Report on TENGU Tour held on 6 November 2024

 

It was mostly cloudy and a little chilly day.  Unfortunately, it was still a little too early for the beautiful autumn foliage. Our guests were a family from Singapore consisting of a lady who applied for a private tour and her parents in the early 60s.

 TENGU guides included Sally-san, Nabe-san and myself as a tour leader.  In addition, one observer as a potential future TENGU member jointed the tour.

 As I was explained by the daughter in advance that her parents may need her assistance as interpreter for our guiding, I started my briefing in Chinese language partly for the purpose of icebreaker. 

 Having said that, it turned out that we didn’t have to worry about the issue too much as we were able to communicate with her parents without too much problem.

 In fact, the arrival of our guests was delayed by tens of minutes. 

 So, it was eventually 10:45 am when took a cable car leaving Kiyotaki Station and we then followed Trail 1 heading for the Yakuo-in Temple as usual.

At Sumika-mae Observation Deck

Touching the Statue of Lucky Octopus for diving blessing

 In due course, we found that our guests are all Buddhists and that among the three (3) the mother is most devoted to Buddhism.  

 Looks like she damaged her toes on previous day wearing a pair of sandals instead of sneakers or trekking shoes, which meant that we would have to move very slowly and our tour should take a much longer time than usual.

 So, I lent a pair of trekking poles to her to mitigate her problem.

At the Tori-i gate called the Gate of Purified Heart

Consequently, it was after noon when we arrived at Yuki-en (Joyful Garden) where we can see the photogenic white Thai style stupa.

In front of the white Thai style stupa

 Surprisingly, the mother together with her daughter made a pilgrimage to all the One Hundred Holy Places of Kannon (Guanyin) Bodhisattva (Avalokitesvara) that was re-created in miniature around the white Thai style stupa by enshrining the pebbles the then head priest of Yakuo-in Temple collected at each of the One Hundred Holy Places of Kannon (Guanyin) Bodhisattva in Japan back in 2001.

Making a pilgrimage to all the One Hundred Holy Places of Kannon

 

After guiding our guests about other items in Yuki-en, we had lunch together sitting on the benches around the statue of boy scout there.

A Happy Lunch Time!

 It was 1:30 pm when we got to the grounds of Yakuo-in Temple.

In front of Shitenno-mon (the Gate of Four Heavenly Kings)

In front of Tengu statues

After some guiding, restroom break and shopping at the lowest level of the grounds of Yakuo-in Temple, skipping other main guiding points, we started moving on slowly towards the peak of the mountain around 1:45 pm by following Fuji Michi which is a gentle enough upward slope for the mother.

Following Fuji Michi slowly

We managed to get to the peak of Mt. Takao around 2:30 pm. Unfortunately, there were a little too many unwanted clouds to see the graceful figure of Mt. Fuji.  

We took a group photo at the peak of the mountain and left there around 2:50 pm.

At the peak of Mt. Takao

As we understood that the preference of our guests was to revisit Yakuo-in Temple to pray for divine blessing, we followed Trail 1 down to the grounds of Yakuo-in Temple.

 Needless to say, our guests offered prayers at Fuji Sengen-sha Shrine, Okuno-in Fudo-do, Izuna Gongen-do Hall, and finally Main Hall of Yakuo-in Temple.

Offering prayers in front of Main Hall of Yakuo-in Temple

 We took the time to walk down to the cable car station following Trail 1.

Around the Kamumidai Observation Deck, however, we were informed that the daughter would like to take a cable car rather than a chairlift as she has acrophobia while her parents would like to take a chairlift.

 So, both Nabe-san and Sally-san took a cable car with the daughter and the observer and I took a chairlift together with her parents.

Looks like the parents enjoyed a 12-minute open air travel very much

A happy couple who are enjoying a 12-minute open air travel

 We came back to the foot of the mountain around 4:50 pm and then took a group photo in front of the cable car Kiyotaki Station, which was the end of the tour.

In front of the cable car station

 Dated: 7 November 2024

Written by Shiro