Dazaifu Yuenchi

The final park of the day was buried in the mountains south of Fukuoka and I was interested in this area, not for the small theme park that can be found here but the shrine next door.

The entrance to the park. The queue line is not for the park but for the Kyushu National Museum next door.

This is the museum. Built in 2005 and being the first new national museum to be built in 100 years it had a massive amount of interest with really long queues that I estimate would have taken a couple of hours to get through.

Park map showing how small the park is. Just a thin long collection of rides really.

The park is fairly small with just the one coaster. That blue track isn't it. That's a powered people mover.

Drinking water is on tap.

This is the coaster, a rather strange mine train variant. The helix is the best bit.

The spiders here were fairly large!

The go-kart could be found at the back of the park. I didn't stick around here as the whole area smelt like a sewer. Not nice at all.

The little big wheel at the back of the park.

One of those super fast spinny mad house rides. The operator was keen to get people into it, almost as if the staff are paid commission. I'm joking, she was just being friendly.

The seven dwarves and some generic Disney Princess meet Baloo.

Anpan Man and friends commandeer a train.

Follow the white rabbit Neo.

These tigers looked like they'd seen better days.

Having had enough of the park it was time to head into Tenman-gu shrine next door.
(The following comes from the official website)

It is a shrine built over the grave of Michizane Sugawara who was venerated by the Japanese throughout the country as the Tenman-Tenjin (the deified spirit of Michizane), or the God of literature or calligraphy.

Michizane, who had been a high-ranking government officer, was demoted because of the slander and political chicanery of his rivals, the Fujiwara clan.

He endured a life of extreme hardship and misery in exile at Dazaifu, yet preserved his character continuing his scholarly studies and never developing the hatred for those who had exiled him. He died in 903 at the age of 59.

His funeral procession was a melancholy occasion, attended only by his faithful follower Yasuyuki Umasake and a few neighbors. The coffin was carried on a cow carriage led by Yasuyuki, according to the legend the ox suddenly came to a halt and refused to budge despite threats and entreaties. The burial therefore took place on the spot, and this became the site of the Tenmangu's main shrine visited today by so many admirers.

Michizane is celebrated as a man, pure in heart and deed, and after his death he was deified and worshipped as a God.

So now you know why there is a statue of an Ox.

The main gate into the shrine.

Prayer walls. Leave a message and the monks will read them during their morning ceremonies.

The shrine at the back of the complex. Rather disappointingly our tour guide tried to get the group to pray for happy coaster riding and the majority of the group played along...sigh!

The shrine complex was beautiful and popular, I guess with those that had finished with the exhibition or had given up queueing to get in.

The main street leading up to the shrine is full of souvenir shops and food stalls. I bought a box of Japanese sweets which I ate later on the trip. Very weird jelly things but nice.

Leaving Dazaifu Yuenchi we had a long drive south to Mitsui and the Greenland resort.

The view from the hotel window overlooking the park that we'd be hitting tomorrow. Mitsui Greenland