I finally went to see Nunobiki Waterfall which I've wanted to see for a long time. But you can only see the waterfall when it has rained or there is snowmelt etc. Since this Golden Week holiday had plenty of rain, it was the perfect opportunity. It's located in Honjo, Ine Town, Kyoto Prefecture. My image of Honjo is a place that has a lot of monkeys and Tanuki (racoon dogs). But it is an origin of the famous legend of Urashima Taro, had a mountain castle (Honjo Castle) in the Sengoku period and also has a beautiful coastline.
ずっと前から布引の滝を見に行きたくて、やっと行けました。降雨日の翌日などでないと流れている滝を見ることができません。今年のゴールデンウイークに雨の日が多くて、いいチャンスでした。布引の滝が京都府、伊根町、本庄地区にあります。今までの本庄のイメージは猿とタヌキが多いところです。しかし、浦島太郎という有名な伝説の由来で、戦国時代に山城（本庄城）もあって、海岸もきれいな場所です。

Takiyama (Waterfall Mountain) Hiking Trail Entrance
To the foot of the waterfall: 870 meters.
To the mountain summit: 1,140 meters
This mountain trail is an ancient road and part of the 2.6 km path that was used for about 10 years from 1949 by junior high school students from Tsutsukawa to commute to school. Before entering the trail, put your hands together in front of the Jizo (guardian diety of children) and pray for a safe hike

I was thinking that this trail went closer to the foot of the waterfall. There are no signs or other markers down it, so if you go too far, the trail becomes a wild beast track and then disappears. I ended up in a really tough place to walk. And if that wasn't enough, I came super close to 2 venomous snakes and had a large tick crawling on my pants. Eventually I came across 3 red pegs in the ground and followed them back up to the trail. It was a bit of a wild detour.
この道が滝の近くに至ると勘違いしました。標識などが何もないから行きすぎたら、道が獣道になって、そして消えます。大変歩きにくいところに入ってしまいました。おまけに二つの毒蛇であるヤマカガシの近くに寄って、大きいマダニも私のズボンに付きました。　ついに赤い杭を3本見つけて、　登山道に出ました。ワイルド・ゾーンの中の遠回りでした。

布引の滝
滝の規模：落差96m、総延長284m
別名：雲引滝、浦島滝、熊野滝
由来：昔、浦島子が乙姫様からもらった玉手箱を開けたところ、白雲が立ち昇り、この山に棚引いて滝になったというで説がある。
Nunobiki Waterfall
Waterfall scale: 96m drop, Total length of 284m
Other names: Kumobiki Falls, Urashima Falls, Kumano Falls
Origin: There is a legend where when Urashimako opened the forbidden jeweled box that he'd received from Princess Otohime, smoke rose up and became this waterfall on the mountain.

思ったより布引の滝が素晴らしいです。
面白いアドベンチャーでした。（笑）
 Nunobiki Waterfall was much better than I expected.
​That was a fun adventure.

Sankin-kotai (alternate attendance) was a system during the Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo Period (1603-1868) where the roughly 200 daimyo (warlords) of Japan were required to typically spend alternate years in Edo (today's Tokyo) and their domain. The idea of this was to financially strain them making them unable to wage war. The daimyo built roads for the frequent travel. These major roads were called 'kaido'. Recently, I walked a section of Miyazu Kaido. It is paved with rocks, which is called 'ishi-tatami' (cobble paved). A large section of this stone pavement remains to this day.
先日、岩戸から普甲峠を越えたところまで参勤交代の道「宮津街道」を歩きました。この部分に石畳がまだ残っています。

Fuko Pass Stone Paved Road (Translation of the information board above)
Please look at the sketch map below. The part called 'Fuko Pass Stone Paved Road' (普甲峠石畳道) is an early modern period (from the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600) to the end of the Edo period(1603-1868))  road that runs from Gando (岩戸) to Fuko Pass (普甲峠), crosses the prefectural road (府道) and runs southwest, crosses the prefectural road again and then reaches 'Naka-no-Chaya' (中ノ茶屋). To this day, the stone pavement remains in places.
In times gone by,  this road was invariably used for the so called 'reverse order route' for the 33 Kinki Kannon temple pilgrimage. Now it's a bit rough, but It is said that it still had grass on both sides up until the postwar days and was used as a horse trail.
​To begin with, out of strategic necessity Takahiro Kyogoku, a warlord of the Miyazu domain at the beginning of the early modern ages, relocated the Kyoto road to here and in those days it was called Ima-Fuko Road (Current Fuko Road). Before that, the route from Kanayama through Chaya-ga-naru was used. That road was called Moto-Fuko Road (Former Fuko Road) after Ima-Fuko Road was completed. This road was also still traversable postwar. 

