Kotakigawa Jade Gorge — Attraction in Itoigawa

Massively over hyped place. There is no jade there, even if there were some time ago. Restrictions ruin the entire impression. There are countless gorges around Japan where you can enter the water or pick rocks. If you claim that Japanese are very caring about environment, what good are your restrictions? Equally, why do other gorges are preserved so nicely even without restrictions??? I suspect the hype is due to UNESCO listing, but it surely must have been a slow day at their office to accept this entry. On top of that, the so called scientific information available are so vague, it's laughable. Finally, if you really could find jade, it would have been dotted all over the river, long way outside of the gorge all the way to the Are you going to fence off all river and beaches...

The location was beautiful. My older kids enjoyed dipping in the cold clean river in hit July. However, when we were leaving we got scolded by an old man (volunteer???) who said “you are not allowed in the water, Wht you think this is a pool?”. It really ruined the experience for our family. There are no signs saying “no swimming”. Just signs saying don’t enter stream in high water. The water was very low the end of...

翡翠の産地　糸魚川へ

古墳巡りをしていると 翡翠の勾玉等が出土される

説明書では産地が新潟とされているものが目につく

そこで山の日の三連休の初日に 翡翠の産地の一つ小滝川ヒスイ峡を訪ねた

京都から7時前のサンダーバードと 北陸新幹線を乗り継げば 9:30頃から富山駅でレンタカーが借りられる

それから約2時間 糸魚川市内に入り川沿いの道から 山道を進むと二股になり 釣り堀に行く右の道はもっと狭いように感じたので左へ

所々道が狭くなりアップダウンを繰り返す

かなり登った感じで開けた高浪の池展望台に到着

撮影ポイントだけあって 眼下には高波の池や駐車場などが見え その奥に見えるのが明星山らしい

小滝川ヒスイ峡はまだまだ先 ここから下って明星山の麓を目指す

幸い対向車が少なくて助かった

川の方へ行くと駐車場があり 川遊びの家族連れなどが遊びに来ているようだった

ヒスイの原石に触れたり 冷たい水に手を浸けられる場所もあり 説明板を読みながら そびえ立つ明星山に見とれた

帰りに釣り堀の方を通ったら 行きの道より断然早く帰れた こちらも狭い所や対向車も来るが そ...