As a “light” railfan, I took the opportunity to travel from Toyohashi in Aichi Prefecture to Iida in Nagano Prefecture, taking photos along the way on the JR Iida Line, which is known as a “hidden gem” railway line. I think I’ll use this as a filler topic for a while.
When I go on a train photography trip like this, I want to keep my luggage as light as possible, so it’s time for my micro four thirds camera to come out. I put the Lumix G9 Pro II, Leica DG12-60mm and Leica DG8-18mm in my backpack and set off from JR Toyohashi Station on the limited express Inaji 1.
For the first 40 minutes or so after leaving Toyohashi Station, the train passes through a flat, suburban landscape, but after passing Honnagashino Station (which is said to be the famous site of the Battle of Nagashino, between the Takeda cavalry and the Oda arquebus troops), the train enters a steep mountain valley.
The train climbs slowly through the valleys formed by the flow of several rivers, gradually gaining altitude, and at Chubu Tenryu Station, directly below Sakuma Dam, it meets the Tenryu River, which has come up from the direction of Hamamatsu. Well, it’s a bit strange to say that the river is coming up… never mind (lol)
We leave the Tenryu River for a while, but will meet it again after passing through a long tunnel beyond Misakubo Station and around Oosore Station, and from then on the Iida Line will follow this great river all the way to Lake Suwa and Okaya, far upstream.
As you can see from the map, the Iida Line is also long!
Let’s get back to our story. On this day, we got off at Tenryu-kyo Station.
The station building has character.
This area is known for the scenic beauty of the Tenryu River, which can be enjoyed by boat on the “Tenryu River Line”.
The view from the hill in front of the station, looking upstream towards the river, and the autumn leaves were a perfect combination.
And when you look at the entrance to the gorge on the downstream side from the bridge over the Tenryu River, the autumn leaves on the riverbank are even more vivid.
Just as the boat came down the river, it became the perfect subject for a photo in the gorge as it turned red.
I’ll also paste in a panoramic view of the horizontal composition.
In reality, I turned around at Tenryu-kyo Station and went back and forth between the other stations several times, taking photos in several stages while using the waiting time, but leaving aside such detailed stories, Tenryukyo was a beautiful and nice place.
The coffee shop where we stopped for a break on the way (I don’t want to call it a cafe lightly, it’s a calm-looking place using an old merchant’s building) was also quite nice.
The Tenryu Gorge is so beautiful that I almost forget myself a railfan. One last shot of the whole view of Tenryu-kyo Station.
This is the end of the first article in my series of articles about walking around and taking photos on the Iida Line.
If I go in the order of the stations I visited, the next one will be Tamoto Station.
