Yabase
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Hey guys! Welcome to 'Yabase Kihan'
or 'The Returning Sails at Yabase'
E&M: Not so many sails here anymore
E:This one probably looks more different that any of the other ones we've been to yet, right?
M: Yeah this one is most definitely
I mean, the other ones have buildings added and stuff but his one is like...
It does not exist anymore
E: It does not exist!
You can't see the lake from where we are
because there's a man-made island that was made in the 70's or something?
M: Yeah and even between here and the island is a ridge that cars are driving on
So you can't see the actual lake from where we are
but, back a long long time ago I'm sure you could
M: Because we'd be sitting in it right now
E: And right behind us-- Yeah!
Right behind us is the old dock, right?
M: You can kinda see maybe in the video
I did this last time too where I reached across-- right there!
There's a stone, like a stone dock basically
And that is the original dock?
That's the same dock from hundreds of years ago?
M: I'm pretty positive that it is
So if that is the original dock that means we are currently sitting in Lake Biwa
M: Yeah basically. Old old Lake Biwa
E: Like where the lake used to be
So what else is interesting about this area
Maddie. Maddie-sensei
M: A whole bunch of things!
M: Many many things
The original print, or the original Omi Hakkei here
as Emily said before was 'Yabase Kihan' or 'The Returning Sails at Yabase'
All the old prints have pictures of sailboats coming back to this port
Basically the reason it was super important
was partially because it was a shortcut on the Tokaido
which is the road that we've talked about before
E: So if you guys remember us at Karahashi, the bridge
I think that was part three in our adventure
When we talked about Karahashi we were talking about how
a long time ago that was the only way virtually to get from
the east side of Japan to the at the time capital, Kyoto
And that was over the Tokaido road
which was the main road that everybody traveled on in Japan
So this was an alternate route, correct?
M: Yes, there's a road that went off of the Tokaido
and came here to Yabase Port
So the normal route would go down south from here and then cross at Karahashi
and then come back up, so it's pretty far
But here, you could get a boat and take the boat straight across to Otsu
And so apparently, travelers who were in a hurry would do that
E: But...
M: But!
So actually this is – there’s a proverb that originates here
E: Pretty well-known phrase
M: Yeah, it’s pretty, the original one is long, but the proverb part is
“isogaba maware”
which means – it’s basically the equivalent of “slow and steady wins the race”
With “slow and steady wins the race,” it’s from the story of the tortoise and the hare, right?
E: Yeah
M: So it’s kinda, the hare loses that race mostly ‘cause he’s lazy
but apparently isogaba maware, the Japanese version
has more of a thing like, if you’re in a rush –
E: A nuance of danger?
M: A nuance of danger
like something could happen – something might happen
if you try to do it quickly
Tempting fate
M: Yeah, exactly
It basically means, “it takes less time to take a boat from Yabase
but if you’re in a hurry, you should take the detour at Karahashi”
E: “It’s faster to go through Yabase
but to be safe, take the main road”
M: Yeah! There you go
The reason that it was dangerous is
because of the Hira Oroshi
which we’ve mentioned before
which is the wind that comes from the Hira Mountains
I’ve talked about it extensively in my articles
‘cause I have to bike against it and I always like to complain
Um, but it’s a really strong wind that comes down from the Hira Mountains
Anyway, it blows down towards the Seta River and so apparently
well I know that it’s flipped a lot of boats
but apparently – specifically, boats going from Yabase to Otsu would often get flipped
Or, like, it was really dangerous to do when the Hira Oroshi was there
So if you’re trying to take the shortcut
and you’re like “oh I have to save time!” and then your boat flips
then you’re like “oh I wish I’d just done the Karahashi thing”
E: ‘Cause that wind is still around today!
Maddie deals with it more than I do, but…
M: Yeah! No, it’s so funny that that always comes up
like, the same stuff kinda like, is all connected and like
Karahashi’s involved in this place
E: So this is the fifth one that we’ve done so far
but we’re finding connections to a lot of them
Like Karahashi, Miidera, and the Hira Mountains
M: Right, the legend, the Hira Oroshi
E: yeah, the legends, and…
yeah they’re all – they’re really interestingly connected
So I feel like we’re kind of piece by piece getting the big story
the big picture of like, what it used to be so many years ago
Which I think we’re only just starting to see now
‘cause we’re more than halfway through
M: Yeah! Right
now that we’re doing a lot of them and the same things are coming up
E: Yeah. Like, I don’t know, doing this has become much more interesting than
the first one that we did
We didn’t talk too much about the history or whatever
But we’re discovering a lot more as we go. So, yeah
E: So, thanks again guys for tuning in and watching our Omi Hakkei adventure
We’ll continue to see what the rest of the big picture is of this area
We have three more to go
so look forward to that
Like and subscribe if you want! If you don’t, you know.. whatever
M: Thank you!
E: See ya!