禮拜三、四我們決定去高知縣玩。雖然高知縣也是在四國但是四國中間都是高山、到了高知海邊（人住的地方）花很多時間。我們禮拜三先用四國中間縱貫的高速道路到高知市去、再去東邊的室戶岬、最後回高知市來。然後禮拜四先出高知市去到西部的足摺岬、再回愛媛。開車開得很累了！
On the second day staying in Ehime, we decided to head down to Kochi to see some of the sights there. Below is a tourist map of Kochi. As you can see, it's shaped like a big, upside-down U. In the middle of the U is Kochi City, the biggest city in the prefecture. Our plan for this day was to drive down the highway that connects Ehime and Kochi through the middle of Shikoku and comes out of the mountains around Kochi City, and then to drive east along the coast to the cape that sticks down in the east. This cape is called Muroto. Our plan was then to return to Kochi City, stay somewhere around there for the night, and then head to the southernmost point of the western cape of Kochi on the next day before heading back up the west coast of Shikoku back to Toon City. This plan was insane and involved a ton of driving. Try it at your own risk.
四国カルストに行った翌日、高知に行く事にした。愛媛から高知に行くなら、一番速いルートは、高速道路で四国の真ん中を縦断して、高知市辺りに山から降りて来る。私達はそれをした後で、高知県の東部に有る室戸岬に向かって行った。しかもその夜高知市内に泊まって、翌日西部の足摺岬に行って愛媛に帰るつもりだった。この予定めちゃくちゃだろう？なんとかして行けたけど、キツかったぞ。
因為高知縣接到太平洋、所以目前人捕鯨。在高知看到很多鯨魚的銅像啊、繪畫啊。我以前住的長崎縣也是平常吃到鯨肉的一個地方。可是跟住在別的地方的日本人說這句話、大部分的人說沒吃過鯨肉。聽出來只是幾個地方的習慣。
Whale imagery was everywhere in Kochi. They get a lot of whales off of their coast (which is after all facing the open Pacific) and as a result, this is one of the areas of Japan that has a long tradition of whaling. It's one of the few areas in Japan where you might come across whale meat in a restaurant or supermarket. Since I lived in Nagasaki for five years--another place where people eat whale meat--I didn't realize that this was unusual for a long time. But in talking with people from other parts of Japan, it turns out that in most places, 99% of people have never eaten whale. It's a very regional thing.
高知のあちらこちら鯨の絵や銅像などを見掛けた。やはり太平洋に面しているお陰で、高知の人達は昔から捕鯨がよく出来た。現在も鯨肉がレストランとか回っている。私は以前長崎に住んで、そちらにも鯨肉は普通に食べれるけど、他の出身の日本人と話してみたら、多くの人は鯨を食べた事が無い。鯨を食べる文化はやはり地域性が強い様だ。
We stopped at a roadside store to rest, there was this nice-looking bike in the parking lot, totally not locked up. If this were NYC...
こんなにいい自転車をロックせずにここでポンと駐輪したなんて、日本は本当に平和だな。
It took you a mere couple of seconds to move your eyes down to the next photo, but this took us a couple of hours of driving. We're now at Muroto Cape, the cape that sticks down into the Pacific on the eastern side of Kochi. This guy,
Nakaoka Shintaro, is from the area. He was a compatriot of Ryoma's (I mentioned Ryoma in the last post) and not only worked with Ryoma, but also got assassinated with him. Both of them are very well known in Japan, but I feel like Ryoma is for some reason more popular. It's probably because he wore boots with his kimono, which is a pretty cool look really.
もう室戸岬に着いた！（実は高知市からでも一、二時間かかっただろう。）この銅像は坂本龍馬の同僚、中岡慎太郎だ。高知県民は本当に銅像が好きみたいだ。高知にいた間に、日本の他の地域で見た銅像の二倍の量も見た気がする。流石歴史を動かした人物を沢山出した土佐って感じだ。
到了足摺岬！有一個大大的
中岡慎太郎（ㄋㄚㄎㄚㄡㄎㄚㄒㄧㄣㄊㄚㄌㄡ）。他跟我上次的post寫下的龍馬一起活動。他們兩個人也一起被殺掉了。因為高知生很多把歷史改變了的人、所以有很多這樣的銅像。據說、因為高知是很難住的地方（高山多、海很野生）所以高知人變強壯了、意志也頑固、到了成功一直努力、可不辭去。聽說出自高知的前首相也蠻多。
Watch out for falling rocks!
第一次我知道中文「注意」的意思嚇我一跳了。日文的「注意」是「小心」的意思。像我以為日文和中文差不多的人被騙了！
室戸岬は何回か海面が上下したせいで、地形が凄い事に成っている。
The view of the lighthouse from down below. We went to this lighthouse, so don't worry, you'll be able to see close up photos of it in my next post. (What? You weren't worried? Oh.)
惜しい！「かんちょう」と言う地名を見付けたと思ったが、、、
The coast here has all of these crazy-shaped rocks that resulted from changes in sea level in the area or something. I forget.
古代、這邊海面幾次漲落的關係、地形有意思。
這頭石看起來鯨魚。
This rock kind of looks like a whale.
鯨に見える岩だ。
You can see trees like this all the time in Taiwan, but to be able to see one on mainland Japan is unusual. These trees are tropical plants, so you wouldn't expect to see them anywhere in Japan except for the Ryukyu islands and the Bonin Islands. However, there is a huge warm current that runs up past Japan's south-east coast called the Kuroshio (Black Current). I think it's even bigger than the Gulf Stream that runs from the Caribbean to Europe. The current passes really close to the coast in some parts of Japan like Kochi. As a result, the weather right along the coast is tempered in the winter, and you can even see tropical fish in the waters nearby. This tree is probably able to grow here thanks to the Kuroshio's warming effect.
