Hello, this is Onsen Tamago Negitoro. I was reminded of a conversation I had with a Spanish hiker when I cycled the Camino de Santiago in Spain before the pandemic. He asked me, ‘Have you been to the Kumano Kodo? You really should go!’ The ‘Camino de Santiago’ in Spain, the ‘Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage,’ and the ‘Kumano Kodo’ are all incredibly popular among hikers from abroad. While I had cycled the first two, I had never ridden through the Kumano Kodo or the Kii Peninsula. Despite its proximity to my hometown of Osaka, the rugged nature of the Kii Mountain Range has always made it feel far away. This time, I rode a route following the ancien […]

Tracing the footsteps of Katsushika Hokusai by bicycle – Part 2 of the short series. This time, we will start with Hokusai in his twenties, when he entered the Katsukawa school and plunged into the world of ukiyo-e. Table of Contents 　1. In the Sumo Town (Ages 20~)　2. Man of the North Star (Ages 30~)　3. Becoming Hokusai, Katsushika Hokusai (Ages 40~) 1. In the Sumo Town (Ages 20~) Hokusai was allowed to use the name Katsukawa Shunro within just one year of entering the Katsukawa school, where he produced ukiyo-e prints (note that he changed his art name over 30 times in his lifetime, but this column will consistently use “Hokusai”).At that time, the motifs of ukiyo-e prints […]

Connecting people who enjoy rides.”Ring-Tomo” from TV producer Daisaku Kawase is none other than Daisuke Imanaka, whom you all know. He is the first Japanese participant in the Tour de France. I wonder what kind of rides he has been enjoying lately.