Robot Claw

Before I start, some shots of the room in our ryokan…

And a shot of me eating beef bowl breakfast (again) in Yoshinoya:

Yesterday we went to the mountain! Mt Takao (pronounced ta-ka-oh) to be precise:

This had been a highlight of our last trip and we were looking forward to another visit. The 599 meter tall mountain is about an hour from Tokyo and is a very popular tourist attraction (and for good reason). Closely associated with a type of Japanese spirit called a Tengu, the mountain is home to many different shrines and many hiking trails wind up and around the peak.

On our last trip we thoroughly enjoyed the chairlift that takes hikers up the the starting point of the climb. We actually rode it twice it was so good, but alas yesterday it was closed and we were forced to take the cable car. Even though we were initially disappointed, as it turns out the cable car was no less thrilling!

In fact, rather than describe it, why don’t you ride it too! Here’s a video I shot of the trip so you can do just that!

The climb up Takao (assuming you take the most common route) is reasonably leisurely (excluding the several flights of torturous stairs) and passes a dozen or so temples and shrines. While the mountain views and nature appreciation level is high, this path is more about the shrines than the nature.

At one of the temples KLS enjoyed a delicious grape ice cream! I tried to steal some and ice-burned my tongue (and complained about it endlessly for 15 minutes or so)!

At one shrine we observed a monk performing his morning chant (yes, these are ‘working’ temples):

< Monk on Takao

Here is a video so you can hear what it sounds like.

The above is a tengu statue at one of the temples, and the right is a detail of what he is holding in his hand. So Japanese! This made me smile 🙂

We reached the peak in about 2 hours, and had a delicious lunch of chips and drink!

< Yum!

We were both tired-ish by now (you would be too, believe me!) but the Chip Stars and Mt Dew combined in my body and allowed me to activate Devil Satan Power, thus giving me unstoppable energy to begin the walk down!

Oh yes, a shot of Fuji from the top:

< Fuji from Takao

Can you see it? It’s really there! In the very middle of the picture, towering above all the other mountains! What, you can’t see it…?

And thus we began the walk down. Last time we took the path that followed a stream, this time we took the one that followed a ridge. And it was amazing! Here are some shots taken on the path on various points:

The path followed a ridge almost all the way down, and was frequently steep, or treacherous with tree roots, or narrow. Very rarely were there any railings at all, and the drop off was so steep at points that falling seemed like it would have been certain death. And yet the views were magnificent, as were the sounds of birds.

Here is a video to give you an idea what it was like.

KLS had some trouble with the walk because she was scared of slipping and hurting herself, but her ganbare spirit never faded and she made it all the way down safely!

In her own words...

Yesterday we tired ourselves more than any day so far this trip! We went to the mountain, and climbed the mountain, and we beat the mountain. But it was a narrow victory indeed! So today, well today you would imagine we’d have something restful planned wouldn’t you…?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Family, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.