June 6 - Climbing Mount Takao
PLEASE NOTE: I have not had the chance to watermark all of my photos, and it will take me a great deal of time, as I published this and my other blogs between 2010-2017. I ask you to respect my property. Feel free to use them as long as you credit me as follows: Photo by Jody McBrien, learningtheworld.org. Thank you.
Though Fuji is Japan's star for mountain peaks, Mount Takao is well-known, loved, and revered. About 2.6 million people climb to its 599 meter peak annually, making it the most climbed mountain in the world. Although Takao is within the greater Tokyo area, it is part of the Meiji Mori Takao Quasi-National Park. The woods are home to well over 1,000 types of plants.The trees are also home to flying squirrels, wild boars, and many songbirds.
As we are heading into Japan's rainy season, I suggested to Dick that we take advantage of the low 70s temp and partly cloudy day to hike this mountain, famed for an ascetic group of Buddhists who built Takaosan Yakuoin Yukiji Temple on the mountainside. I have read that it gets very crowded on weekends and wanted a more peaceful experience of the mountain. Though I wanted to trek from the base to the top, I am glad I conceded to Dick and rode part way up on the chairlift. There are both a chairlift and a cable car that go about halfway up. We took the more exciting chair (no bar to hold you in!).
From there, we continued on Trail 1, the most traveled, which is wide and paved with flat stones and concrete. There are giant cedars lining part of the trail, and hikers eventually arrive at the temple. It seems to be a blend of Shinto and Buddhist. There were Shinto features, such as structures where people bow twice, clap twice, and bow again while praying for their special requests. There are statues of part human, part animal figures. And there are strong Buddhist features, incense, structures, and statues. Much of the route is lined with lanterns.
We then continued to the summit of the mountain, which opens up, offering remarkable views of Tokyo and mountains of 1000 meters in the opposite direction. On clear days, Fuji is also plainly visible.
We took our time, stopped and rested, watched people and took in things that we wished we understood. Dick suggested that it would be great to have multilingual explanations of various features, as the mountain is climbed by an international crowd year-round.
I wanted to take Trail 4 back down the mountain as it featured a suspension bridge. This really was a trail - narrow dirt path with plenty of roots and rocks and steep steps constructed from logs. I love this kind of hiking and the smells of the trees and wildflowers, and the sounds of the birdsong and wind in the trees. I need it to clear my head, and there is really nothing like it in Florida except for walking the gulf in the early morning or evening, something I rarely do now that it takes so long to get there from my home.
As we drew close to the chairlift area, I saw a sign for trail 2 that indicated a waterfall. Dick kindly agreed to go along with me. It was very steep, narrow and had plenty of steep steps. We never did arrive at the waterfall, but we did catch back up with Path 1, which I originally wanted to walk up. After walking down it, I said that there was no way I would walk up it! Wide, but STEEP, it was also a route used by vehicles to get up the mountain to provide supplies. The switchbacks were at such angles that the trucks could easily get stuck trying to make the turns. The angle did a number on our knees and ankles. Altogether we did about 1,000 steps and 4-5 miles roundtrip.
There is more that we did not experience, and I definitely want to go back and explore more trails (just not walking down #1 đ ). There is an optical illusion museum, a public onsen, and a museum.
Dick later commented about the number of people he noticed who would stop at various places along the way to bow, wave burning incense towards their bodies, toss coins in an offering box, etc. He wondered about the number of people in the world who continue to believe in magical thinking (gods and religion). I thought more about it later. Japan is not an especially religious country. But it has thousands of years of history, and religion plays a large part in that history. In comparison, the invasion of North America by Europeans (euphemistically referred to as "discovery") is hardly older than 500 years, and history of the US is just over 200 years. Of course, North America has far more years of civilization and culture from Native Americans, but schools don't teach it, so most of what current citizens know today are stereotypes and inaccurate or one-sided information.
Returning to Dick's question, I wonder if some of what we see is not more a sense of reverence and respect for the history than true belief. The Japanese carry great respect for family and ancestors. I wonder if these carried on traditions are not more an acknowledgement of some spiritual connection with what has gone before than an actual belief in spirits and gods?