高知の直ぐ南方に黒潮が通っているお陰で、高知の海に熱帯魚もいるし、海岸にはこう言う木も生えている。沖縄とか台湾とかだったら、こう言う木は珍しくないけど、まさか日本本土で見掛けるとは思わない。
上面的樹、在臺灣很普通、不過因為熱帶樹的關係在日本除了沖繩以外都看不到。黑潮通過高知通得很近、所以在海內有熱帶魚、在海邊有一點點這樣的熱帶樹。
デイゴーの花
And here's where the cat appearances started.
猫出現！
There was a large collection of Jizo Buddhas here. Jizo is the name of one of the Buddhas, and he is commonly portrayed as a protector of travelers, so you see him quite often on roadsides in Japan. One of the earliest of the statues here in the middle was dedicated to people lost at sea, people who died in tsunamis, and to wish for a bountiful whale harvest. The rest are mostly dedicated to people lost at sea, and if you walk around inside, you will see inscribed below them "____maru". "Maru" is a suffix commonly attached to the names of ships in Japan. Because people who die at sea often get lost first and die from dehydration, there is a tradition of splashing water on the statues to quench the thirst of those who died surrounded by water but with nothing to drink.
ここに「水掛地蔵」が沢山集まっている。説明の看板が下に写っているが、簡単に言えば、高知は太平洋と言う外海に面しているので、漁業が盛んに行われているの一方では、海で亡くなる人も多い。海難で亡くなる人の中に、直ぐ亡くならずに船上でずっと生き残って最終的に脱水で亡くなる人も多い。そう言った人を癒すために、この地蔵の石像に水をかけると言う習慣が有る。
這些都是
地藏菩薩的石像。因為太平洋在高知旁邊、所以漁業興旺。但是在太平洋漁業也很危險、所以也有很多人在海上過世了。這些石像是叫「水掛地藏」。意思就是因為在海上過世了的人常常脫水死掉了、所以來這裡的人把水丢到地藏上、希望過世人不會渴。
There were also a bunch of crabs hanging out in a pool next to the Buddhas.
螃蟹住在地藏旁邊的水。
地蔵の隣りに小さい水たまりが有って、そこに蟹が棲んでいた。
For some reason, in Japan people often put red hoods and bibs on Jizo statues. Most people I've talked to just give the explanation "people don't want him to get cold since he's sitting outside". Unlike statues in a temple, Jizo statues are often sitting outside, exposed to the elements, so that makes sense. Still, why red? Well, Jizo's other main role, aside from protecting travelers, is protecting the souls of children who died young and aborted fetuses. Children who die young are said to be stuck on the side of the Sanzu river, separating them from reaching the world of the afterlife. They sit at the side of the river, naked, and have to pile up stones in repentance for the suffering they've caused their parents by dying before them. As if that weren't enough, demons also come and knock down their stone piles and beat them with sticks. Jizo protects these children by hiding them in his robes, so parents will often clothe the Jizo statues in the hope that Jizo will protect their children in return. The red color comes from an association with the color red being able to protect people from disease and demons.
給地藏穿紅帽也是一個日本的習慣。據說是因為地藏石像常常不在廟裡、在外面、所以看起來很冷。還有因為地藏保護過世了的小孩、所以父母為了感謝地藏把紅帽送給他。
地蔵さんは流産した子供と小さい時に亡くなった子供を守るだけでなく、旅人も守る。私はよくお世話に成っておるだろう。
And on the theme of Buddhism, here I'll address the Shikoku Henro. Do you remember the
German map I put in the first post about Ehime? It shows 88 temples all around Shikoku. There is a famous pilgrimage to these 88 temples that has been done for a couple hundred years. The red sign below is showing where the henro trail goes. Traditionally, people would walk around Shikoku (what other option did they have but to walk?) and visit these 88 temples. Nowadays, some people go by car or bus--and I even saw one guy on a bicycle--but you also still see some people walking the course. I encountered a couple while I was in Kochi. You can tell who the people doing the henro are because they wear white clothes, so they stick out a lot, especially when they're on a bicycle or in the supermarket buying instant ramen.
上面的「へんろ道」是「
遍路」的意思。這個「遍路」是幾百年以前開始了。在四國有八十八個廟包括「遍路」。以前當然大家走路、沒有別的辦法。但是現在也有人坐公車啊、騎腳踏車啊。當然還有人走路。走路去八十八個廟的話、聽說花差不多兩個月。看以前的
post有遍路的地圖。
この近くにお遍路のお寺が三つ有る。現在お遍路をする人の中に、バスとかで回る人もいるけど、今も歩いている人を見掛ける。私達も見掛けた。また、自転車に乗っているお遍路も見掛けた！お遍路さんはでかい帽子をかぶって白い服を着るため、かなり目立つ。
Cats are uninterested in walking the henro trail.
This was a monument to people who died, though I forget what from.
これは何かで亡くなった人達を記念する様なものだった。
*mrowr*
很友善的貓。
旅行者とお遍路さんが多い地域だからこそ、野良猫は元気で人を怖がっていない。きっと皆からいつも餌を貰ってる。
I suspect that tourists and henro participants must feed the stray cats around here, because there were a lot of them, and they were pretty friendly.
應該觀光客和走遍路的人常常把飼料拿給貓。太友善！
A Buddhist cave. I'm not sure what this was about exactly.
この洞窟の意味もちょっと忘れたけど、、、
I see you!
ニャ〜
Shintaro again in the distance.
先程の慎太郎銅像。
Next up, a lighthouse! Oh boy!
次回：灯台！お楽しみに！
下次我介紹一下一個燈塔！
