Kokokei Trip #1 (Gifu Prefecture)

15 October 2024: The town of Kani is the constant waypoint for rides to Gero Onsen from Nagoya. After the western route past Kasugai Country Club proved to include something close to a mountain hiking trail, and the eastern route via Seto and Tajimi proved to parallel speedy traffic over a nerve-rattling distance, this jaunt explores a middle route that merges with the Toki River. A fun ride, but without happy news on that front.

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The first leg of this route running through Nagakute and Owariasahi is familiar ground, a long stretch mostly on the sidewalks of stroad lined with dealerships, repair shops, retail outlets, and restaurants. It’s not non-descript—no place ever is—but I’ll forego describing it here. The excitement began at an abrupt turnout from the northbound route, into a maze of unplanned hillside development. The turnout ran sharply uphill, and I dropped the bike when starting up the incline (no photo, sorry!). Several mapped roads through the area were under private ownership and had been closed off by developers for one reason or another, but with some zig-zag jiggery pokery, I came to a causeway over a large stagnant pond covered with algae to find this peculiar joint, the “Laid Back Swampside Cafe.” From the general decor, I assume this bar must either be a product of foreign ownership, or of extreme cultural fandom. The Confederate flags are tricky to interpret. In the US I’d be careful about even setting foot in the place, for fear of being outed as hated commie pinko socialist “enemy within” material: but the symbol doesn’t necessarily carry that baggage for a local clientele, any more than Christmas decorations signify anything more than the approaching end of the year. I’d have to check out the vibe some evening when I feel like a long nighttime ride.

Apart from the swamp, the intersection where the LaidBack club is located is kind of desolate, with open terrain, guard rails closely skirting the roadway, and a kiln with a brickwork chimney in the distance across the road.

The road past the LaidBack Cafe led almost immediately to a sparkling new-town grid development, in sharp contrast to the ageing structures and chaotic street layout of the unplanned enclave across the river. Beyond that stretch of suburb, the route at last entered the climb into forest land.

The scrub and bamboo of the lower reach gave way to cedar forest.

The route through forest apparently followed the Tōkai Nature Trail (東海自然歩道) maintained by the Environment Bureau of Aichi Prefecture.

As I passed the sign above, I was joined in my journey through the forest by a bird that paralleled me on the embankment pace for pace, pecking at the soil and making plaintive purring noises. I’m not a birder, and embarrassed to confess that I wasn’t sure even what kind of bird this guy was. So while putting this post together I put out a call for feedback on the socials, and was blessed with a thread of responses pegging this as a pheasant, and not (as I had naively thought initially) a kind of turkey. Many thanks to all who responded!

The companion in the photos below is a Copper Pheasant (aka 山 鳥), native to Japan and evidently not seen all that often in the wild. There was a garden area near the spot where he appeared, and it’s possible that he was raised in captivity there. We enjoyed a heartwarming few minutes together before I sped on up the hill.

It was at about this time that midges began making their presence felt, and I swapped the helmet for a gardener’s hat with drop-down mosquito net. At the top of the climb, the sound of heavy machinery broke the Elysian spell of the forest, and wham! civilization returned to the scene with a roar and a clatter. I paused and took a leak near this sign. Had I taken the time to read it properly, I would have noticed that it was posted by “Aichi-Gifu Landfill” management, explaining both the clatter of machinery and the comprehensive chainlink fencing alongside the road.

A little further on, the landfill itself hove into view, along with gated turnouts for trucks bringing in their loads. Not a lot to see, but I think I learned a couple of things from this segment. Those midges or flies that seem to hover around your mouth in parts of the forest? I think they may be associated with landfills. The other time I’ve encountered them was near the massive solar complex to the north of Kasugai Country Club: that solar installation may be standing atop a preexisting landfill. And if that’s right, that too may be another pattern: during the visit to Okayama earlier this year, there was a massive solar farm there that was rumored locally to be installed on land where there were deposits of industrial waste.

There were a couple of entry points. The first was kind of overgrown with weeds, I think this was the second. Both were closed and locked: either this landfill site has been capped, or Tuesday was a day off for deliveries. Possibly the heavy equipment was preparing for installation of solar? Time will tell, I’ll put it in the calendar to pay another visit in a year’s time.

From the ridge overlooking the landfill, the route descends sharply toward Toki River and to the ride’s goal at the Kokokei Japan Rail. It follows a small tributary that’s cut a small but steep gorge in the mountain, which is more scenic than this poor photograph suggests.

A short distance down the roadway, navigation directed me to turn into a path that was originally a walking path finished and maintained by local government, with railings and everything, but which had fallen into disuse and disrepair. I traversed it, moving past warning signs about falling rock and trees, then stumbling over chunks of rock washed into the path, and stepping gingerly around the leavings of strangers bearing bags of garbage.

The path did lead back to the roadway, though.

Shortly after rejoining the roadway, I came to the Kokokei JR station. The area around the simple station is deserted apart from a raft of bicycles and scooters and a small number of cars. When this was taken, I had no idea where the vehicles came from, but later inspection of the map shows there are some residential enclaves across the river. Not sure what the sources of local employment would be. Forestry, gravel pits, land fills, and maybe there are some golf courses in the area?

My purpose in coming to this particular station was to check out a possible footpath/bikeway that showed as a thin line in Google Maps. I knew that the main road, on the other side of the Shōnai from the train station, had no shoulder and would not be safe for cyclists. If there were a separate pathway, though, the route might provide access to Tajimi, and thence to Kani, Kawabe, and northward to Gero Onsen.

In the event, there \textit{was} a separate pathway, and a pedestrian bridge across Shōnai River (yay!). But the pathway came to an end at a heavily trafficked intersection with no sidewalks or side paths, boasting two businesses: a small ramshackle structure claiming to be a mah-jong parlour; and a run-down love hotel.

Across the street from the intersection’s two businesses, there is a small gorge adorned with plantings of Japanese maples that must be quite beautiful in their fall colors. The roar of passing trucks and the tense project of crossing the street without getting clobbered would reduce its romantic allure for couples visiting the hotel for their 90 minutes of sex play.

This was taken on the return trip back to the station. Despite the abrupt truncation of the walking path at the crossroads, a lot of effort has gone into maintenance of the pathway leading to the hotel, including this tiny tunnel through a rocky outcropping. Which is interesting.

By the time I got back to the station, I was feeling hungry. I hadn’t packed lunch and (contrary to my expectation) there was noplace to eat in the area. Trains were running every 30 minutes and there was plenty of time left in the day, so I took a ride to Tajimi for lunch.

The sign below greets passengers at the station exit, promising a scenic view of cherry blossoms on a walking course along the river to a temple grounds at the station one stop toward Nagoya (the direction opposite to Tajimi). I’m not entirely sure that there’s a walking path in that direction.¹ In any case, it would make more sense to visit Jokoji JR Station directly, as (according to a man I chatted with at the roadside in Kasugai on the way back) there’s more to see there.

My puzzling over sources of employment up in the mountains was partly resolved as I set out on the return journey, using the main road rather than the rock-strewn forest walk I’d braved on the way out.

And, er, that’s it!