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Jutting out like a gnarled finger into the Japan Sea is the Noto Hanto , a rural escape best explored by car or bicycle. One story is that the name "Noto" is derived from an Ainu word, nopo , meaning "set apart", but regardless of whether this is true the peninsula's quieter way of life, tied to agriculture and fishery, is certainly worlds away from modern Japan. The rugged and windswept west coast has the bulk of what constitutes the Noto Hanto's low-key attractions, while the calmer, indented east coast harbours several sleepy fishing ports, where the silence is broken only by the lapping of waves and the phut-phut of boat engines. Going up the west coast of the peninsula from Kanazawa, you're best off driving past the wide, sandy Chiri-hama beach, cluttered with day-trippers and their litter, to secluded Keta-taisha , Noto's most important shrine. The complex, set in a wooded grove near the sea, dates from the 1650s, although the shrine is believed to have been founded in the eighth century. A few kilometres further up the coast, Myojo-ji is a seventeenth-century temple with an impressive five-storey pagoda, but you have to pay Y300 to enter, so press onto the Noto-kongo , a sixteen-kilometre stretch of coast where the pounding Japan Sea has created fascinating rock formations and cliffs. Around the midpoint of the west coast is the small town of MONZEN , where the most famous attraction is the temple Soji-ji (daily 8am-5pm; Y300), a training centre for Zen monks. Most of what you can see are twentieth-century reconstructions of much older buildings, but you can take part in the meditation sessions, if you get to the temple early enough. The peninsula's main tourist centre is WAJIMA , an appealing fishing port 16km further up the coast, with a colourful morning market. Every day between 8am and 11.30pm, except for the 10th and 25th of each month, around two hundred vendors set up stalls along the town's main street selling fish, vegetables and other local products. While at the market you'll be intrigued to see an Italian palazzo in the middle of the street. Inside this grand facade is the Inachu Cosmopolitan (daily 8am-5pm; Y600) a bizarre museum where reproductions of famous art pieces, such as the Venus de Milo , sit side by side with original European and Japanese antiques, including a huge pair of jet-black ornamental jars that once belonged to Tokugawa Iemetsu, the third Tokugawa shogun. Wajima is renowned for its black lacquerware and you'll find many shops around town selling it; one of the best to head for is the Wajima Lacquerware Centre , beside the Shin-bashi bridge across the Kawarada-gawa on the west side of town. The centre has a display hall on the second floor (daily 9am-5.30pm; Y200), where you can see craftsmen at work and view many prime examples of their art, some dating from the sixteenth century. If lacquerware isn't your bag, head across to the Kiriko-kaikan (daily 8am-5pm; Y460) to see the giant colourful paper lanterns paraded around town in Wajima's lively summer and autumn festivals.The museum also shows videos of the festivals. The Sosogi coastline between Wajima and the cape Rokko-zaki is wonderfully scenic and is a great place for hiking past more strange rock formations. Near the village of Sosogi you'll pass the Senmaida , where over a thousand rice paddies cling to the sea-facing slopes in diminishing terraces. Heading inland towards Iwakura-yama, a steep 357-metre mountain, are two traditional thatched-roof houses that once belonged to the wealthy Tokikuni family, supposed descendants of the vanquished Taira clan . The family split in two in the sixteenth century, one part staying in the Kami Tokikuni-ke (daily: April-Nov 8.30am-6pm; Jan-March & Dec 8.30am-5pm; Y420), the other building the smaller Shimo Tokikuni-ke (daily: April-Nov 8am-5pm; Jan-March & Dec 9am-5pm; Y420), with its attractive attached garden. On the Noto Hanto's gentler east coast, the nicest place to head for is crinkly Tsukumo-wan , meaning "99 Indentation Bay". View the bay's inlets, islands and shoals of fish by hopping on the glass-bottomed boats (daily 8am-5pm; Y800) that depart from the dock a minute's walk from Tsukumo-wan-Ogi Station on the Noto line. Heading down the coast around Nanao-wan look out for the Boramachi-yagura , pyramid-shaped wooden platforms on top of which fishermen once perched waiting for the fish to swim into their nets.
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