The Glories of Yakushima - The Japan Times

Animal kingdom: Two famous Yakushima inhabitants — Yaku deer and Yakushima macaques —

seen here beside the Seibu Rindo, originally a logging road built in the 1910s, that forms the

northwestern portion of the main road around the island. EDAN CORKILL PHOTOS

The glories of Yakushima

By EDAN CORKILL

Staff writer

There's a film you should see before you go to Yakushima, an

island off the southern coast of Kagoshima Prefecture in

Kyushu. It's more informative than the average guidebook or,

for that matter, the island's World Heritage-listing citation from

1993, which misleadingly talks about "the sacred values of (its)

ancient forests of Yakusugi (cryptomeria)."

The fact is that little on

Yakushima was ever considered

HOME

The Japan Times Printer Friendly Articles

The glories of Yakushima | The Japan Times Online http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/fv20100418a1.html

1 of 5 24/04/10 20:07

sacred, and none of it is perfectly ancient. Everything was

touched, in some way, by logging, which was carried out

industriously throughout the Edo Period (1603-1867) — when

locals paid taxes to their feudal lord in Kagoshima in the form

of wood roof shingles — until the last chainsaw fell silent in the

1980s.

That's not to say Yakushima does not possess a grand and

beautiful wilderness. With its mountains lapped by warm

currents from the south and soaring to almost 2,000 meters,

the island boasts a truly extraordinary environment. Where

else can you be surrounded by hibiscus flowers while

regarding a backdrop of snow-capped mountains?

It is these two opposing perspectives of Yakushima — as a

resource ripe for exploitation on the one hand, and an

awe-inspiring natural wonderland on the other — that are

captured in the 1955 film "Ukigumo" ("Floating Clouds"), by

director Mikio Naruse.

Of course, the film is about much more than just the island. It's

about love and infidelity, making mistakes and making amends

— or not making amends. The main character, Kengo Tomioka,

is an official with the national government's forestry agency. He

arrives on the island in the 1950s with the largely unspoken

desire to rediscover a freedom that he knew only in Indochina,

where he did forestry work during the war. Yakushima, the film

implies, was as foreign and as ripe for exploitation then as

Japan's wartime acquisitions.

Scenes from the film (if you've seen it) assail you as you hike

through the island's mountainous forests — as almost every

visitor does. There are many trails in designated walking parks,

such as Yakusugi Land and Shiratani Unsuikyo, and there's also

the one-day trek up to the famed Jomon Sugi, a giant

cryptomeria some say is up to 7,000 years old. There is one

scene in the film when the roar of the wind in the trees melds

with the beating of the rain to form a kind of biblical howl. Hike

in Yakushima and the chances are you'll hear it for yourself.

People on the island say it rains 35 days a month there. Talk to

the manager of the Hotel Yakushima Sanso, an old

establishment in the village of Anbo, and he'll tell you that the


2 of 5 24/04/10 20:07

Where tourists can enjoy the island's vast

forests (right) via a network of walking

trails.

saying originates from the novel "Ukigumo," on which the film

is based. He'll even show you the room where the authoress,

Fumiko Hayashi, stayed in 1950 as she penned the very words.

Room 201 is perched above the Anbo River and looks out on

the mountains to one side and Anbo Harbor on the other. Be

sure to ask for it when you make a booking.

Some locals dispute the idea

that the 35-days-of-rain

description originated from

Hayashi's book. They say it

predates her, like another

saying on a similar theme: It's

alright to forget your lunchbox

when you go out for the day, but

don't forget your umbrella. The

lesson is, of course, that

Yakushima gets a lot of rain —

around 4,000 millimeters per year around the coast, and up to

10,000 in the mountains, in fact.

If you're keen to experience the island's beauty, but hope to

keep a respectful distance from the elements, then a recently

opened resort hotel might be the answer. The luxury Sankara

Hotel & Spa on the island's southern coastline boasts just 29

hotel rooms and secluded bungalows that step gracefully down

a gentle slope at the foot of the island's central mountains. Its

director, Jiro Sato, who has built, designed and managed hotels

from Vietnam to Barcelona, says the real key to the hotel's

success will not be the access it provides to Yakushima's

natural wonders, but its cuisine.

"The secret is the quality of the water," he said. "The usual

problem with seaside resorts is that you can't get good-quality

water, and you can't make good food without good water.

Yakushima has so much water that we can get all of ours from

natural (and replenishing) aquifers."

The other "secret" is the hotel's three leading chefs — who

between them have several decades of experience in Paris and

also luxury hotels, such as the Grand Hyatt, in Tokyo. From

behind a broad glass window that separates their kitchen from

one of the resort's two restaurants, they banter in French as


3 of 5 24/04/10 20:07

Take 2: "Second-generation" Cryptomeria

trees growing in a stump left by loggers

hundreds of years ago.

they whip up a diverse range of culinary delights: shrimps

tempura-ed in kadayif pastry, chilled Tanegashima yam potage

with fresh foie gras, Yakushima orange tart, and much more.

From Sankara, in the island's

south, you will want to take a

drive westward along

Prefectural Route 78, which

links with Route 77 to

circumnavigate the island. After

about 40 minutes you will get to

a section of the road on the

island's northwest coast, known

as Seibu Rindo (Western

Forestry Road). It's the only part

of the road that still traces the

same route as it did when it was

first surveyed in the 1910s — as

an access route for logging

vehicles. It's now part of a

nature reserve, which means it

abounds in two of the island's

most famous inhabitants: deer (a

small variety known as

Yakushika, or Yaku deer) and

monkeys (Yakushima macaques). Drive slowly — you'll need to

creep around the occasional oncoming vehicle anyway — and

you'll see the wildlife on all sides.

But, as you drive — or hike — past the monkeys, deer, giant

cryptomeria trees, waterfalls and countless other natural

attractions and vistas the island has to offer, you will always

find reminders of man's impact.

It might be the fact that you're using a trail initially built for

logging, or it might be the trees themselves — many of the

cryptomerias are so-called "second- generation" specimens that

have germinated and grown on top of stumps left behind by

Edo Period loggers. Or, indeed, it might be vestiges of the

island's human exploiters themselves that you find — including

the Kengo Tomioka character in "Ukigumo."

As one local explained: "There is


4 of 5 24/04/10 20:07

not a rocky escarpment or deep gully on the island that was

spared. You can always find marks left by axes."

But he said that more in awe of his ancestors' tenacity than in

despair.

The fact is that Yakushima's inhabitants have been living off

their mountains and timber for countless generations, and it is

that rich history of interaction — visible in the trees themselves

— that makes the island such a fascinating place to visit.

The Japan Times: Sunday, April 18, 2010

(C) All rights reserved

Go back to The Japan Times Online Close window


5 of 5 24/04/10 20:07

Documents

The Glories of Yakushima - The Japan Times