Shikoku Karst/四国カルスト/四國喀斯特

我們到了愛媛之後、第一天。這天決定去四國喀斯特。喀斯特是一種地形。日本有三場很大的。在愛媛和高知縣境有一場。（高知縣是四國南部的縣。）

On the first full day in Shikoku, we decided to head off to the Shikoku Karst Formation up in the mountains between Ehime and Kochi prefectures.  (Kochi is the prefecture that covers the whole bottom part of Shikoku.)

東温市に着いてから最初の一日だ。朝から車で四国カルストに行く事にした。四国カルストは日本三大カルストに入っていて、規模は結構大きい。因みに、俺は以前他の二カ所に行った事あるので、これで日本三大カルスト制覇出来た。どうだい？羨ましいだろ？この俺様は平凡な日本マニアックじゃないぞ。浅草とか京都とかとっくに前に行って、それどころかマニアの最先端を行って、カルストみたいな場所を制覇する事に尽くしている。なめんなよ。

途中でこの「戦艦岩」を見掛けた。

On the way there, we saw this huge rock jutting out of a river.  There was a sign nearby that called it "Warship Rock".
也看到這個「戰艦岩」。

Guys in the river taking pictures of the rock.
また、戦艦岩の写真を撮っている人も見掛けた。
也看到把戰艦岩拍到了的人。

このバス停は有名だそうだ。「ごうかく」と言う縁起のいい名前に成っているので、毎年受験季節に沢山の受験生はここまでの切符を買うらしい。元々この地名の漢字は何か分からない。調べても見つからなかったから、もしかして無いかな？

"Shikoku Karst"
「四國喀斯特」。大概海拔1400公尺。

海抜1400メートルぐらいの高さ。

This is the area.  We're up around 1,400 meters or so above sea level at this point.

The border between Ehime and Kochi, with Kochi on the left and Ehime on the right.
繩左邊是高知縣、右邊是愛媛縣。

愛媛と高知の県境を示す紐が有ったが、目についたのは、トイレが全部高知側に有る。汚い物を高知に設置するのは誰かの狡い愛媛県民がしたかな。

我注意到了廁所都在高知邊。愛媛縣的激進愛縣人、比方說可不要進其他縣去的人、只好忍住上廁所呢？

So here's what a Karst formation is.  Basically, it's a lot of worn away rock.
這片喀斯特是甚麼東西看得清楚。

この浸食された岩だらけの平原はカルストと言う物だ。

The scenery is really gorgeous here.  We're on one of the highest mountains immediately nearby, so it's easy to see all around.  (This is definitely not the highest mountain in Shikoku though.  That would be Mt. Ishizuchi, in Ehime, standing at 1982 meters.)

烏。改めて思ったけど、日本の烏本当にでかいなぁ。

又有烏鴉、又有老牛。

Cows!

、、、又有在小便的老牛。
Pissing cows!
放尿中

Now this was majorly cool.  We were driving along the road and we saw something furry walking along the side of the road.  It was a tanuki!  You never usually see them just walking around.  It was my first one ever seeing one in the wild.  (Is the side of the road "wild"?)  This one is pretty small, so maybe it's still just a pup.  Tanukis look kind of like raccoons in their markings, but they're more closely related to dogs.  They're also known in Japanese folklore for shapeshifting and fooling humans, so my guess is that this one was on the way up to the rest area we had just left to take on human form and sell expensive souvenirs that will later turn into plain old leaves to unsuspecting tourists.  Or something like that.

