豊岡市畑上ライド「後編」 Toyooka, Hatagami Ride (Part 2)
On the way to Kumihama Station, I saw a bird in Omiya that I'd never seen before. Both it's body and beak were bigger than the other birds I usually see. I thought it might be an Oriental White Stork [kounotori]. Then, after I left the mountains and was riding along the Maruyama River, I saw another one of these birds. All I got was it's back every time I tried to take a photo. After about 10 photos, I finally got a good shot. After returning home, I looked it up, and indeed it was an Oriental Stork. Until a few years ago, this bird was extinct in Japan. But in 2007, a hatchling was reported in the wild for the first time in 40 years. It's now classified as endangered and can only be seen in this area of Japan.
The Columnar Joints of Seiryudo The formation that looks like columns separated by fractures in the granite is called columnar joints. Amongst the Genbudo Park caves, the Seiryudo Cave's columnar joints are especially beautiful. These columnar joints are formed when the hot lava hardens and constricts through the process of cooling | How columnar joints are formed. Basalt forms when lava flows. Fissures form on the surface of the lava when it cools and constricts. When the fissures are homogeneous they form hexagons. As the inner lava cools, the joints on the surface extend towards the center. The columnar joints from the surface are linked, and in addition, horizontal platy joints can also form. |
Genbudo Cave In the Edo Period (1603-1868) this place was called Genbudo Cave, and then in the Meiji Period (1868-1912) the word for granite in Japanese became 'genbugan' (named after this place). Here you can see beautiful columnar joints that were formed by volcanic activity 1.6 million years ago. | Columnar Joint When lava cools and hardens, the cracks that appear are called joints. The columns formed by these cracks are called columnar joints. |