An uninhabited island at the mouth of Ine Bay, known as the island where the gods dwell. It acts as a natural breakwater, keeping the bay calm, which is said to be one reason the boathouse culture developed here. I saw it straight ahead from the boathouse doorway and from my seat at the cafe.
Sources: gltjp.com
This moment in the journey
To the town of boathouses
Ine is a fishing town in the northern part of Kyoto Prefecture. Along the shore of Ine Bay stand about 230 funaya, boathouses of a kind found nowhere else: the first floor is the boat storage area, and the second floor is the residential area.
Looking across the bay, I saw the boathouses lined up at the very edge of the water, with green hills behind them. Sightseeing boats and fishing boats passed slowly in front. Through the open doorway of one boathouse, I could see Aoshima, the island at the mouth of the bay.
I walked the lane on the hill side. A scooter ran past between the wooden-walled houses. I passed a small restaurant with a banner for dried sea cucumber rice bowls, and from behind the boathouses came out to the bay again.
Watch this scene on YouTube0:20
More notes from this journey
Ine, Kyoto
Rice cooked with filefish
A rice dish made with Kyoto fish bought at the harbor market.
From: Living with the sea in the boathouses of Ine
Ine, Kyoto
Grilled seafood
Seafood from the market, put straight on the grill.
From: Living with the sea in the boathouses of Ine
Ine, Kyoto
The boathouses of Ineura
About 230 boathouses line roughly five kilometers of the Ine Bay shore.
From: Living with the sea in the boathouses of Ine
Ine, Kyoto
A boathouse open to visitors
Most boathouses in Ine are private homes, but this one lets visitors inside.
From: Living with the sea in the boathouses of Ine
Ine, Kyoto
Ine no Funaya Miyabi
A Japanese-style cafe in a boathouse built about 80 years ago and renovated in the manner of a teahouse.
From: Living with the sea in the boathouses of Ine
More notes from Kinki
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Kyoto-style ozoni (white miso New Year soup)
Ozoni in and around Kyoto is built on kombu dashi and white miso, with round mochi, taro, carrot and daikon.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Osechi (datemaki, red-and-white namasu, decorated kamaboko)
Each osechi dish carries a wish.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Toshikoshi soba (nihachi soba)
The custom of eating soba on New Year's Eve is said to have spread among ordinary people in the Edo period.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Chestnut rice (kuri gohan)
My first chestnut rice, made with chestnuts I had picked myself.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Charcoal-grilled saury with sudachi
Sanma is written 秋刀魚, "autumn sword fish," but that spelling only spread from the Taisho era on; older texts wrote it 青串魚.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Wakayama bonito and mandarin carpaccio
In contrast to the lean first bonito of spring, the fish that head south from around September are called modori-gatsuo, returning bonito.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast