Our trip to Asuke

This weekend we went to Asuke. I googled some information about it:

Asuke is a town of just over 10,000 residents in northeastern Aichi. In the Edo period (1603-1867) in particular, it thrived as a post town on the chumakaido highway, which was the route to transport the salt produced along the shores of Mikawa Bay in the 19th century. The town still has many old houses. In fact, most of the historic wooden buildings still standing are kept in good repair by the townspeople themselves, and almost all remain in use as homes, shops, or showplaces.

The Korankei Gorge, home to about 4,000 maple trees, is one of Aichi's best-known spots for viewing the brilliant colors of autumn. The gorge is illuminated at night during the foliage-viewing season when over 4000 trees beautifully change color.

We also visited Sanshu Asuke Yashiki. This is an old farmhouse from the early Meiji Era, reconstructed in 1980. Inside, aspects of farmhouse life and manual work are reenacted, including straw crafts, weaving and paper making, which were common features in every Japanese mountain village until the mid-'50s. We actually got to watch some weavers, paper umbrella makers, woodworkers, basketmakers, a lady making/using indigo dye, and a couple of ladies going through the processes of paper making. The highlight for the girls was a man with a trained monkey that wore a purple kimono. I'm pretty sure he was a snow monkey.

We will post pictures on our image event site (link above, to the left), but as Sam said, they just don't do it justice. The river is pristine with huge boulders, as well as rocks that fit the hands of 4 year-old rock-throwers. There were huge redwood-looking trees. The food, as typical for Japan, was very interesting. I had some rice stuck to a stick, which is then slathered with a BBQ sauce. I also had buckwheat soba noodles. The girls had pineapple on a stick and sausage on a stick. Sam tried a large glutenous ball covered in sesame seeds. I'll have to find out what they're called. We saw a lot of foods that looked really good, as well as some octopus and fish on a stick (head, tail, and all). It was a wonderful day!