Igneous & Silvergrass

For the last two days, we were back in volcano land, exploring the beauty around Mount Aso, another active volcano on our trip.

For accommodation, we enjoyed two nights at two different ryokans, the traditional Japanese guest houses. If you ever come to Japan, staying at a ryokan should definitely be on your checklist. One of them was in a quaint little onsen town, Kurokawa Onsen, where you can find one bathhouse after the other. Guests walk through the town in their yukatas (traditional Japanese summer wear) and take part in an activity called “Yumeguri” or onsen hopping. We of course participated and took a dip in a beautiful traditional mixed outdoor bath. This was not only great because of the mystical mood at night (picture stone baths next to river waterfall, lid by a few Japanese lanterns), but also because it was the first bath experience we could enjoy together. Fun history fact about the gender separation at onsen: it is said that this does not come from traditional Japanese customs, but rather was introduced by Western Christian missionaries, who of course were no fans of the idea of men and women bathing together naked.

Outside of letting ourselves be treated like kings and queens in the ryokans, we also went to explore some nature around Mount Aso. The hiking trail took us past the main active volcano while climbing old ones that are now inactive. This is where we encountered our title in masses. Igneous is the red-ish rock that was formed due to volcanic activity, while silvergrass is everywhere, as far as the eye can see. The latter actually posed a bit of a challenge during the second part of the hike, as the path was barely visible due to the eye-height grass. There were almost no people on our path either, which made way-finding even harder. In the end, we didn’t see our own feet for an hour, but it was a great adventurous experience.

On the road trip side, it was the first time we ventured into the unknown for a specific sight we were searching for: the Ogi rice terraces. We took our K-car deep into the countryside for that, on roads where we probably pushed the car’s capabilities a bit too far, only to arrive and see that we were a couple of days too late, as some of the rice fields had already been harvested.

A bit of a bummer, but in the end it led us to follow a nearby sign to a river spring, which turned out to be absolutely magical: untouched forest, with no one else around and the moss taking over every corner of a small hidden shrine at the end. As so often, it’s the unplanned, unknown places that make such a trip.

Country

Japan

Region

Aso

Date

30 September 2026

Camera

Sony a6700

GPS

33.077713,131.141938