Heiwadai Peace Tower

Huh. This post is giving me issues, hence the nice black highlighting behind the text. Er...oh well.

Anyway, this post is a little late in coming, but I suppose at least it's coming sometime. :) Back in October (told ya!) we took a little family outing to Heiwadai Park, also known as Peace Tower Park, here in Miyazaki. The Peace Tower can be seen from many parts of Miyazaki, and I could often see it when I would go for bike rides along the Oyodo River. It's easily seen because the park is on top of a huge hill (er, maybe I should call it a mountain! We found that out the hard way by biking it on our mamachari bikes. :)) 

But anyway, the Peace Tower was built in 1940, which was to "celebrate the 2600th anniversary of the ascension of Emperor Jimmu, the mythical first emperor of Japan, on what is believed to be the original site of his capital." (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e8002.html) It was meant to "symbolize a united world." 

The Peace Tower is the main attraction and landmark for the park, but it's actually quite a large area with different things to see. Perhaps even cooler than the tower, at least in my opinion, were these ancient statues we found in Haniwa Garden. There were hundreds. They are burial statues in different forms including animals, warriors, ships, and buildings. "During the Kofun Period, these clay statues were placed around burial mounds in tribute to the deceased." (Japan Guide)

Fascinating, gorgeous area. A lot of locals seem to spend time up at the park just relaxing and taking in the scenery. The trip was well worth it. 

                             

                                           

Nasty, nasty, nasty spider of death

Turtle!