I πŸ’œ Wasting Ink β†’ Diaries β†’ These Walking Dreams β†’ Day 34 (May 16, 2017)

Yamajiro, Tokushima β†’ Kubo, Tokushima

Map of Tokushima Prefecture with author’s route between Yamajiro and Kubo highlighted. πŸ—Ί Open map in GaiaGPS β†’

A paper military map of South Japan held down by a teacup, with the route of These Walking Dreams highlighted with a fountain pen; the tip of the pen is visible in the corner.

Detail of the instructions on the same map of South Japan. πŸ“ West Tokuzen, Tokushima

The instructions on my map of South Japan say DESTROY WHEN NO LONGER NEEDED, and when a map has been walked out of, it is no longer needed.

A highway crosses a mountain river on a high concrete bridge, with a village on the other side and forested hills in the distance.

A vine bridge above a rocky mountain river peeks out of the river’s heavily forested banks.

Sign on a vine bridge which says: Here is the exit. Please go around to the other end for entry. πŸ“ Iya Vine Bridge, West Iya, Tokushima

Deep in the gorge of the Remote and Inaccessible Iya River, right next to a four-story parking garage built in high Yugoslav style, one can observe an ingenious piece of 12th century civil engineering: the one-way vine bridge. Stepping on it from the left bank will trigger a voice in perfect American English, announcing from the forest that THIS IS A ONE-WAY BRIDGE. PLEASE TURN BACK. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. Further progress in the wrong direction will summon a man waving furiously, enraged that someone would dare think of crossing this wild bridge of medieval outlaws and renegades without dropping 500 yen into a box on the proper side.

I smiled, turned back as well as I could, and didn’t stop for the next 20 kilometers, until I was free of parking garages, one-way bridges, and people driven from the city in tour buses to look at simulacra of medieval tales for money. High up in the forest, as the evening turned into a cold and ink-black night, the real Iya Valley began.

The flash suggests a forest at night and highlights a set of guardrails which spell NIИ, the same way as the logo of the band Nine Inch Nails. πŸ“ Wada, Tokushima

These Walking Dreams is a visual field diary of a 4,300-kilometer walk from one end of Japan to the other, in the spring and summer of 2017.

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