and wide green mountain forests on our left. When our driver heard we are heading to Shirakoyama and we don't know exactly where, he offered to take us all the way. When I saw the road going uphill from the main road following a river for about 4km I was very thankful for the extra ride. It turned out that Shirakoyama is not a traditional village, it is more like a settlement in the forest, with about 15 households scattered in the woods, mostly hidden under the trees. After some investigation we found Takamaru's house and him and his parents were quite surprised as we turned up at their front door at their morning teatime. The Tetsuka family, as his dad told us, moved here about 25 years before. They already had four children and they lived in a small wooden hut for a year, until he built their house in the woods. I look at the tiny mum with bright eyes, and as i would try to compliment her to live with four kids in such circumstances she adds with a smile "one chilld was born while we were in the hut". Wow. And then two more in the family home in the woods, the last (seventh) kid my friend, Takamaru, who is a great guy full of ideas and energy to make them real. Right now he came home for two months from Okinawa to make a small house of cedar wood and bamboo, which could serve as a community space for the locals. He loves his home village and does everything he can to help it stay alive.
the frame of the building
with Takamaru
Like in the old Japanese rural homes, the fireplace is in the middle of the house. They make fire every day and cook there or sit around it like a campfire, talking, exchanging stories. Spending a week there I understand what Mr Tetsuka was telling me: it is essential for us to meet with the element of fire every single day. Fire is magical, it is mesmerizing. And this way we are reminded that these woods sustain our lives. Their water is directly from the clean river by the house.
The River
We were introduced to most of the locals right away, it looked like we are everyone's guests, I could feel a strong community. But it was somehow different. All the people living here came on their own iniciative and chose this lifestyle for themselves. They all have their story, they make the most of living in the wild and are proud of the way they have chosen. It looked like a great community that holds together but at the same time gives enough freedom for the members to find their true selves. it is something very rare to see (especially in one of the worlds most conformist societies). Later on the week we have met Dourinsan, a zen buddhist monk, who built his own meditation hall up in the woods. "I built my house, than the sleeping room for the meditators and I learned carpentry while doing that. The last work was the meditation hall, i wanted to make it the best I could". And it is an amazing piece of work, a silent sermon on mastery and patience.
We helped Takamaru with his work, which gave us a different task every day. We cut bamboo, cut cedar trees, tied branches to the frame of the house and prepared leaf-bouquets for the roof. As part of his project to bring community life into the village we organized a screening of Under the Same Sun in the community center, around 30 people came and many thanked us after the movie, they said it was inspiring for them. Well, it was a good exchange then, because their island has been very inspiring for us. They brought food and drinks with them, we ate smoked fish, deer and we also tried rice cooked on open fire in bamboo sticks.
invitation to our film screening
cutting bamboo
Very surprisingly, the sun was shining on us every day, on an island that is said to have the most rain in whole Japan. When we were hot we went down to the river for a bath.
Hunor and I, we lived in a small wooden building near the community centre and had our own fireplace. Some days (although almost every day we were invited to someone's house for lunch or dinner) we would make our own fire and cook pasta or sweet potatoes. The peak of our meeting with the wild was the lunch when we got some deer stew from Taka's mum and prepared toast for it on the open fire. Hunor was sitting there half naked, hairy chest, holding the pieces of bread on the end of a fishing spear over the fire to toast them. Then as we start eating, he finds something hard in the deer stew and guess what: it was a piece of pellet they shot the deer with. Well, I guess we need a bit of time to get used to the local lifestyle, but yes, we loved it.
washing machine (note the amazing view from the window!)
our home in Yakushima
toast on fire
before tchewing on he pellet :)
In the evening we would lay outside the house and look at the stars shining over us close as a blanket. Hunor loves to be in the woods again and listening to the river every night could make me trade in the sea for sometime too. We were both excited to be in nature and grasped every minute of it.
The river and the fireplace are addictive indeed. I tried to spend as much time with both, as I could.
Yakushima is famous all over Japan (and maybe even abroad) for the cartoon tales of Miyazaki Hayao, especially Mononoke Hime.
