第十日 熊本 - 阿蘇山 - 大観峰 - 山鹿

 

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夜の心地よいめぐみ温泉（山鹿市　やまが）、美味しいディナーと楽しいおしゃべりの後に余力なく、旅日誌なしで寝る。

２１日朝は熊本脱出に手古摺る。熊本と阿蘇の間に半導体の工場ができたこともあって、熊本周辺の交通量は増えるだろう、と地元のご夫妻との話で聞いた。

 

阿蘇は草千里の駐車場に車を停めて歩き始めたが、日本でこれだけスケールの大きい、遠くまで望める広い空間は珍しい。阿蘇はつい最近火山活動が活発になったということで、河口付近まで近づけなくなっていた。そこで中岳から火口を望むことを期待して登り始めたものの、砂千里が下に見えるところからの下りが細かい砂と斜面が急でとても私達の能力を超えていると感じ、中岳を道半ばで諦める。残念だが、怪我よりはマシ。お蔭で大観峰と押戸石にゆっくり時間を避けた。大観峰は阿蘇の外輪山を３６０度見渡すことができるところ、押戸石はマジカルな大きな岩群で、その昔、人々が祈りを捧げたところらしい。ある岩は多くの鉄分を含んでいるのか、磁石を近づけると針がグルグル回ってしまう。日本版ストーンヘンジ。

夜、天城高原のご近所さんであるひとみさんの紹介で、熊本のお姉さんご夫妻のところで一泊させて頂くことに。何と言ってもユニークなのが、お姉さまのペットが犬や猫ではなくかなりおおきな動物であること。象ほど大きくないものの、家の中で飼えない動物。なんでしょう？ウマ1頭とポニー2頭。広々とした草原で飼われている。
お姉さまのご主人は地元の出身で、20年ほど前に東京から戻られお祖父さまが始められた家業を引き継がれている。地元のいろいろな事情をお伺いできて、旅は一味違うものとなった。

Getting out of Kumamoto is not easy! It takes us an hour to reach the outskirts of the city, with so many traffic jams slowing us down. After two hours we reach the Aso - volcano and start our ascent. What we don't realise: The crater rim of the volcano has been closed for a week due to significantly increased "activity". Nobody is allowed near it. So we have no choice but to take a long and arduous track that leads further up around the crater. 

After half the distance we give up because there is suddenly a steep and slippery slope down. Our first defeat on this trip. Somewhat disappointed, we turn back. 

All we remember is the sulphurous smell and the cloud of smoke. We are told that the Aso-san can be seen particularly well from a viewpoint about 30 kilometres away. 

So we drive up to DAIKANBO and say goodbye to the Aso-san from afar. 

The last destination of the day is a mysterious place, the Stonehenge of Kyushu. It is called OSHITOISHI. 

There are some large boulders scattered on a hill, which were sacred to the "natives" of the area. The road - or rather, the track to it - could also be used by car manufacturers as a test track for shock absorbers! One pothole follows the next. There are said to be engravings and patterns on the stones left there by the indigenous people. We can't find them and therefore can't read them! What we do realise, however, is the magical power of the largest boulder.

It can "reverse" the direction of the compass. We were given a small compass so that we wouldn't doubt it. It's true! The compass needle is going crazy. NORTH becomes SOUTH! 

We "refuel" here with these magical powers and continue to the Koba-san, where we first admire and feed their horses and then take them to a beautiful onsen. This exhausting day ends late in the evening after a good dinner.