Taking Flight
From its conservation work to save a national symbol, to its traditional onsens and ryokans, the region of Kinosaki is a hidden gem that reveals much about Japan’s cultural heritage.
In Japan, Oriental white storks are considered a symbol of grace, wisdom, prosperity and longevity. For years, people have come to tea houses around Toyooka City to observe these elegant birds in the fields and waterways, as they feed on the grasshoppers, fish, frogs and snakes that flourish in the region’s high temperatures and humidity.
With an average body length of 1.1 metres and a wingspan of almost two metres, these storks weigh up to five kilos. They have red skin around their eyes, with a whitish iris and black bill, and communicate by making a ‘clattering’ sound with their beaks.
The female is slightly smaller than the male, and makes her nest high up in pine trees – or, increasingly, at the top of electricity poles. After breeding, the storks migrate to eastern China in September and return in March.
Toyooka, located in central Japan’s Hyōgo Prefecture and set between the Sea of Japan and the mountains, was (and still is) a bird-watching paradise. But the situation has changed rapidly in the last 60 years. Out of the 620 or so bird species that have been recorded in Japan, many are now endangered – including the stork, which became officially extinct in the wild in 1971.
It’s a sad story. After World War II, the Japanese people were starving. In order for crops to grow quickly, many trees were cut for fuel and massive
amounts of harmful agricultural chemicals were used – which killed the small organisms the storks fed on.
At the same time, the wetlands were disappearing as fields and rivers were modified and waterways became disconnected. Hunting was also taking its toll on the local bird life.
PRESERVING AN ICON
By the 1960s, only 10 Oriental white storks still existed in the wild – and the Toyooka region became their last habitat. At this time, a local schoolboy, Kojiro Matsushima, made a promise to the storks – he would try to save them so that they’d fly again. Concerned citizens established the Stork Conservation and Proliferation Centre, and in 1965 Matsushima helped capture the remaining storks in order to breed them in captivity.
“I felt a heavy responsibility to protect the species,” Matsushima, who is considered a legend and still travels the world speaking at conferences, is quoted as saying.
However, breeding in captivity didn’t work for a long time. Fifty-five eggs were laid during the first 20 years of the breeding programme – but due to environmental degradation, most of these eggs were infertile. Others failed to hatch and went rotten.
Researchers also realised they had to protect the birds from the infectious diseases and genetic irregularities that could arise when closely related birds
breed. But a glimmer of hope emerged in 1985, when the Soviet Union city of Khabarovsk donated six storks of the same species as those found in Japan.
Unfortunately, one of the birds died two months later. However, the others formed two breeding pairs – and four years later, the first stork was born. Since then, breeding has been carried out every year under special conditions, with some white storks coming from South Korea.
MODERN CONSERVATION
Local residents and children became increasingly supportive of this vital conservation project as it worked hard to reintroduce the storks into the wild. In 2005, Prince and Princess Akishino were among the guests at a ceremony at which the first five captive-bred storks were released, and the stork flew freely in the skies of Toyooka for the first time in decades. Two years later the first chick fledged in the wild.
You can now visit the Toyooka Municipal Museum of the Oriental White Stork to learn this story, and see the elegant white storks in open cages in the garden.
The museum’s director, Makoto Takahashi – a keen birdwatcher and photographer himself – shows us around the facility, which is also a research centre. “The environment and the economy have become interconnected,” he explains. The hope is that the storks will recover to the point where they become migratory birds again, and that their numbers increase right across Asia.
We spotted a few wild storks in the fields earlier, nesting on platforms in tall, telegraph-like poles; and he points to one in the garden, who obviously knows it’s feeding time.
Today, there are an estimated 140 Oriental white storks flying in Japan, and around 50 to 60 in Toyooka. The park has around 100 birds living in captivity or in the open cages.
Increasingly, the local rice farmers are using more stork-friendly farming methods to grow organic rice – including Stork Natural Rice, which is farmed without the use of chemical fertilisers or agricultural chemicals.
To help support the storks, the farmers flood their fields during the winter – and they also use a method called ‘deep water management’. This technique requires deeper water levels than general agricultural methods, which makes weeds less likely to sprout and also provides the storks with more food.
