Report on TENGU Tour held on 21 April 2024

 

Irrespective of a more pessimistic weather forecast, eventually, the weather was reasonably OK while the moisture in the air prevented us from enjoying a clear view from the mountain and Mt. Fuji was hiding in the clouds.

 Having said that, otherwise, we were extremely lucky as Sunday, 21 April was the Takao Spring Festival Day in which our guests (and ourselves) were able to enjoy rich nature and a gorgeous festival at the same time.

Our guests were seven (7) Filipino ladies and one (1) Kenyan gentleman both of who have been staying in Japan for a while, three (3) months (Filipino ladies) and 8 years (a Kenyan gentleman), respectively.

TENGU team included Nabe-san, Nosan-san, Rie-san and myself as a tour leader.  

 In addition, two (2) observers joined the tour as potential future TENGU members which made our tour members four-teen (14) people in total.

We took a cable car leaving Kiyotaki Station at 10:00 am after we introduced to each other, then followed Trail 1 via Yuki-en (Joyful Garden) where a photogenic Thai style white stupa is located to the peak of the mountain going through the grounds of Yakuo-in Temple.

 It was an eventful day at Mt. Takao and our guests (and ourselves) witnessed a lot of special events including a procession of children dressed in colorful costume led by a group of mountain priests and a bras band from the cable car Takaosan Station to Yakuo-in Temple, Japanese drum performance, a lion dance (a dance with a lion’s mask), etc.

If we could have more time, we should have been able to watch a mysterious Goma Fire Ritual held in the open air at Yuki-en just twice a year.

Consequently, we spent much longer time than usual before we had lunch together at the peak of the mountain, which was originally scheduled around noon.

 At the lunch table, some of the Filipino ladies asked us about their fortune telling papers some of which say “great fortune”, “good fortune” and others of which say “bad fortune”, etc.  Some were glad and others worried.  

We took a group photo both at the lunch table and the peak of the mountain.

 On the way back, we took a little different route via Iroha no Mori Trail and then Trail 4 which was recently renovated being equipped with more new stair-like wooden steps.  

Looks like our guests enjoyed the suspension bridge on that route taking more photos. 

 

Actually, on the way back, a group of Filipino ladies showed us their singing and dancing performance in front of the holy Joshin-mon tori-i gate.  

 

I’m sure that their future (and similarly the future of Kenyan gentleman who kindly offered some contribution to TENG at the very end of the tour which I declined to accept with thanks) should be greatly blessed by Izuna Daigongen, the religious ruler of Mt. Takao.   

Then, for a change, we took a chair lift from the Sanjo Station to the Sanroku Station, which appeared to be more exciting to our guests.

 We came back to the foot of the mountain around 3:15 p.m. and took a group photo again in front of the Kiyotaki Station, which was the end of the tour.

 

Written by Shiro

Dated: 22 April 2024

Tour for Sustainable Tourism Feb. 21, 2024

 Nine international students from Thailand and Malaysia and their accompanying staff members came to Mt. Takao despite the chilly weather with light drizzle.

Students energetic even in the rain

They are the students participating in the International Science Exchange Program for Youth (Sakura Science Program) at J. F. Oberlin University. Their objective today is to think about the balance between environmental conservation and economic development through hiking on Mt. Takao.

Experiencing Japanese culture

For several days, we, TENGU guide members, had been preparing for the tour. We ourselves learned what “Sustainable Tourism” is. And we discussed to select important guiding points for the students to think about this theme.

In front of the symbolic architecture

Mt. Takao had been severely damaged in the past by trash discarded by climbers. Local community had worked together to pick up trash scattered over the mountain and created a system to prevent this problem from happening again in the future. The stone statue called "Osoji-Kozo,” a.k.a. “Sweeper boy” is the symbol of this activity. 

"Osoji-Kozo,  a.k.a. “Sweeper boy.” 

The students listened with great interest to the history of vegetation changing due to global warming, mountain worship, Shintoism and Buddhism, and the myths that have been handed down in Mt. Takao for centuries. We are happy if the students got some clues to think about sustainable tourism.

