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

Private Tour on 16th October 2023

 

Today’s guests were three Japan third-generation Americans live in Los Angeles who met at the meeting place on time.

We walked along a pleasant mountain trail No.1 that was neither hot nor cold.

On the way, we chatted about cultural differences and Shohei Otani and looked at big cedar trees that are rich in nature.

They are interested in monkeys and the staff of the monkey garden are involved and listen intently to explanations.

We were fortunate enough to come across the butterfly “Asagi Madara”, whose ecology is said to be full of mysteries.

The work of a person called Banksy of the Forest of Mt. Takao was seen again today. Will the next one be a Halloween pumpkin?

This is a large cedar tree” Octopus Cedar tree” that is said to be an auspicious place.

We had lunch at the top.

The suspension bridge surrounded by nature is very pleasant and popular place.

The descent from the mountain was a chairlift. You can spend a short time while looking at nature.

We were come back to the station safely as planned. 

Many thanks to the wonderful guest for sharing the refreshing atmosphere and a good time.

by Nosan

Best hiking season has started with 12 guests from nine countries!!

 

Date: October 7, 2013

The extreme heat has finally settled down in Tokyo and a pleasant autumn has just started. Today, we enjoyed hiking with 12 guests from 9 different countries. They are all excellent students studying for their master's degrees at prestigious universities in Japan.

 The cable car is always a delight for guests. Some admired the beautiful natural scenery, while others shot videos from inside the car. We took the cable car up to the midpoint of the mountain and then started our hike using the trail #1.

At Kiyotaki Station

At Takao-san Station

Hiking on the trail #1

"How lucky we are!"　Today we came upon a super special "Goma fire ritual," which takes place only twice a year. The ritual is a traditional one in Esoteric Buddhism in which monks incessantly chant mantras around the fire to burn away all the worldly desires ingrained in people's minds.

Goma fire ritual

After stopping by some of the highlights on the grounds of Yakuo-in Temple, we finally reached the summit a little after 2:00 pm. Unfortunately, we could not see Mt. Fuji, but we had a great time chatting and taking pictures there.

Top of the mountain

A route called “Fuji Trail” was our way down the mountain. We passed through a forest of Katsura trees with the smell of soy sauce crackers in the air, and got to the chair-lift station in the middle of the mountain. We returned to the foot of the mountain by the lift, enjoying the spectacular view before us.

On the chair-lift

We are sure they will make countless memories in Japan. We would be very happy if even a small part of the time spent today at Mt. Takao will remain in their memories.

Thank you for joining our tour!

Written by HIDE

Report on the Monthly Tour on 17th Sep, 2023

 We met the guest at the station of Takao-san-guchi at 9:30. The guest comes from California, USA. We made an self-introduction on each other. She said to us that she first flew to Hong Kong and there got the free ticket to Japan fortunately. How lucky she is ! We took on the cable car which brought us to the middle of mountain.

Then we ate Tengu-yaki, that is sweet waffle with red beans paste. Its shape is the mask of Tengu, who is legendary creature with long nose. That is her request to eat this original sweet, so she looks so happy.  We went to Tako-sugi, that is huge cedar tree, living for more that 500 years old.

Then we visited at Yakuo-in temple, and saw Life-size Tengu statue. At the king of eight dragon, the guest washed her money, because we told her the legend story that if washing meoney there, it would lead to come back double in money.  

Then we went worship at the main hall of Yakuo-in temple, where it is almost at the top of the mountain. After enjoying the grand view from the top, we would have a lunch. When chatting during lunch time, neighboring Japanese jumped in our chatting.

He spoke English very well. He said he never been to foreign countries and had no passport. He has studied English, by watching Sesame street. It’s so nice to chat together on lunch.

When going down, we took Route NO4 in trail, and in the middle of this route, we saw suspension bridge It was a great experience to walk over the river.

We enjoyed the nature of Mt. Takao, bathing the shower of healing power in nature.

After returning down to the start, we together went to the Café, keeping chatting and

 it was so fun to have international friendship !