上記の説明板に「今」の漢字の「ラ」が「テ」になっている漢字があります。これは私の辞書に載っていませんが、その漢字の説明がここにあります。

ここでは府道を渡って標識を見るまでゲレンデの左側を上る。　Here you cross the Prefectural road and climb the ski field always keeping left along the tree line until you come to the sign.

面白かった。
色々勉強になりました。
昔の人の暮らしを想像しました。
That was intersting.
I learnt a lot.
I imagined the life of people centuries ago.

数ヶ月前に母が私に洞窟にある滝の写真を送信した。面白そうな滝と思って、検索した。兵庫県新温泉町にあることを知った。宮津市からシワガラの滝の駐車場まで約2時間半かかる。春にシワガラの滝に行って探検するとその時に決めた。行ってきましたよ。素晴らしいところでした。
A few months ago, my mother sent me a photo of a waterfall in a cave. It caught my interest and I Googled it and found out that it was in Shinonsen-cho, Hyogo Prefecture. It's about a two and a half hour drive to Shiwagara Waterfall from Miyazu. At that moment, I decided that I'd go there in spring and explore it. And I just did exactly that. What a fantastic place! Well worth the trip.

The car park at the entrance to Shiwagara Waterfall is small, but there is a bigger one 50 meters up the road with access to the trail.
シワガラの滝の入口に小さい駐車場があります。道路を約50メートル上るともっと広い駐車場があります。あそこにも入口があります。

The track to the top of the ridge is nice and easy. 尾根までの道が歩きやすいです。

尾根に分岐がある。左は桂の滝へ、まっすぐはシワガラの滝への道です。 There is a branch in the track at the top of the ridge. The left track goes to Katsura Waterfall and the one straight ahead leads to Shiwagara Waterfall.

Shiwagara Waterfall & Katsura Waterfal Warning Signs 
〇 There are dangerous areas ahead, so please keep both hands free.
〇 The (river's) water level suddenly rises with rain and becomes impassable.
〇 Return quickly when the weather turns bad.
〇 This is bear habitat. (Use) equipment such as bear bells. If you encounter a bear, immediately back up and leave the area without provoking it.
〇 Since this is mamushi snake habitat sandals and the like are dangerous. (long boots are recommended)
​〇 Be careful of dangerous areas, falling rocks, hornets, etc.
〇 Please have safe clothing, footwear, etc.

The track down the other side of the ridge is steep and requires good footwear.　尾根の向こう側の道がきつくて、滑らない安全な靴が必要です。

小又川渓谷に入ってから洞窟まで川を歩きます。まだまだあそこにシワガラの滝があることがわかりません。
After entering Komatagawa-Keikoku (ravine) you walk up the river to the cave. There is still no sign that Shiwagara Waterfall is up there.

I took my diving boots to walk up the river. You could try to rock hop up to the waterfall if you're agile, but you can't enter all the way into the cave unless you remove your shoes or have gumboots (rain boots). And it wouldn't be much fun walking back to the car with wet shoes. Also, the best angle for taking photos is from in the water.
川を歩くために私のダイビングブーツを持っていった。上手な方が川の水に入らずに洞窟まで行けるかもしれないけれども、洞窟の奥まで入れない。濡れた靴で車に戻ることが楽しくないでしょう。長靴を持っていた方がいいでしょう。最もいい角度から写真を撮るために水に入る必要があります。

あの倒木を渡ってから右に行けるけれども、バランスを失ったら非常に危険です。まっすぐに歩いて水に入った方がいいでしょう。
You can go right after walking across this log, but it is extremely dangerous if you lose your balance. It's probably better just to go straight and enter the water.

洞窟の手前にある滝の水が雨のように降っています。 The water of the waterfall just outside the cave is falling like rain.

