Report on the TENGU Tour held on 16 July 2017

It was another terribly hot day!  I suspect that the rainy season has been over whatever the Japan Meteorological Agency may say.  The weather was reasonably good while it was not good enough for a clearer view of Tokyo Skytree and high rise buildings in the central Tokyo from Kasumi-mae Observation Deck on the way and on the way back either.

Our guest was a girl from Frankfurt in Germany who is staying in the city of Kodaira, Tokyo for the next 10 months or longer on a working holiday.  Her objective of staying in Tokyo this time is to study Japanese.  She came to Tokyo last Monday.

On the way, we took a cable car leaving at 9:45 am from Kiyotaki Station and then as usual followed Trail No. 1 which is the front approach to Yakuo-in Temple. 

When we started the tour, we did not see many visitors at the foot of the mountain.  Trail No. 1 was not so crowded either.  So, we spent more time than usual in guiding our guest. 

We were still, however, able to arrive at the main hall of Yakuo-in Temple around 11:25 am.  So, we thought that we should have been in time to witness the procession of Buddhist monks on the way back from their third performance of Buddhist fire ritual called “Goma Fire Ritual” of today which usually starts at 11:00 am and lasts about 30 minutes.  In fact, we failed to see their procession.  Looks like they terminated their ritual earlier than usual.  We were a little bit disappointed but it was probably due to a little too poor working conditions of monks inside the main hall in front of the fire altar which may be like a burning hell.  It was terribly hot today even without “Goma Fire”!   At this time of year, we must be tolerant of their shorter working time.

Just before we arrived at Izuna Gongen-do Hall, our guest suddenly sank weakly into a sitting position saying that she was feeling a little dizzy.  We took some rest there in the shade and waited for her recovery.  I’m afraid that she was a little too patient to listen to the explanation of our members under a blazing sun without wearing a hat.  Moreover, looks like she was still in the process of cancelling jet lag.

As she said definitely that she would like to go up to the peak of Mount Takao, we continued the tour.

Unfortunately, we were not be able to see Mount Fuji from the peak of the mountain.  After having lunch there, we took photos together with our guest.

We left the peak of the mountain around 1:00 pm.  On the way back, we took a different route by following Trail No. 4 going through a suspension bridge called "Miyama-bashi Bridge", which was the highlight on that route where we took photos with our guest again, and then came back to Trail No. 1.

Mainly because our guest had bought a round trip ticket for cable car or chairlift and partly because she was not in great shape being in the process of cancelling jet lag, we decided to take a chairlift on the way back.

We came back to the foot of the mountain a little earlier than 2:30 pm and took photos with our guest again in front of the cable car station.  Then, we said “good-bye” to her, which was the end of the tour.

I hope that she should come back and join our tour again for autumn leaves at Mount Takao, which appears to be her tentative plan.

Written by Shiro

Dated: 16 July 2017

Report on the TENGU Tour held on 4 July 2017

It was cloudy today while we had no rain during the tour irrespective of Typhoon No. 3 approaching the Kanto area, which was fortunate.

Our guest was a lady from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia who is staying in a room of a private house in Hachioji City that is rented out by the owner to her under the system called Minpaku services.  

She was just back from a 2 day 1 night Mount Fuji climbing tour.  She is very tough, isn’t she? 

Fortunately, we didn’t see many visitors to Mount Takao today unlike on Saturdays and Sundays 

On the way, we took a cable car leaving at 9:45 am from Kiyotaki Station and then as usual followed Trail No. 1 which is the front approach to Yakuo-in Temple.   

Although we spent a lot of time in guiding her on the way taking advantage of much less crowded mountain trails, we arrived at the grounds of Yakuo-in Temple early enough to see a group of Buddhist priests march in procession on the way back to their living quarters after finishing the Goma Fire Rituals, which was around 11:30 am. The procession was led by a group of junior priests in the costume of mountain priest blowing trumpet shells which was a good subject for our guest’s smartphone camera.

Our guest is a Buddhist.  So, she is very familiar with the various Buddhist concepts we explained during the tour.

As you can imagine, we were not able to see Mount Fuji from the peak of the mountain which was unfortunate.  We were in the middle of the rainy season anyway.  We showed our guest some photos of Mount Fuji taken in fine weather at the peak of Mount Takao instead.  We took photos together with our guest there.

Today, we had no difficulty in finding vacant stone benches at the peak of the mountain where we had lunch.  We had a longer lunch time there talking about various topics including her family.  

