SW D2 Yuzawa - Tokamachi

Route: Yuzawa - Karekimata - Tokamachi
Bicycle: 62 km
Total ascent: 1007 m
Average speed: 13,8 km/h
Riding time: 4:30 h
Weather: sunny in the morning, rainy after lunch, 30 C

On my second day of this trip I made it over the mountains to Tokamachi. I started extremely early today, not so much because of the heat, but because there was rain forecast starting in the early afternoon, and I didn’t want to be still in the mountains when the rain started.

I had planned a ride on what seemed to be a relatively small road up into the mountains. It wasn’t only small, it was not frequented at all. In the entire time I climbed up I met only one person. 

On the top of the mountain, the small road joined what I thought was going to be a little bit of a bigger road, but it was still very small and very remote. So remote that the school in the village has closed many years ago, but it’s now being used as one of the venues of the art festival.

There is an exhibition inside. But it only opens at 10 o’clock and I was there around probably 8:30 in the morning. But there was also a small shop, if you can call something a shop where as a customer, you are also responsible for collecting the money. But it was perfect. I got a bottle of mugicha, had a second breakfast close to a round rice paddy field/artwork and then climbed up a few meters to a very small shrine in front of which there were some more art works.

From there, it was mainly downhill, except the parts where it was uphill. On the way, I passed a few other artworks some of them didn’t tell me anything.

And some others were simply fun, but it’s probably saying too much that they are art.

On Google maps I had seen a recommendation for a viewpoint over rice paddies, and while I had already seen nice landscape and rice paddies from my small roads, I still went there. The road was quite loose gravel so after pushing the bike for a while I gave up and left the bike on the side of the road and continued by foot uphill until the viewpoint. 

The next art stop was Ubusuna an old kominka straight from a Ghibli film. 

Where some energetic elder ladies have a small restaurant and prepare very good and filling lunch. The artwork itself inside was so so, I would say any school project given sufficient time would be able to produce something similar.

Right after I finished lunch, the rain started. And it started with a downpour. I waited a little bit, but it didn’t seem that it would stop raining very soon so after a while, I donned my Castelli jacket and the rain cap for the helm and started riding downhill to the next Art installation. 

I had bought the ticket for the art festival online, but you still need to get the actual ticket, and it’s only available in a few locations and none of them was in Yuzawa  which would have been very convenient. So at Ubusuna they made me pay again, while at this house already down in the valley the guard took pity on this solitary cyclist in the rain and let me in anyway. 

Finally I made it to the Monet, the main art museum of the area and got my actual ticket. I also looked around a little bit but decided against actually going into the museum. Thinking about doing this on Friday as weather seems to be unfriendly then. 

Last time I was here I remember this enormous pool in the middle. I remember it was a very hot day and it was refreshing to sit on the shores of the museum relaxing and cooling down a bit. Today instead I decided  to go to the onsen that is in the same building. One of the few museums with onsen, I am sure. But not the only “strange” installation with an onsen. In Tsunan station is also an onsen.