シワガラの滝が素晴らしいところです。
行ってよかった！
お勧めします。
Shiwagara Waterfall is a fantastic place.
Well worth the trip.
​I recommend it.

I went to explore the old castle town of Izushi, Hyogo Prefecture. It's only an hour away by car. My three main goals of the day were to see the torii gates of Arikoyama Inari Shrine, Climb to top of the 321 meter high mountain where the inner keep of Izushi Castle was and then to have Izushi soba for lunch.
出石城下町を探検しに行きました。宮津市から車で1時間ぐらいかかります。私の三つの主な目標は有子山稲荷神社の鳥居をみること、有子山城跡（出石城跡）の本丸がある321メートルの山に登ること、昼食に出石皿そばを食べることでした。

I parked at Drive-in-Izushi (Izushi-Do Honten). It's a free car park and also has a restaurant, a souvenir shop, a toilet,  and a small free museum containing samurai weaponry, armor and some other things. From the car park is a walkway to the central sightseeing area. It takes about 5 - 10 minutes to walk thereドライブイン出石（出石堂本店）の無料駐車場を使いました。レストラン、トイレ、出石城下町資料館などもあります。資料館が無料で、刀、槍、薙刀、鎧のような武器などあります。駐車場から出石城下町街まで歩道があり、10分以内歩けます。

① Arikoyama Castle was built in1574 and Izushi Castle was built in 1604. The outer citadel is located at the foot of the mountain and the inner keep of Arikoyama Castle was located at the top of the 321 meter high mountain.
② You can see a 'shachi' (shachihoko) roof ornament on each side of the roof. A 'shachi' is an animal in Japanese folklore with the head of a dragon or tiger and the body of a carp. It was believed that this animal had the power to put out fire by making it rain. And thus temples and castles were often adorned with roof ornaments in the form of a 'shachi' in order to protect them from fire.
③ When I reached the edge of the forest at the end of this path, there  was a cute little squirrel running around. It came to within about 2 meters of me, but unfortunately I couldn't get a photo of it. Seeing the squirrel alone made the trip here worthwhile.
① 1574年に有子山城が築城されました。（出石城が1604年に築城されました。）2の丸はふもとにあって、有子山城の本丸は321メートルの山の山頂にありました。
② 屋根にしゃち（しゃちほこ）という飾りがあります。しゃちは空想生き物で、龍（トラ）の頭をもち、鯉（魚）の胴体を持っています。しゃちが雨を降らせて、火を消す力を持っていると信じられていました。ですので、昔は神社と城を火から守るためにしゃちが屋根に設置されました。
③ 私はあの道をまっすぐ歩いて、林縁に可愛くて小さいリスを見ました。私の近くに（約２メートル）来ましたが、写真が撮れませんでした。このリスを見ることだけで出石の旅に満足でした。

The Shinkoro clock tower is 150 years old. The clocks face is on the other side.　辰鼓楼(しんころう)は150年前に完成されました。時計台の後ろ側の図です。

After looking around the foot of the mountain, I prepare to climb up to the top of the mountain to look at the ruins of the inner keep of Arikoyama Castle. There is a track going straight up the front of the mountain of which the entrance is where the torii gates are. But I plan to cycle up there, so I'm taking a different route.
出石城下町を巡ってから有子山城跡の本丸に登る準備をしました。（有子山稲荷神社の鳥居道から）山の正面に登山道がありますが、私はマウンテンバイクで登りたいです。ですので、別の道で登ります。

While riding up the valley, I spotted an endangered oriental stork.　山道に向かっている途中に絶滅危惧種であるコウノトリを見ました。

思ったよりきつかった！ほとんど上りでした。シンドカッタ！帰りは速かったけど。　It was steeper than I thought it would be and it was uphill most of the way. That had me huffing and puffing. The return trip was  pretty fast though.

The stone walls of the central keep of Arikoyama Castle.　有子山城の本丸の石壁

The view from where the inner keep of Arikoyama Castle stood.　有子山城跡からの絶景

​日本では但馬牛が有名ですよね。但馬牛は神戸ビーフですよね。出石は但馬にあるので、但馬牛丼にしました。美味しかった。 Tajima beef is famous in Japan, isn't it. Tajima beef is Kobe beef, right? Since Izushi is in Tajima, I chose the Tajima beef rice bowl. It hit the spot nicely.

