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