On July 9, we departed from Niigata for Yamagata. Looking at the map, the straight-line distance between the two places is not far, but there is no direct railway connecting them, perhaps because of the continuous mountain ranges in between. We had to first take the Shinkansen south to Omiya Station, which is not far from Tokyo, a journey of over an hour; then transfer to the Yamagata Shinkansen, which took another two hours or so to reach Yamagata.

The transfer time at Omiya Station was originally only five minutes. Coupled with a two-minute delay on the first train and our unfamiliarity with the station’s layout, we ended up just watching the train leave. However, travel is about going with the flow. We took the next train an hour later and finally arrived at our hotel in Yamagata to drop off our luggage at nearly 2 PM.

Actually, “missing the train” is no big deal. Omiya is a large station with convenient facilities. We took advantage of these extra tens of minutes to buy a simple lunch to enjoy on the train. I even used this time to buy a pair of shorts, replenishing my somewhat insufficient clothing supply.

According to our original plan, this day was supposed to be a buffer day for transportation, with no itinerary scheduled. But seeing it was still early, we decided to move our “Tendo City” itinerary, originally planned for tomorrow, forward to today. From Yamagata to Tendo, it only takes about ten minutes by limited express train. We caught the 14:44 departure, while the return express train wouldn’t be until 19:19 in the evening.

The most prominent feature of Tendo City is “Shogi” (Japanese chess). Shogi is quite similar to Western chess and Chinese chess, all being board games based on military warfare. But like many other cultural artifacts, the Japanese have elevated it to the realm of “Tao,” treating it with extremely rigorous and serious attitudes. The Tendo City Shogi Museum is located on the first floor of the train station. The exhibits inside are quite rich and interesting, well worth a visit.

The exhibits include several Ukiyo-e paintings. At first, I couldn’t figure out why Ukiyo-e would be exhibited in a Shogi museum. Later I realized that many of these Ukiyo-e works are by unknown authors and not from famous masters, but they most authentically reflect the daily life of commoners in the Edo period.

Take the following painting as an example, the background is a public bathhouse. This was not only a place for bathing but also a “community center” at the time. Commoners would gather at the bathhouse, “chat” and exchange gossip… and Shogi was an important entertainment among them. As shown in the picture below, the painter vividly expressed the excitement of the players with exaggerated brushstrokes.

Besides Shogi, Tendo is also a famous hot spring town. It’s a little over a kilometer walk from the train station to the hot spring street. The distance wasn’t far, but because of the hot weather, when we passed a supermarket halfway, I suggested we go in to “cool down” first. The supermarket sold sliced watermelon and also had a “rest area” with tables and chairs. We naturally stayed there to enjoy the air conditioning and eat watermelon!

This road is also very distinctive. The ground and lampposts both have Shogi-themed decorations. Other details, like the floor tiles painted with the city bird, are also exceptionally beautiful!

After arriving at the hot spring street, we found a hot spring hotel: “Tendo Ichiraku”, which provides a day-trip bath (higaeri onsen) service. As soon as we entered, I was surprised to see Chua Lam’s calligraphy, thinking the fee might be quite expensive. Unexpectedly, the bathing fee was only 1500 yen per person, and it was an all-inclusive service with towels and amenities provided. They didn’t charge extra miscellaneous fees like other places, and even provided free drinks.

The standard of the hot spring here is indeed extremely high. After bathing, we rested in the lobby while enjoying our drinks. Although the garden outside the window wasn’t grand, the scenery was pleasant, and paired with the soft background music, it made us feel incredibly relaxed. So we decided to embrace the “slow living” pace and stayed in this tranquil space until 6:30 PM before strolling back to the train station.