“[The] Japanese are interested in organic food because it’s safe for the environment,” Takahashi says.
Toyooka is the next train stop from Kinosaki Onsen, which people have been visiting for 1,300 years to experience the baths that are believed to rejuvenate the body and soul.
According to legend, Kinosaki was founded around 717 AD, when the Buddhist priest Dochi Shonin received a vision from an oracle. The vision told him to pray for the health of the local people for 1,000 days. It is said that after he did so, a hot spring shot up from the ground.
It’s also said that the location for one of the town’s seven public bath houses, Kouno-yu (supposedly the bath that will bring you happiness in your marriage), was found when a stork was seen bathing its wounds in the hot spring waters.
BATHING BEAUTY
The stork is the symbol of the region today, and it is depicted everywhere from statues to chopstick rests.
In the old days, visitors who came here mainly for recovery from injuries and illness first had to head to Onsenji Temple (now accessible by ropeway) to pay their respects to Dochi Shonin – where they received a wooden ladle and were taught bath etiquette.
Many Japanese know the town from the short story, At Kinosaki, by Shiga Naoya, who found physical and spiritual healing there while recovering from a train accident. And today it has a state-of-the-art International Arts Centre, which hosts writers from all
“We spotted a few wild storks earlier, nesting on platforms in tall, telegraph-like poles.”
over the world, who come here for inspiration. A beautiful place to see the iconic cherry blossoms in spring, Kinosaki is also revered for its snow crab available over the winter months, as well as local Tajima Wagyu.
In 1925, a huge earthquake and the subsequent fire devastated the area, and burnt Kinosaki Onsen to the ground. But the town banded together to rebuild it, and still today the business owners are said to work together in a cooperative spirit of coprosperity known as kyozon kyoei.
Kinosaki is now on the verge of becoming seriously hip. While half the stores in the town are traditional, and have been owned by the same family for generations (such as ones that sell gorgeous straw craft), new shops and restaurants are opening every month.
The concept of the town, set on the Maruyama River, is that it’s “one ryokan” (traditional inn). The station is the entrance, the streets are the halls, the inns are the rooms, and the public hot springs are the baths. People walk the streets in yukata (a light cotton robe) and geta (wooden sandals), popping in and out of the baths – where you strip down, wash and then soak in the water.
According to legend, Kinosaki was founded around 717 AD.
The baths range from Goshono-yu (also known as the ‘Water of Beauty’), which resembles the Kyoto Imperial Palace and has an outside rock bath with a gushing waterfall; to Jizou-yu, where the water is said to protect family members from illness.
SO MUCH TO EXPLORE
We stayed at the Nishimuraya Honkan, a traditional Japanese ryokan with 160 years of history. It was originally a jinya (an official residence during the shogunate times). You sleep on futons in the elegant tatami mat rooms. There’s a large garden, incredible in-room kaiseki dinners (Japanese haute cuisine), and breakfasts served by your own kimono-clad housemaid. Famous kabuki actors have stayed here – and one suite has a special make-up room where they can get ready for performances.
Its sister hotel, Nishimuraya Hotel Shogetsutei, is the newer and more modern Japanese ryokan, which looks out over jaw-dropping views of a mountain forest. Both hotels have their own onsens – but there are also private baths available, including one in a Balinese style.
Sanpou Dining, where you sit facing a large Japanese irori (cooking hearth), is one of the newest restaurants in town. The charcoal used comes from the nearby Kannabe Highlands, and we are told the chef hikes the mountains collecting herbs and vegetables to make his exquisite dishes. Our vegetarian set menu includes deep-fried yuba tofu and spinach tea and soba noodles with grilled rice balls and soy sauce.
Not far from Kinosaki, you can visit the clear waters of Takeno Beach on the Sea of Japan, or stroll around the historic castle town of Izushi and see the beautifully restored 100-year-old Eirakukan Theatre, where kabuki and other performances are held. You can also visit willow craft shops and a sake brewery and eat traditional Sara Soba.
Then head back to Kinosaki to try another onsen and luxuriate in the hot mineral waters, remembering the stork that was first healed here.