Rendezvous with Momotaro: Pedaling along the Kibiji Bike Trail

Tadashi Yamauchi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

SOJA, Okayama--At the heart of Soja sits a Western-style architectural relic that was once a police station. The Meiji-era building is now home to a folk museum called Machikado Kyodokan.

"Soja was once an established center for the medicine trade along with Toyama and Omi known as 'Bitchu baiyaku,'" said Kazumasa Mano, curator of the museum. Omi is now Shiga Prefecture and Bitchu is in present-day Okayama Prefecture.

Mano, 62, handed visitors kamifusen--paper balloons that itinerant medicine merchants often gave to the children of their customers when making house calls.

The main thoroughfare in front of the building once flourished as the town of Sojagu shrine, which enshrines 324 gods from across Bitchu.

Retroad '12, an annual festival aimed at revitalizing the city of Soja to its former glory, was under way when I visited a street that in the old days had more than 300 shops. Outdoor vendors sold Bizen pottery and mizuame candy. The festival featured live performances, and the famous postwar match between late pro wrestling superstars Rikidozan and Masahiko Kimura played on a communal television screen.

The Kibiji Bike Trail runs along the Kibi Route, which stretches from Soja to the cities of Kurashiki and Okayama.

I rented a bicycle in front of JR Soja Station. Before setting off down the trail, I headed north to Iyama Hofukuji temple, where sumi-e painter and monk Sesshu practiced Zen as a child during the Muromachi period (1336-1573). On my way there, I came across cluster amaryllis, which must have been some kind of offering.

The bike trail runs mainly through rice fields, where egrets graze among waves of bowing rice husks nearly ripened to gold.

Cycling amid the rustic autumn scenery, I came across the magnificent five-story pagoda at Bitchu Kokubunji temple.

Then I caught a glimpse of a stone coffin in the confines of a cavern at the Komorizuka ancient burial mound. I continued past the Tsukuriyama ancient burial mound, which looked like a satoyama--a village-managed forest area.

About 16 kilometers from Soja Station, the roof of a shrine soon emerged from the wilderness. It was Kibitsu Shrine, a shrine of the highest rank, or ichinomiya, in Bitchu. I was overwhelmed by the presence of the edifice that stood before me.

German literature expert Jiro Kawamura wrote about Kibitsu Shrine in Nihon Kaikokuki Ichinomiya Junreki, his travelogue about visiting the nation's highest-ranking shrines.

He writes: "If I were asked to name beautiful ichinomiya shrines in Japan, [Kibitsu Shrine] would certainly be in the top five. It might very well be the best."

The roof of the combined honden-haiden (inner shrine and hall of worship) resembles wings swooping down from the sky. This traditional architectural style is known as hiyoku irimoya-zukuri (paired wing, hip-and-gable roof style). The floating sensation of its grand hall is breathtaking.

The palace hall known as Okama-den is where the myth-based ritual Narukama Shinji is held.

According to the myth, Prince Ura of Kudara (Paekche), an ancient kingdom on the Korean Peninsula, wreaked havoc on the inhabitants of a village in this region. Prince Okibitsuhiko no Mikoto was dispatched to the village to defeat Ura, and he was later enshrined at Kibitsu because of his triumph. The myth is believed to have later evolved into the legend of Momotaro (Peach Boy).

Mikoto is said to have buried Ura's severed head under a pot, or kama. The head is said to have continued to growl for 13 years. During the Narukama Shinji ritual, people learn of their fortunes according to how the pot makes sounds--or growls--when boiled.

The ritual is featured in Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) by novelist Ueda Akinari (1734-1809), and the description sends shudders up the spine.

I was allowed to observe the ritual from a corner of the hall.

A priest read Shinto prayers before the pot, and female attendants known as azome performed the ritual. Soon after, I heard the sound of boiling water coming from the pot. It sent vibrations down to the very pit of my stomach.

Shinto priest Kensuke Uenishi, 38, said: "However, you interpret the sound depends on your prayers. Recently, I've seen an increasing number of women coming here to pray for a good match for a marriage."

The next day, I went to the ruins of Kinojo castle, which is connected to the legend of Ura. The castle was built on a 400-meter-high mountain overlooking the Seto Inland Sea. From this vantage point, you can see the Mizushima industrial complex on the coast and Shodoshima island to the east.

If the weather is clear and you're lucky, you can also catch a glimpse of Yashima plateau, which is made of molten lava, across the water in Takamatsu on Shikoku. From the castle ruins, the panorama view of the landscape is fantastic.

I headed back to the Retroad event to buy three giant peaches.

The head of the Soja Peach Farming Cooperative, Yotaro Akiyama, 33, personally picked them for me.

"At a time when people shun doing farm work, it's a great opportunity for young people [to achieve something in the field of agriculture]," he said.

I told him I agreed, especially since the idea of peaches from the birthplace of Momotaro could be used as a calling card to promote it as a local specialty.

"I've often been advised to take advantage of this local legend to promote our peaches overseas. But in Japan, when people hear 'Momotaro,' they immediately think of tomatoes," said Akiyama with a bitter laugh.

Indeed, Momotaro is a brand of tomatoes.

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Travel Tips

It takes 3-1/2 hours to travel from Tokyo Station to Okayama Station by Shinkansen train. From there, it takes 30 minutes to Soja Station on the JR Hakubi Line.

For more information, call the Kibiji travel information center at (0866) 92-1211.