Akita Day 3 – Senshu Park, Namahage Museum, Cave, Godzilla Rock, Dinner, Taiko Drums

So, we kicked off our day in Senshu Park, which is in Akita City, the biggest city in Akita Prefecture. It’s not exactly a bustling metropolis like Tokyo, but it’s got a certain charm to it. The park has this awesome castle perched on a massive hill, and from up there, you get this incredible view of the city and the sea.

After this, we went to the Oga peninsula to learn about the Namahage at the Namahage Museum. The Namahage are demonlike beings portrayed by men wearing hefty ogre masks and traditional straw capes during a New Year’s ritual in local northern Japanese folklore of the Oga Peninsula area of Akita Prefecture. (Source: Wikipedia). The Namahage come on New Years to people’s houses to scare the children (and sometimes adults too) into being good. The tradition may have started long ago in the past when everyone doing their part in farming, helping out, etc. was the difference between life and death.

We saw a Namahage show. These guys are kinda creepy.

In the museum was a hall of all the different kinds of Namahage throughout the Oga peninsula.

Enough learning, time to explore! I found a cave on Google Maps nearby, so we checked it out.

Afterwards we went to Godzilla Rock, so named because of the rock’s striking resemblance to the giant lizard that has repeatedly destroyed Tokyo.

Phew. Now we were hungry. Back at the ryokan we were made the largest meal I think we’ve ever eaten! The food just kept coming and coming!

Part of the meal was the Akita Fishermans’ miso soup. They would heat a special type of stone to 800 degrees Celcius, then drop it into a container of cold miso soup. The miso soup instantly boils and the shrimp and fish in it are all cooked in seconds!

After dinner we saw taiko drummers. Since this is Akita, we saw Namahage taiko drummers take the stage.

That’s a long day! A little dip in the onsen, then it’s time to say “konban wa!” Good night!

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