Report on the TENGU Tour held on 9 September 2023

 It was drizzling in the morning and was a little cooler after the heavy rain caused by Typhoon No. 13 while the moisture in the air prevented us from enjoying a clear view from Mt. Takao.

 Our guests are six (6) trainees from various countries (i.e., Cambodia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lao-PDR and Papua New Guinea) to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan International Forestry Promotion & Cooperation Center (JIFPRO).  Our guests are attended by two (2) people each from JICA and JIFPRO.　TENGU team consisted of Nabe-san, Keita-san, Ken-san and myself as a tour leader.   So, our tour members consisted of four-teen (14) people in total.

 Although we were originally scheduled to meet our guests at 10:00 am in front of the Takaosanguchi Station, the bus arranged by JICA/JIFPRO was caught in a traffic jam and their arrival was delayed by almost two (2) hours, which was unfortunate.　Eventually, we took a cable car leaving Kiyotaki Station at noon after we introduced to each other very quickly. 

After the six (6) minute cable car ride, we found that everything was enveloped in a fog or mist.　By that time, we had already decided to give up the idea of going up to the peak of the mountain.

After guiding our guests on Monkey Park, Octopus Cedar Tree, Flora of Mt. Takao (including its rich biodiversity thanks to the geographical location, geological features, etc.) and Joshin-mon Gate, it’s almost lunch time.

Then, we moved on to the peak of Jimben-yama (Jimben Hill), a little elevated place between Trail No. 1 and Trail No. 4 where there is a newly established memorial monument for forestry martyrs.

 During the lunch time, one of our guests was looking at me eating an onigiri rice ball with great interest.  If fact, he asked me if a piece of black paper wrapping a rice ball is edible at all. I explained to him that a black paper　like one is a kind of seaweed called “nori”, that Japanese people eat many kinds of seaweed and that　each seaweed has a different name, respectively.

Actually, he had already finished his rice ball lunch assuming a piece of black paper is a part of wrapping materials.  As he was fully aware of our “Don’t leave any garbage behind” campaign at Mt. Takao, he still kept a piece of black paper as a part of the garbage he should bring back to the JICA Dormitory.  Then, understanding that a piece of black paper is a part of his lunch, he started eating it with a nice smile!  I was happy to see that!

After spending some twenty (20) minutes there, around 1:10 pm we moved back to Trail No. 1 around the Jimben-do which is dedicated to En-no Gyoja, the founder of Shugendo for some guiding there.

 At the fork in Trail No. 1, I tried to convince our guests to take an easy route nicknamed “women’s slope”, saying that they appeared to be free from the 108 worldly desires.

 Unfortunately, our guests were full of energy (and full of worldly desires?) and were willing to follow the more challenging route nicknamed “men’s slope” involving the 108 stone steps to eliminate their 108 worldly desires.

 Then, we moved forward on Trail No. 1 guiding on the list of contributors, huge old cedar trees, Shitenno-mon (the Gate of Four Heavenly Kings), etc. on the way to the grounds of Yakuo-in Temple.

Guiding and spending some time in the grounds of Yakuo-in Temple, in front of the living quarters of monks, we were able to witness the procession of Buddhist monks on the way to their 5th performance of Buddhist fire ritual called “Goma Fire Ritual” starting at 2:00 pm at the main hall of Yakuo-in Temple.

After looking at the procession of Buddhist monks and mountain priests, some of our guests asked us how Buddhist temples are financially supported, what is the population of Buddhist and Shintoist like, etc.

 In the course of answering their questions, our explanation to the effect that it is said that Japanese people are born as a Shintoist and die as a Buddhist and that the aggregate of the population of Buddhist and Shintoist in Japan is some 1.5 times of the Japanese population might have been surprising and interesting to them.

 Then, going through Nio-mon (the Gate of Heavenly Kings), we moved on to the main hall of Yakuo-in Temple where our guests were listening to the monks chanting Buddhist sutra during the Goma Fire Ritual.