NOTE: June 2018 date on post is republish date, not date of the event.
Though Fuji is Japan's star for mountain peaks, Mount Takao is well-known, loved, and revered. About 2.6 million people climb to its 599 meter peak annually, making it the most climbed mountain in the world. Although Takao is within the greater Tokyo area, it is part of the Meiji Mori Takao Quasi-National Park. The woods are home to well over 1,000 types of plants.The trees are also home to flying squirrels, wild boars, and many songbirds.
As we are heading into Japan's rainy season, I suggested to Dick that we take advantage of the low 70s temp and partly cloudy day to hike this mountain, famed for an ascetic group of Buddhists who built Takaosan Yakuoin Yukiji Temple on the mountainside. I have read that it gets very crowded on weekends and wanted a more peaceful experience of the mountain. Though I wanted to trek from the base to the top, I am glad I conceded to Dick and rode part way up on the chairlift. There are both a chairlift and a cable car that go about halfway up. We took the more exciting chair (no bar to hold you in!).
From there, we continued on Trail 1, the most traveled, which is wide and paved with flat stones and concrete. There are giant cedars lining part of the trail, and hikers eventually arrive at the temple. It seems to be a blend of Shinto and Buddhist. There were Shinto features, such as structures where people bow twice, clap twice, and bow again while praying for their special requests. There are statues of part human, part animal figures. And there are strong Buddhist features, incense, structures, and statues. Much of the route is lined with lanterns.
a tengu (mountain god) of good fortune
torii gate
One of the temple guardians
The temple
We then continued to the summit of the mountain, which opens up, offering remarkable views of Tokyo and mountains of 1000 meters in the opposite direction. On clear days, Fuji is also plainly visible.
We took our time, stopped and rested, watched people and took in things that we wished we understood. Dick suggested that it would be great to have multilingual explanations of various features, as the mountain is climbed by an international crowd year-round.
What is this? we wondered. The wooden planks of calligraphy went on and on
I wanted to take Trail 4 back down the mountain as it featured a suspension bridge. This really was a trail - narrow dirt path with plenty of roots and rocks and steep steps constructed from logs. I love this kind of hiking and the smells of the trees and wildflowers, and the sounds of the birdsong and wind in the trees. I need it to clear my head, and there is really nothing like it in Florida except for walking the gulf in the early morning or evening, something I rarely do now that it takes so long to get there from my home.
As we drew close to the chairlift area, I saw a sign for trail 2 that indicated a waterfall. Dick kindly agreed to go along with me. It was very steep, narrow and had plenty of steep steps. We never did arrive at the waterfall, but we did catch back up with Path 1, which I originally wanted to walk up. After walking down it, I said that there was no way I would walk up it! Wide, but STEEP, it was also a route used by vehicles to get up the mountain to provide supplies. The switchbacks were at such angles that the trucks could easily get stuck trying to make the turns. The angle did a number on our knees and ankles. Altogether we did about 1,000 steps and 4-5 miles roundtrip.
There is more that we did not experience, and I definitely want to go back and explore more trails (just not walking down #1 đ ). There is an optical illusion museum, a public onsen, and a museum.
Dick later commented about the number of people he noticed who would stop at various places along the way to bow, wave burning incense towards their bodies, toss coins in an offering box, etc. He wondered about the number of people in the world who continue to believe in magical thinking (gods and religion). I thought more about it later. Japan is not an especially religious country. But it has thousands of years of history, and religion plays a large part in that history. In comparison, the invasion of North America by Europeans (euphemistically referred to as "discovery") is hardly older than 500 years, and history of the US is just over 200 years. Of course, North America has far more years of civilization and culture from Native Americans, but schools don't teach it, so most of what current citizens know today are stereotypes and inaccurate or one-sided information.
Returning to Dick's question, I wonder if some of what we see is not more a sense of reverence and respect for the history than true belief. The Japanese carry great respect for family and ancestors. I wonder if these carried on traditions are not more an acknowledgement of some spiritual connection with what has gone before than an actual belief in spirits and gods?
NOTE: June 2018 date on post is republish date, not date of the event.
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