Guests listening to the guide

At the Gongen Tea House on the way, everyone bought sesame Mochi dumplings, a specialty of Mt. Takao. Everyone seemed to enjoy eating it.

Happy faces with “Dango-Yaki”

All of the guests today said they love Japan. They like Japanese animation, Japanese actors, Japanese food and so on. Some said they would like to come back to Japan for a longer period of time next opportunity. And at the end of the tour, everyone had a smile on their face. They seemed to have fully enjoyed today's tour.  

End of the tour at Kiyotaki Station 

(Written by HIDE)

The tour at the high season of Autumn leaves Dec. 2, 2023

 

We had 13 guests from all over the world, such as Philippines, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Zambia,  Cambodia, Thailand, Tunisia, Guinea, Malawi, Ghana, Nepal, Serbia.

They are researchers working on various projects and are selected by their governments.

It was really an international tour!

 The weather was fine but a bit cold. The Autumn leaves festival was held on Mt Takao.  As we expected, there were a lot of people in front of the station.

 

In front of Keio Takaosan-guchi station 

 

Our tour started around 10:30am after a brief greeting and taking a photo together.

First, several spots were guided at the foot, then we took the cable car.

To our surprise, we were able to get on the cable car without waiting. 

How lucky we were!

 

After reached the upper cable car station, we were divided into two groups and headed to the top of the mountain respectively.

 

At the Octopus cedar tree

 

At the fork of Men’s slope & Women’s slope 

 

On the Yuki-hill, we had lunch. There we enjoyed seeing lovely colored maple leaves. This is surely one of the best spots for viewing autumn foliage.

 

 

At the Heavenly Kings Gate 

 

In the Yakuo-in temple 

 

On the summit of Mt Takao

 

We reached on the top around 2 pm. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see Mt Fuji.

After taking a short break, we descended. This time we chose trail No 4 which has Miyama suspension bridge. It is always one of highlights for visitors.

 

On the suspension bridge 

 

On the way back, we took the chair lifts. Though we had to wait 15min to ride, we enjoyed its thrilling ride and wonderful view.

 

It was almost 4pm when we came back to the foot. At last we took the group photo again and said goodbye to the guests. It seemed that they smiled with a satisfied look. If they had a wonderful time on Mt Takao, it’s our great pleasure.

 

In front of Kiyotaki station

 

“Thank you for coming to Mt Takao!”

“Good luck to everyone!”

“Enjoy your stay in Japan!”

 By Sally

Private Tour Date: October 23 , 2013

 Today, we enjoyed hiking with a Canadian couple. They are both excellent Japanese speakers and eager birdwatchers.

This tour include two additional missions.

Find the four places by photos of the guest's grandfather when he visited Mt. Takao 70 years ago. And enjoy watching wild birds of Japan that are not seen in Canada.

Compare the stone lantern with the old photo to confirm that this is the first place.

Actually, tour leader HIDE-san had already searched the places beforehand.

We looked around the religious facilities of Yakuoin.

On this day we often saw some Black Kites,”tobi” in Japanese.

In the Yuuki-en, they flew close to us many times and we were able to observe them clearly.

The 4th and final object to back to 70 years ago was this “komainu” , guardian dog. Mission Complete!    

The sculpture of the Eight Chinese Immortals on GONGEN-do Hall protected by komainu , has a unique episode.

We made it around 12:30

We were lucky enough to see snow-capped

 Mt. Fuji.

We took lunch at a soba restaurant in Momiji-dai.

Even in Canada, they call it "soba noodles" not buckwheat noodle, and eat zaru-soba in the summer.

After lunch we took trail # 4.

While hiking, we observed lots of Japanese wild birds like, Great Tit, Varied Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Brown-eared Bulbul, Jays, etc. Also, they enjoyed listening to the chirping and comparing it with a bird-watching app on their smartphones.

They said that they use podcasts to study Japanese on a daily basis, and they were very pro-Japan ese people who mentioned the Japan names of birds and read some signboard in Japanese.

I’m sure they will enjoy watching-birds across Japan.

We would be very happy this detective tour at Mt. Takao will remain in their memories.

Thank you for joining our tour!

 

Written by Keita