Infertility or the inability to have a babies plagues a lot of couples.

In Japan…they have an answer to that problem. And its name is Inyoseki!

I think there is a sort of ritual to bringing someone new to this place. It’s located in Kobayashi, Miyazaki, Kyushu, Japan. Basically the countryside of southern Japan. So just being out in the middle of nowhere one lets their guard down.

I remember the first time I was brought here. I wasn’t told where we were going. I wasn’t even given a hint. But my host was snickering and giggling like a little school girl the whole way there.

As you pass through the gate, there are no real signs. In fact the first thing you see is a wedding chapel. I was even more confused in seeing this western styled wedding chapel in the middle of the countryside.

But we went past that and puled around to a parking lot with a few souvenir shops. The time we were visiting everything was closed. So we brisked by the shops and I was greeted by this…

Look past the gate and tell me what you see?

Yea, you are right. That does look like a giant penis shaped rock.

This is Inyoseki. The fertility shrine of the south. Couples from all over Japan will come here to pray/wish for fertility. The rock was formed naturaly by a lava flow. And if you follow Japanese religious beliefes you will understand that they find a god in any interesting naturaly formed structure. The rope you see around the shaft is a symbol of a god livining in that rock.

I was told there is an equally massive rock formation in the shape of a vagina right next to the penis. I never saw it. But then again, I was never looking for it.

There is an amazingly beautiful emerald colored river that flows past the structure. In the summer I would be hard pressed to restrain myself from diving in.

A view headed back towards the shops.

Back past the shops and the main attraction there is a little path. You can even avoid the shops and pull your car down a hidde road to get to another location. This shot was taken by a close friend the last time I took them to visit this wonderful place. This is the path that loops around.

After you break out of the trees you get the side view of the attraction. I of course had to scale a few rocks and get into the shot for perspective.

Continuing on, there is a little bridge that leads you to a small structure. This shot is looking back over the bridge at the rock formation.

Oh yes. This is where the fun happens.

If you look back at the previous photo you will understand what we are looking through. It’s a massively hallowed out tree stump. But what is that in the distance?

Oh! I giant wooden penis carved from a tree. Duh!~

In the back of this building are quite a few stone sculptures. They all have the same hat.

Do you see a theme here?

If you have any spare change, please feel free to contribute.

A closeup of one of the statues.

I honestly don’t have a caption for this…

But this is what it looks like from the back.

Headed back, you dont have to leave yet. If you dont mind hoping some rocks, you can get down to the stream.

The last time I came down here I scared the hell out of some fishermen. By accident of course.

If this doesn’t say swim in me, I don’t know what does.

Here is about as far down stream as you want to get. From here it gets rather boring.

So now you know all about Inyoseki.

The last time we were there, it looked abandoned. The small shack in the back was well overgrown with weeds and plants. And the shops hadnt looked like they had been open in a while. And that chapel in the front, I think it was falling apart.

It would be a shame to see this gone from public eye. But as long as you can access it, and push a few overgrown plants aside. The rocks will be there long after the tourists have left.

If you are in Kyushu, this is a must see! Enjoy.

I spent a month down in Kobayashi, Miyazaki, Kyushu, Japan. It was an amazing experience, one I will never forget. Click the link for an assortment of black and white shots from that region.

Surfing in Miyazaki.

The water was all brown, but you cant see that in black and white.

This was an abandoned combustion chamber. Or trash furnace.

A closeup of the door

An old abandoned “homer” truck sits in a field.

You guessed it, an abandoned bicycle!

The houses below had the best locations for their TV antenna’s. Too bad its on the edge of a cemetery.

Antenna in the sky.

The rest are from an abandoned gas station along side the main route into the city of Miyazaki from Kobayashi. It amazes me they can let these drums sit here.

There were a lot more beautiful sites in Kobayashi. It just so happended that some of the best shots for black and white are old and abandoned items.

As I mentioned above, I had never seen real snow. Until I was invited to go snowboarding. While I know how to surf and wakeboard, snowboarding was also entirely new to me.

On my second trip to Nagano, I got a little cocky and decided to drift down a double black diamond. Just to see what it was like. As I got close to the bottom of that section I saw a big jump. I figured I would just lightly hit it and get some air. Sadly I was going a lot faster than I thought I was.  I ended up dislocating and relocating my shoulder in one shot. As I laid in the impact zone with the snow changing from hues of blue to purple, I crawled around and gathered up my effects. I believe this is what you call having a “Yard Sale”.

Later that day my friends took me to see a doctor who gave me a sling and some perscripts. No permanent damage, but wow did my shoulder hurt.

These photos are a result of me taking my pain meds and walking around the area while my friends went off and hit the slopes.

I love the feeling of compacting snow under your feet as you trudge along. The snow on the trees seems to muffle the environmental sounds and you almost go off into a completely isolated world.

Not sure what that says, I know the first kanji is Shi meaning “to serve” but after that… anyone?

This is actually a farm field. You can see the steps in the snow. And that is the ski slope on the side of the mountain., sigh!~

If you have ever been to Japan, you have seen the replenished timber land. And being the perfectionist, they perfectly plant the trees in perfect little rows. It almost looks like they sharpen each tree to a perfect little point.

Needless to say, I did get back on the slope the very next day. Of course I had one gimp arm and took some nasty falls as to try to not catch myself. But I did have fun and made the most of the trip.

I do remember trying to pour coffee back at the office on Monday was abosolute murder on my arm!

Pronounced “Bochi” or “o-haka”, Japanese cemeteries can be found from the countrysides all the way to the heart of Tokyo.

In Japan, a large number of wedding ceremonies are held in Shinto style. Death, however, is considered a source of impurity, and is left to the idealism’s of Buddhism. Consequently, there are virtually no Shinto cemeteries, and most funerals are held in Buddhist style.