We left the peak of the mountain around 1:30 pm.  On the way back, we took a different route by following Iroha no Mori Trail, and then switching to Trail No. 4 going through a suspension bridge called "Miyama-bashi Bridge", which was the highlight on that route where we took photos with our guest again, and then came back to Trail No. 1.

At the Kasumidai Observation Deck, we changed our route from Trail No. 1 into Jataki Waterfall Trail heading for Takao Komagino Garden which features picturesque Japanese gardens.  

On the way to Jataki Waterfall, we saw a snake (a tiger keelback which is a little poisonous one) catching a frog (a Japanese toad).  As a matter of course, we observed strictly one of the rules at Mount Takao, which is “Don’t disturb wildlife or plant! What you can take here are just their pictures.” so that the snake could take time in having its meal.  Our guest also strictly observed the rule and just took a picture of the snake with a leg of the frog in its mouth.

Before we arrive at Takao Komagino Garden, we found that our guest had a pain in the toe due to blisters created during her descent from Mount Fuji.  We gave her an emergency adhesive plaster and a bandage we had in our emergency medical kit for the first aid treatment to mitigate her pain. 

At Takao Kogagino Garden, we enjoyed a pond strolling garden.  We took a picture again with our guest there.  We enjoyed watching Japanese colored carp swimming in the pond, lotus flowers starting to be in bloom, a good collection of ‘bonsai’, a potted tree that has been dwarfed and shaped by such methods as pruning and wiring in order to create particularly aesthetic shapes.  We also tried ‘water harp cave’, which is a garden ornament and musical device creating a pleasant splashing sound.  We spent about one hour there.

Our guest kindly bought each of us a cup of coffee at the tearoom there while we were waiting for a bus for Takao Station.  At first, we planned to take a walk back to Takao Station but decided to change our plan considering the injured toe of our guest.

We arrived at the north exit of Takao Station around 4:00 pm.  Then, we took a walk to the area on the side of the south exit of Takao Station so that our guest can take another bus to go back to the house of her host family.  Then, we said “good-bye” to her there, which was the end of the tour.

We had another enjoyable day!

Written by Shiro

Dated: 4 July 2017 

Report on the TENGU Tour held on 1 July 2017

We are now in the rainy season.  It was hot and humid today! 

In fact, it started to rain when our guests, who are a group of the JICA trainees from overseas (and one Japanese lady who is a friend of one of them), and TENGU members met in front of Takaosanguchi Station this morning, which was far from a great start of the tour.

Having said that, when we finished the meeting for introducing ourselves to each other and going over a little bit of housekeeping, the rain eased up. 

Fifteen of our guests from overseas are from Indonesia, Egypt, Iraq, Zambia, Bhutan, Georgia, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Mauritius, Philippines, Uzbekistan and Tadzhikistan.  There was one no-show while there was one new guest.  We divided our guests into two groups.  Each group was guided by five TENGU members, respectively.

According to our guest from Zambia, this tour was his very first mountain climbing experience.  He said that Zambia is so flat.  

On the way, we took a cable car leaving at 10:15 from Kiyotaki Station and then followed Trail No. 1 which is the front approach to Yakuo-in Temple, the main religious structure in Mount Takao.   

As more or less expected, we were not able to see either Tokyo Skytree or high rise buildings in the central Tokyo from Kashmi-mae Observation Deck.

Thanks to the bad weather, however, Mount Takao was much less crowed than usual and we could spend more time in guiding our guests.  So, our group arrived at the peak of the mountain around 12:45 much later than usual to find the other group had already finished their lunch.  By the lunch time, it had stopped raining.  

Although it was still too difficult to see Mount Fuji from the peak of the mountain then, we could occupy roofed benches for having lunch, which should have never been available in better weather conditions.

After having lunch, we took pictures with our guests at the peak of the mountain and then started going down around 13:40.  We chose a different (but easier) route on the way back.  

Fortunately, the fog cleared up by that time and we could see Tokyo Skytree, high buildings in Shinjuku, etc.  Our guests were very much excited to see them.

For a change, we took a chairlift on the way back.  Looks like taking a chairlift was another highlight in this tour for our guests.  In fact, at first, one lady from Egypt was not so keen on the idea of taking a chairlift on the way back saying that it sounded a little bit scary.  Eventually, she found it safe and exciting and liked it, which was very good.

We came back to the foot of the mountain around 14:30 and took photos with our guests again in front of the cable car station.  Then, we said “good-bye” to them, which was the end of the tour.

It was fortunate that the weather was not so bad as the weather forecast had said.

Written by Shiro

Dated: 1 July 2017