​How to eat Izushi soba. For the first plate, add green onion and wasabi into the soba soup. For the second plate, add the yam. For the third plate, add the egg. In my case, I just added everything at the start. It was really delicious.
私は一皿目を食べる前にわさび、ねぎ、山芋、玉子を全部だしに入れて食べました。めちゃ美味しかった。大満足でした。

出石はいいところですね。楽しかった！
Izushi is an interesting place. I enjoyed my visit.

It's time for my autumn adventure. Due to Covid-19, I decided not venture very far from home this time. And thus I decided to go and check out the Midono Waterfall.
秋のアドベンチャーの時間です。新型コロナウイルスのために遠いところに行かないことにしました。こうして味土野ガラシャ大滝を見に行きました。

残念ですが、妹が来日する前に自分の足を骨折した。そのため、そんなに遠く歩けなかった。それでも、色んな所に行って、いい休みができたと思います。
Unfortunately, my sister broke her foot before coming to Japan. Because of that, we weren't able to walk that far. Even so, we were able to visit many places and have a good holiday.

Day 1: 自転車で天橋立に行きました。 We went to Amanohashidate by bike.

私の家に一番近い山は宮津市の八幡山です。私のドアから（往復）1時間以内歩けます。勿論、私はいつも色々を観察しながら、ゆっくり上っていきます。山頂で下記の絶景を楽しんでから、帰って、仕事をします。
The closest mountain to my house is Mt. Hachiman, Miyazu City. It takes less than 1 hour return from my house. Of course, I take my time observing different things while going up. I get to enjoy a fantastic view at the top, then come back home and work.

5月8日にシャワーを浴びていた時に私のふくらはぎにいるマダニを見つけた。怖い！できるだけ早く除去した方がいいので、今回自分で除去した。しかし、引っ張ってはだめ!!!引っ張って除去しようとすると、体液を注入したり、顎体部がはずれて残る可能性があります。病院に行けない場合はこのやり方が一番いいと思います。厚紙に「V」の形を切って(私はゴキブリ団子の箱を使用した)、「V]の狭いところをできるだけ近くにマダニの頭につけて、紙でマダニの頭を回す。私の場合は2回転以内にマダニが頭を私のふくらはぎから出した。ホッとしました！マダニが怖い！最近SFTSが京丹後市に発生しました。嫌だ！マダニに噛まれないようにもっと注意をしましょう。
When I was taking a shower on May 8th, I noticed a tick with its head buried in my calf muscle. These things are scary. Since it is best to have them removed as fast as possible, I decided to do it myself this time. However, you mustn't grasp them and pull them out. If you try to pull them out, you might squeeze their body fluids into your body (along with any viruses) and/or you might leave parts of their jaw in you. I think this method is best if you can't go to the doctor. Cut a 'V' shape into some hard paper (I used a cockroach bait box). Then slide the 'V' up against the tick as close as possible to its head. Then rotate the tick with the hard paper till it pulls its head out of you. In my case, the tick pulled its head out within 2 rotations. Phew! That was a relief. Ticks carry some nasty viruses. Recently, a case of SFTS was reported in Kyotango City near here. I was not happy to hear of a case so close to home. Let's be extra careful not to get bitten by a tick.

ニュージーランドの最も有名なデザートはパブロバです。クリスマスと特別の時に食べます。私は作ったことがありません(母と妹はいつも作る）が、妹からパブロバの素をもらいました。私の(ベーキングが得意な)生徒さんと一緒に挑戦しました。
Pavlova is New Zealand's most famous dessert. We usually eat it at Christmas and other special times. I have never made one (my mother and sister always make them), but I was given a pavlova mix from my sister. I took up the challenge to make it with my student (who is good at baking).

やりました!7日連続毎日山を上りました。毎日脚が痛かったが、あきらめずに頑張りました。体力をつけましたが、まだまだ足りません。今日も絶景ポイントで昼食を食べました。
I did it! I climbed a mountain everyday for 7 days in a row. My legs hurt, but I pushed on without giving up. My stamina increased, but it's not enough. Today's lunch spot was also a spot with an amazing view.