Kirk with a note on whether it’s “Kinbozan” (my personal favorite) or “Kinpozan,” another fairly popular reading of 金峰山. These are images of two signs that are very near Toge no chaya. People are told to say “Kinpo” when they head toward Kumamoto and then “Kinbo” when they leave. So, next time you think “Didn’t that sign say something else when I came?” don’t worry about your sanity; it really did.
I wonder what the locals think about these signs, frozen as they are in a perpetual argument. “Kinpo” “No, Kinbo!” “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, Kinpo!” “Now you listen to me . . .”
Thanks to Sean for sharing the images of these signs with me.