After having refreshed up at Fudou-iwa, we moved to 一本松公園(Ipponmatsu-kouen, means Ipponmatsu-park).
In this park, There are windmills made by stone.
The reason they made them was since Yamaga wanted to promote their region and attract people’s interests towards them so they offered a project to 門脇おさむ(Osamu Kadowaki) who is a famous sculpture and has succeeded to place stone windmills in parks around Japan, like Kyoto, Okayama, Kochi, etc. Some people call him ‘the artist of wind’.
Photo credit : Chieko @untappedkumamoto
Yamaga is famous for making うちわ(Uchiwa, means paper fan) so they wanted to launch something connecting with it.
Source : 山鹿探訪なび https://yamaga-tanbou.jp/spot/1531/
There are three windmills and they symbolize a family.
Photo credit : Chieko @untappedkumamoto
They are made of red granite from Spain and placed in 1996.
The centre one is 5.5m high and 1.5t and the other two are 3.5m and 1.0t.
At first, I couldn’t believe they’d spin round because of the size and mainly because of the stone but surprisingly, they did! They did with the little wind.
The sign says that they spin round only with 3m/s wind which is expressed as ‘wind which flutters susuki grass in the breeze’.
Photo credit : Chieko @untappedkumamoto
Since they are placed facing different directions each so they will receive wind from any directions.
Normally, the centre and light ones can spin but the right one spins only before typhoon comes.
So it means that they can predict they’ll have a bad weather soon(although we have a good weather forecast now…).
Also, if you can see all three spin round, they say it’s a sign of good luck.
Ipponmatsu park is on the hill so the view is amazing and most of all it’s relaxing.
We could see Fudou-iwa from there!
Photo credit : Chieko @untappedkumamoto
There are a tennis court, a camping site, a roller slide and other playgrounds so it’d be a great place for families.
Photo credit : Chieko @untappedkumamoto
Photo credit : Chieko @untappedkumamoto
In spring, we can admire beautiful 桜(sakura, means cherry blossoms) and you’ll see people gathering around and enjoying 花見(hanami, means cherry blossom viewing picnic).
It’s a perfect place to relax and forget the sense of time watching windmills spinning round.
Photo credit : Chieko @untappedkumamoto
【Information】
一本松公園(Ipponmatsu-park)
Address : 94, Kamoto-machi-Takahashi, Yamaga-city, Kumamoto-prefeture(熊本県山鹿市鹿本町高橋９４)