April 30, 2013
Slow boat ride attracts tourists to Yanagawa as “Town of Water”
Time passes slowly in Yanagawa as it entertains tourists with a relaxing boat ride through a water district, called “Suigo,” in a historic, poetic landscape. Suigo is actually a network of small waterways and canals extending in every direction around the Yanagawa Castle ruins and the “Ohana” villa built by the Tachibana Clan family which ruled the region from the early Edo era in the 17th century.
As “donko-bune” boats operate almost throughout the year, tourists can enjoy their time while watching water flowers and weeping willows down the stream from spring to summer. In the winter time, boats with “kotatsu” low, covered tables which have a heat source underneath are provided. Boats pass under 13 bridges before reaching the end of the ride in the Okinohata district, a fishermen’s town which faces the fertile Ariake inland sea. Okinohata is known as the birthplace of Hakushu Kitahara (1885-1942), one of the most distinguished poets in the 20th century. He produced not only a lot of nostalgic poems but also lyrics for children’s songs. Ariake sea, lying west of Yanagawa, in the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, has 6 meters of difference between the tide marks, the biggest in Japan. This creates vast tidelands as a fine living environment for various fish and small marine creatures.
With the sun setting, the tide is rising.
On the evening tideland, a crab mutters,
having finished his long day of work.
(A personal translation)
This is a short poem written by Hakushu and included in a collection of poems and photos titled “Composition of Water,” published in 1943.
In the course of the 70-minute boat ride, which is available from 9 in the morning to sunset, boatmen sometimes sing local folk songs with a slow rhythm while steering their boats with bamboo poles. Tourists can also see time-honored structures and monuments along the waterways, among them the narrow stone water gate at the entrance to the former Yanagawa Castle. They may also see a traditional “yotsude-ami” fishing net with four bamboo rods combined and buy foods, drinks and others at a waterside market.
The holiday-studded “Golden Week” from late April is the most profitable season for nearly 100 boatmen, who belong to five different boat operators. After carrying tourists to the terminal in Okinohata, a busy town with Japanese-style restaurants and souvenir shops, they return with vacant boats to pick up tourists again. “This is the third job for me today. I may be asked to do it once again,” a veteran boatman with a sweet voice, who introduced himself as “Mr. Tsutsumi,“ said happily on a fine weekend day.
Hakushu, whose real name is Ryukichi Kitahara, admired his birthplace in his works, admitting “Yanagawa is the mother of my poems and lyrics.” Tourist spots in Yanagawa, which has a population of 70,000, are sparsely located but linked with riverside promenades and alleys.This, coupled with lack of smokestack factories, is a reason for its unique atmosphere. Hakushu's love for the “Town of Water” is shared by today’s Yanagawa people, who should further try to preserve its environment and landscape over the years.