下の写真は本日の最高点だったかもしれない。狸だ！初めて野生の見た。（動物園で見た事が有るけど。）普通に道路沿いを歩いていた。変だなぁと思って、思い付いたのは狂犬病だったが、調べてみたら、日本は狂犬病の無い一カ国とされている。この狸小さくて可愛かった！ペット欲しい！でも騙されるのは怖い。団三郎狸の話とか思い出す。

上片的動物知道嗎？是貉子、、、嗎？我也不知道。日文名字是「狸」（ㄊㄚㄋㄨㄎㄧ）、可是好像這個字本來在中國有別的意思。我看維基、看到「貉」和「狸」兩個字。中文名字是貉子嗎？應該是。很可愛呀！臺灣沒有吧。不平白天看得到、所以我看到時候就興奮多了。

This sign is a joke based on the "Danger Animal Crossing" signs one sees on these types of mountain roads.  One of the major figures in the Meiji Restoration (when Japan ended the rule of the Shogun and started to modernize its economy and government) was Sakamoto Ryoma.  He was originally from Tosa (modern-day Kochi) and fled from there through the mountains to Ehime.  (He had to flee because in those days people were not free to move from one part of Japan to the other without permission from the clan whose rule they lived under.)  Because this road is crossing the trail that Ryoma used to flee Tosa, they have these signs warning you to be careful of "Samurai fleeing their clans who might run out into the road".  I thought it was funny enough that I stopped the car and did a U-turn to go back and take a photo.  Ironically, in doing so I ended up running over a fleeing samurai and his sword got stuck in our back fender.  That was a costly repair.  Have you ever run over a porcupine?  Imagine that times ten.

坂本龍馬是關明治維新的一個很重要的人。他本來是出自土佐籓（現在高知）。那時候離出自的籓、除了收到許可以外只好逃走（脫籓）。龍馬脫籓時候通這裡的山地過。這張看板開玩笑、像「動物出沒小心」的看板一樣、就是把動物寫成脫籓者。

この道路は龍馬の脱藩道を横切るので、こんな看板まで有った。ウケたから、Uターンして写真撮った。

Someone installed a big, smiling, fat Hotei (a Buddha) outside of their home.  This is the Japanese equivalent to that neighbor who sets up the christmas display with a waving, ho-ho-hoing Santa, and so many lights NASA can see them.
民家の前に凄い布袋さんが居らした。
看起來布袋。

Alongside the road was this HUGE torii.  This was another U-turn.  It's huge!
また、この超大型鳥居も有った。（最近「進撃の巨人」に嵌まったので、「超大型」と言う言葉をどうしても使いたかった。）

非常大的鳥居！

帰りはGPSが最短距離の道を選んだせいで、とんでもないグニャグニャとした山道を通って山を降りた。凄く時間を無駄にして、佐田岬半島に急いで行ったけど、結局着いた頃はもう暗く成った。あ〜。灯台まで歩きたかったのに、、、

下山時候、因為山道羊腸小道、花時間花得太多。本來打算去佐田岬半島看那裡的燈塔、可是到了已經變黑了。

We drove west out of the mountains through the most obscenely twisty and inefficient roads I've ever been on.  The stupid GPS gave us the shortest route by distance, which was probably the longest by time.  Our goal was to go to the end of the long, thin peninsula jutting out of the west side of Ehime.  (Look at the map I posted in the last post, or any map of Shikoku.  You can't miss it.  It's really long.)  We wasted so much time in the mountains though that by the time we got there it was already dark.  I wanted to walk out to the lighthouse, but I was afraid of getting mauled by a wild boar, and there wouldn't have been much point with it being so dark, so I had to satisfy myself with shots from the parking lot at the end of the road.

The light on the side of the hill is the lighthouse.  So close!  :(
山に乗っている光は佐田岬半島の最西端に有る灯台だ。

在便利商店停車場、我看到這個死掉了的飛蛾。雖然死掉了還很漂亮。

On the way home, I saw this dead moth in a convenience store parking lot.  So you can think about the impermanence of life and how that relates to big, fat, smiling Buddha from a couple photos up while I write up the next post in this series.
帰っている途中コンビニに寄って行って、駐車場にこの死んだ蛾が有った。俺が佐田岬半島の灯台に近づけなかった様に、こいつは永遠にコンビニ駐車場の電気には近付く事が決して出来ないだろう。南無阿弥陀仏。