Japanese

April 5, 2001: Tulip field in Ogata town
	Today, the weather is really beautiful from early morning. My husband removes "Yellow dust" that covered the front glass of the car.
OK, let's go! We drive down route 10 to Inukai junction, the entered route 326 to Mie town. The drive is very comfortable, passing beautiful landscape of Deep Bungo in spring.
A large Tengu, a long-nosed goblin, welcomes us at Kiyokawa village motor station. The statue is a symbol of Sarutahiko God in Kagura Dance that dates back to 1449. The Dance is named as an intangible cultural asset of Oita Prefecture.
	According to Japanese myth, the God was a guide of the main God that came down on earth from heaven to create Japan Islands. Today, the God is familiar as a travelers' guardian deity. He guides the visitors and protects us from traffic accidents. The large drum actually sounds when I hit it.
This is Kiyokawa Road Station on route 502. It is a mild day in spring today with full bloom of cherry. This is probably because the God watches us.
	I got some sightseeing brochures in a shop like this.
Our destination today is Harajiri Fall surrounded with tulip fields. A traffic sign tells us the distance.
	Here we arrived. A billboard on the entrance says the tulip is in 80% bloom. As it is a weekday today, we could park close to the field. Tulip Festival in 2001 will be held from April 7 through 20 under the theme of "Flower Wave", they say.
Lovely kindergarten kids jump and run around vividly in the field.
The well-designed tulip field holds much kind of flowers. Some are in full bloom, some are still in buds.
	Crimson tulips are in full bloom. They are really beautiful.
I am so delighted with beautiful flowers under the clear sky.
This is famous Harajiri fall. It is sometimes called Niagara Fall in Orient. The lava from Aso volcano created this unusual scene. The Fall is accepted as one of "One hundred famous falls in Japan."
	"Fall watching Suspension Bridge" offers a good viewpoint with its thrilling swing. On right hand is the Fall and Ogata county landscape stretches ahead with cherry blossoms and tea fields.
I crossed the bridge and came up to the top of the fall. A Hachiman shrine stone Torii gate stands alone in the river.
	The water falls through the strange-shaped rocks.
A Horseshoe "Niagara" fall covers 120-meter width and falls 20-meter height. The mist beats my cheek.
	Lovely white azaleas are swinging in the breeze.
Fall House is a souvenir shop that hears the sound of the fall. The shop was named the first Road Station in Oita prefecture. Local fresh greens and processed goods look like sell well. Visitors can enjoy lunch here as well.
We took the simple lunches on the bench in the sunlight by enjoying tulip fields. A TV cameraman focuses the flower. The field is beautifully patterned like this.
	I couldn't resist the savory smell of baked rice cake that contains abundant sweet potato jam.
A volunteer demonstrates how to knit a rice straw mat. The art was once very popular when the cropped rice was packed in straw rice bags. Today, we can little see it.
	People enjoy lunch under cherry flowers in full bloom. Occasional breezes scatter the petals on them.
A large water mill rests in front of a straw-thatched roof restaurant near the fall.
	A visitor kindly took a picture for us.
So many beautiful tulips are everywhere. Crimson or yellow petals are hard to identify as tulip otherwise told. The number of bulbs is 300 thousands with 90 kinds, they say.
	The sunlight is so strong that we finally decided to leave the tulip field. My face became hot in the sun. Wild cherry blossoms and stonewalls of Oka Castle in Taketa City welcomed us soon after the tulip.
Carp streamers are already swimming in the breeze.
	The final stop today was Nagayu Spa resort that offers a wonderful scene of cherry blossoms from the bathing room. The Nagayu spa is a sister spa with German spas. In the hall was a sample of bathtub used in an old German spa. We were relaxed in the spa and returned home. We enjoyed a beautiful drive today.