Ochiai Village and Zip Lines – Day 5

For our second day in the Iya Valley region all three of us families headed out to the historic hamlet of Ochiai (落合) in the eastern part of Iya Valley. Ochiai is of significance as it was registered as an important national preservation district due to its collection of traditional homes, terraced farm plots, and ancient walking paths.

Our first stop was a viewing point on the opposite side of the valley. Here we could see how the village had been built on the side of the valley, almost vertically! From the distance we could spot the traditional thatched houses, while noting the newer buildings kept the same style in either corrugated iron or tiled roofs. It was interesting how the fields – rice or grass – all intertwined in the village rather than being separate. Black kites (the natural bird variety) were visible soaring in the valley, waiting to eye some prey and swoop down.

Gary bravely then lead the three car convey as we headed down and crossed the valley into Ochiai itself and began to climb the switch back roads up into the village. The roads were again single car width, with blind corners with viewing mirrors, and only the occasional spot to pull over and let vehicles pass. We weaved our way up to the top of the village, stopping as we spotted cultivation under way in one of the rice fields. The farmers were dressed in traditional clothes. At the top we all performed a five-point turn to head back down through the village. This time stopping at one of the traditional houses which was open for viewing.

The house was a simple timber structure with a thick thatched roof. The thickness and slope of the roof is to ensure it is strong and thick enough for the heavy snow during winter. The guide was a descendent of the original family owners of the house. A middle ranking samurai family – making it one of the nicest houses in the village. He guided us through the house, including showing us the underfloor cellar which would store the harvest of rice and potatoes for the winter months. Again we were fortunate to have Jane translate for us.

By then it was lunch time and so we leave Ochiai in search of food. The remoteness of Iya Valley as well as the low population meant the options were quite limited compounded by no signage in English. We ended up stopping at a small village stall, which we found out had been setup as a local soba noodle festival. And so we gladly ordered 13 serves.

Soba noodles are thin noodles made from buckwheat giving them are dark brown to grey appearance. They can be served hot or cold, and for us they were served hot in a broth soup. A local speciality is konjac, or konnyaku, which we also sampled. Konjac is a potato or yam like plant from which a yam-cake is produced. An interesting texture with no real flavour meant it wasn’t very popular with the kids but with a little soy sauce was a good filling for the adults. The cooks also brought out some fresh tofu which was the pick of the three dishes. The set of sporks we packed bag came in handy for the kids.

After lunch we headed to Forest Adventure Land – an adventure climbing and zip line (flying fox) course. Carter didn’t quite reach the minimum height and so he and Tryphena went on the mini-monorail which climbed up into the mountain while Lewis and I went on the adventure course. It also allowed Carter to catch some of the grand final on the phone while waiting.

Lewis and I harnessed up and ascended into the adventure course. It was a mix of climbing and ropes course, traversing obstacles and mini zip line rides. The grand finale was a giant zip line across the gorge with a change to another zip line to come back across the gorge. It was 40 seconds across! Lewis did great completing all the obstacles.

After the adventure course, and seeing the surprising result of the AFL grand final, it was time for dinner and a visit to the onsen. The two story onsen and hotel had a nice restaurant, which again was helpful having Jane translate. Though we learnt that our host was from central China who was working in Japan for the language practise for her university course back at home.

After dinner we bought our tickets from the vending machine and proceeded into the onsen. It’s a common practice to use self-service ticket machines which you the hand the ticket to a staff member. Presumably it is to remove the need of the staff to handle the money.

With the tickets purchased we entered the onsen. After a couple of onsen visits we are now well versed on the practice of stripping off, washing thoroughly while seated on the stool in the shower/wash area, and then proceeding into the hot baths. This onsen was considerably bigger than the hotel onsen in Tsumago, with a number of indoor hot baths, an outdoor hot bath, and a sauna. The boys enjoy it and happily run around between the baths in their natural bathing suits (i.e. naked). Whereas it may still take a few more times for us adults to be equally comfortable.

After a good soaking we headed back to the campsite just 10 mins down the road ready for a good sleep. Though the foam mattresses are a little on the thin side.