Within the latter half of the final decade the ‘On The Fox Path…’ collection spawned over 20 posts, and I actually did assume I had coated just about any fox-related place in Japan. That wasn’t the case although as this fox-blessed sizzling spring city in some way bypassed my consideration.
It was solely while I used to be trying out the closest stations on Google Maps for accessing Renofa Yamaguchi’s soccer stadium final August that I got here throughout a couple of fascinating sights. Yabara is definitely the closest station to the Ishin Me-Life Stadium however Yudaonsen can be inside strolling distance and proved to be an undiscovered gem for me.
My time at Yudaonsen was pretty restricted as I didn’t arrive till simply earlier than 5:30 pm with the J2 match scheduled to kick-off 90 minutes later. half-hour of that point would even be wanted for strolling to the stadium however fortunately the onsen (sizzling spring tub) city was pretty small and I used to be in a position to do what I needed to do in my allotted time.
Legend has it that about 800 years in the past a priest witnessed a white fox delicately dipping its broken paw into the therapeutic waters of a small pond on the foot of a neighborhood mountain. The fox was immediately healed and as information of this mircale unfold individuals from throughout Japan started to go to the world to learn from such therapeutic properties within the native waters. That fox was later honoured by the erection of a beautiful eight-metre excessive white statue.
It’s situated proper exterior Yudaonsen (Yamaguchi Line) and has a robust impression as you exit the station. There may be additionally a cunning publish field close by.
The feminine fox mascot within the face-in-the-hole board is known as Yuko, and the lady on the left is native desk tennis star Kasumi Ishikawa who gained medals on the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympic video games.
There may be an info board detailing the story of the legendary white fox.
A brief distance up the street have been a few fox statues. The primary one I seen was a sleeping fox behind a picket bench.
Behind that was one other small fox statue and a map. I didn’t realize it on the time however there are numerous fox statues dotted across the city. I managed to see a couple of however didn’t have time to analysis and find all of them. I nonetheless haven’t accomplished that and possibly gained’t because it’s not like I’ll be revisiting this space anytime quickly. Ignorance is bliss generally!
Subsequent up was Inoue Park; a nice space of greenery with one other statue.
There was even a climbing body and slide designed to seem like a fox however had it not featured the top then I wouldn’t have guessed it was such an animal! Sadly, I don’t contemplate it first rate sufficient to justify its inclusion within the lengthy operating ‘Attention-grabbing Japanese Playground Buildings’ collection on Tokyo Fox!
There are a couple of footbaths accessible without spending a dime use within the neighbourhood and the primary one I encountered was a small one within the park and naturally it was guarded by a few foxes.
There was one other footbath simply past that.
The one I opted to go to was a bit additional on from that. It was a nice picket one on Yunoka Road and was nonetheless solely a ten minute stroll north of the station.
I’ll have solely soaked my weary toes within the tub for a couple of minutes nevertheless it felt so good, and was a a lot welcomed cease for a little bit of revitalisation forward of my half hour stroll to the Ishin-Me Life Stadium.
Among the views en-route to the stadium have been wonderful with nature aplenty together with the gorgeous mountains fringing the area.
The match itself (a seven objective thriller) was the principle purpose to be on this a part of Yamaguchi Prefecture however I felt fortunate to have come throughout this fox-blessed sizzling spring city within the strategy of getting ready for that which was an enormous bonus.
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