Shizuoka Videos

Walking into Utsunoya Town until the turn to Keiryuji Temple.

In Shizuoka side of Utsunoya Road Station, about 15 minutes walk from Utsunoya Pass of Tsutano Hosomichi, I found display of Utsunoya Town in reduced scale.

A few minutes walk to Michino Eki Road Station. I found an interesting short poem written on the wooden board. Probably like that.
"Climbing down the trail, smiling, asked where she had come from, ""From Tokyo"" came the reply".

Going down the trail further. One-leafed fern is Diplazium sub sinuatum found under woods in Central and Southern parts of Japan.

Going down the narrow winding path to Shizuoka.

After enjoying the view of the Utsunoya Pass, I went into the downhill trail to Shizuoka.

Final climb to the Utsunoya Pass.

As I got closer to the pass, I found a good place to view the mountain. During spring it will be a nice place to see cherry blossoms.

Personally I like Tsutano Hosomichi better than Tokaido Trail. 30 minutes' walk to Shizuoka side is very refleshing.

Now I started climbing the trail with stone pavement.

After walking about ten minutes from the start of the Tokaido Trail in Sakashita, Okabe-cho, Fujieda, I found a start of Tsutano Hosomichi.

There are a number of ways to cross Utsunoya Pass. Cars cross the newly built tunnels while hikers enjoy Meiji trail passing Meiji Tunnel, Tokaido Trail passing a pass 170 meters in elevation and Tsutano Hosomichi which was uncovered by a school teacher in 1967. It is the ancient highway used around 8th to 16th century. To get to the start of the trail, I went along the agri-road beside the creek.

Sakashita is only a few minutes walk from the former site of Rakeiki Monument, written by Hakura Kando, a magistrate and a confucian scholar in Sunpu(Shizuoka) in 1830. He lamented that former Utsunoya trail called Tsutano Hosomichi had been ruined. Tsutano Hosomichi was refurbished in 1960s by a school teacher in Shizuoka, 130 years after the monument was erected.

From Daimoku Monument, I went down and found the site where stone monument used to stand. The monument was moved to Sakashita Jizoson.

After a short walk from Utsunoya Pass there is a folk dividing the route to the Okabe(left) and to the Meiji Tunnel(right). Turning right and down the road about a couple of minutes you will see a Daimoku Monument with cursive lotus sutra mantra of Nichiren Buddhist.

Utsunoya area has four tunnels, Meiji, Taisho, Showa and Heisei. Meiji Tunnel and Taisho Tunnel is only about five minutes away.
First get down the road extending from Meiji Tunnel and you will see Prefectural Road. Go up the Prefectural Road about three minutes and you will find a tunnel. Taisho
Tunnel was actually completed in 1930, the fifth year of Showa. Taisho tunnel is still widely used particularly during morning to avoid the traffic jam.

Only a short walk from the pass joining the wide road, you will soon see a folk. Tokaido is the left downhill trail. Before going to Tokaido Road, let's turn right and find a Meiji Tunnel. It's only a couple of minutes walk.

Finally reached the Utsunoya Pass. It was really quiet. Not even a signboard that shows this is the pass.

After walking around Utsunoya old town, I started a climb to get to Utsunoya Pass of Old Tokaido Road.

Going up the slope of Utsunoya old town to go toward the start of Utsunoya Pass trail.

Utsunoya used to be an in-between lodging station between #20 Mariko and #21 Okabe. Old Tokaido Road is believed to have been based on the road developed by Hideyoshi during late 16th century.

The length of the tunnel is about 200 meters.

The tunnel linking Tokaido post station Mariko and Okabe was built in 1876 as a toll tunnel. After the fire, the tunnel was straightened out and was rebuilt in 1904.

Stone Walls structure is what remains of Sumpu castle to this day. The video shows those of Ninomaru moat, the second moat of three-tier moat of the castle.

Entering Sumpu Park through East(Higashi Gomon) Gate recently reconstructured is very thrilling.

Ninomaru(Middle) Moat of Sumpu Castle is one of the popular birdwatching sites in Shizuoka. I found a cormorant under the Tatsumi Tower.

You can experience the life of Toro village about 2,000 years ago inside the Toro Museum in Shizuoka. The activities include making clay potteries, threshing rice in mortar, planting rice and walking with ancient clog called Tageta.

A boy challenges to build a fire with a tool used by ancient Toro people about 2,000 years ago.

Tageta Sandals is the oldest footwear in Japan which dates back as far as 2,000 years ago and was used for walking around the rice paddies. It had been used until around 1950s when the agriculture was mechanized. My first attempt was a failure because I didn't wear the left sandal properly. This is the second try.

I tried to wear Tageta Sandals somewhat like a Ninja tool in the historical museum in Toro ruins, located in southern part of Shizuoka. This is my first attempt but I lost balance.

street performance in downtown shizuoka,japan

The waterfall is called 'shiraito no taki'