That cartoon was inspired by Yakushima's forests. Also, there is an enormous cedar tree, the Jomon sugi that is said to be seven thousand years old. We didn't go to see that tree because it is a big tourist attraction and after spending years in Japan we know what that means here: crowds of people, heaps of cameras and tons of rails. We chose a less-well known path that a friend advised us, leading up to another big tree, Ryujin sugi (the name means Dragon God Cedar tree)maybe not seven thousand, but two thousand years old, still enough to feel evanescent and tiny standing in awe in front of him or hugging as much as we could reach: a small part of the trunk. We met only one person on the whole trail, other that that we had the forest for ourselves,It was a rather tough hike uphill, but very rewarding too. Monkeys and deer observed us curiously as we passed them by. At one turn we were surprised by a cloud. Standing among the trees, looking at the white haze passing by the leaves and filling everything around us all of a sudden turned the sight into an enchanted forest.
On the morning of our departure we bid the river and the inhabitants of the forest farewell. Leaving the village, it rained for the first time in the ten days we spent at Yakushima. A short shower and the sun shone again. Mr Tetsuka was driving us to the port when his wife called: there is a beautiful rainbow in the sky above Shirakoyama . I am sure it is Yakushima saying farewell to Teodora and Hunor.
We are lucky to have a smooth ocean under us, so we hardly feel the rocking of the boat (although i had a hard time when i tried to practice dance on the top floor but that's too much to ask for, I understand).
The small islands of southern Japan make the trip exciting, there is always something on the horizon to look at: be it just a small rock, a green piece of land, or a small village at the foot of a volcano-mountain, not to mention the two big shows: sunset and sunrise.
Sakurajima volcano spitting smoke
sunset
sunrise over Sakurajima volcano
After leaving Motobu we have stopped in four ports.
Yoron Island
Yoron Port
Wadomari, Okinoerabu Island
Wadomari Port
Kametoku, Tokunoshima
Kametoku Port
Naze, Amami Oshima
Naze Porrt
and the following morning in Kagoshima, our final destination.
Kagoshima Port
From the port of Kagoshima we had to use our hitchhiking skills again to catch another ferry in the cargo terminal, heading for Yakushima. We didn't have to wait for long, holding our sign with a big friendly smile, when a lady ran up to us from behind. She told us she had seen our sign and was heading to the area we were, but couldn't stop right away, so she stopped in a nearby parking lot and ran back to offer us a ride. Amazing. We are spoilt. She insisted on taking us right to the port, which was very nice of her, because it turned out to be a deserted piece of land in the middle of nowhere.
by the port
There was only one building and we went to see if that was the terminal. Quite scary war-cry like sounds came from the second floor, and it turned out to be the training building for the japanese Self Defense Force, they were in karate outfits, doing a special training with the police. The leader was very surprised that we just walked in to their super secret training (although all the doors were wide open) but he was nice enough to show us the small metal container nearby that was the "terminal" of Rusty Lady Hibiscus, our vessel. It didn't seem too much fun to spend the next few hours in that box, so we set out to explore the area and were lucky enough to have a farmer's market nearby. We checked out the local fish, less colorful then in Okinawa. The local delicacy must be the flying fish, we could see a lot of it. After hanging out there eating our lunch box we thought it could be the right place to debut with our street performance, not many people but friendly, small place, no competition so we could take it as practice too. Hunor played his jaw harp for a good hour and we could manage to get some audience too. Not bad for a start. The only problem is that our sound system is so heavy, i don't know how long i will be able to carry it around. I hope our stuff will melt on the way and give us more freedom and flexibility.
colorful sweets at the market for obon festival
where is the toilet exactly?
The way from Kagoshima to Yakushima was relaxing, the sea is still mellow, the air is warm. We stop on the way in Tanegashima, which is the island of the Japanese Space Center. just the week before we came there was a rocket release, which is apparently a big thing, doesn't happen often. I have heard that the waves are also great on Tanegashima, so in my head I was already trying to make plans to stop there for surfing but hey, we were heading to Yakushima, the island of magical forests and millennial trees. The ferry spends the night at the port of Tanegashima and we arrive to Yakushima the next morning 7am.