 The final destination was the Izuna Gongen-do Hall in this tour.  We explained the comparison between the main hall of Yakuo-in Temple and the Izuna Gongen-do Hall, etc.

 We left the Izuna Gongen-do Hall around 2:30 p.m. 

 On the way back, we took the same route except that we detoured by visiting Yuki-en (literally, Joiful Garden) where we saw the Thai style white stupa and the bronze statue of Izuna Daigongen, the ruler of Mt. Takao.

 

Then, for a change, we took a chair lift from the Sanjo Station to the Kiyotaki Station, which might have been more exciting to our guests.

We came back to the foot of the mountain around 3:45 p.m. and took a group photo with our guests again in front of the cable car station, which was the end of the tour.

 

　Written by Shiro

Dated: 11 September 2023

We enjoyed hiking at Mt.Takao in the scorching heat on July 16th.

 Around 9:30 am on July 16th, at ticket gates of Takaosanguchi station, we, two guides, met up a woman from Singapore and Malaysian family of three. After each introduced themselves, we left for cable-car station in the lush greenery of summer.

 At the statues of Japanese giant flying squirrels which is native to Japan, we explained these beloved nocturnal creatures. It has a flying membrane between its legs which is used to glide between trees. It has also a long thick tail which is used as a rudder when it glides. They eat leaves of a tree, flowers, pollen, nuts, etc. When they fly or gride, they climb tall trees and jump off from it. Their gliding distance is generally about three times the height of a point of the tree where they jump off. They could glide more than 100 meters riding the wind. They breed twice a year in spring and autumn. The rich wildlife of Mt. Takao is not limited to Japanese giant squirrels but around 30 kinds of mammals and 5000 kinds of insects. There are also 1600 kinds of plant which accounts for some 30 percent of all the plant life in Japan.

Mt.Takao offers a variety of hiking trails suitable for all levels of hikers, from beginners to experienced trekkers. The trails almost well-maintained, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in nature while enjoying a leisurely or challenging hike. We planned to take cable-car to halfway up then trail-1 visiting Yuki-en, Yakuoin temple then to the top of Mt.Takao. From the Kasumidai observation deck, we could enjoy a wonderful view of Tokyo including high-rise buildings in Shinjuku and Tokyo Sky Tree tower. The height of Tokyo Sky Tree is 634 meters, which is taller than that of Mt.Takao of 599 meters.

 In front of the monkey park, we explained the native species known as the Japanese macaque which are found in various regions but in Hokkaido. As the unique behavior of Japanese macaques as they soak in the hot springs to keep warm during the cold winter months. At Mt.Takao area they are found frequently and they occasionally raid crops such as vegetables and fruits. Measures are taken to deter monkeys from damaging agricultural fields, such as installing electrical fences or using noise-making devices.

 Next of “jinben-do” shrine, there is the stone monument of the teaching of not taking any life. This is one of the most important teachings in Buddhism. The principle of non-harming is not limited to human life but extends to all forms of life, including animals and insects. Since Buddhism and Chinese characters came from China in the 6^th century, Japanese people gradually began to avoid eating meat. After modernization of Meiji era, Japanese people start to eat meat. For Buddhist monks to keep this principle, they have a meal of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine, Shojin-Ryori. At this temple, Yakuo-in, serves Buddhist vegetarian cuisine, Shojin-Ryori.

 We went on the trail-1 onto men’s slope which has 108 stairs, then Yuki-en where white structure of stupa in which Shakamuni Buddha, founder of Buddhism, was enshrined was shining in the summer sun. Walking through between large cedar trees and the wooden boards written the names who contributed to Temple, we arrived shitenno-mon gate. There are stairs to main hall where we were able to see monks going back after regular Goma Fire ritual. There are more stairs to the upper temple. We are all dripping with sweat. I learned later that the highest temperature was over 38degrees Celsius at near Hachioji-city. We arrived the top of Mt.Takao before noon. As a reward for devote to get to summit, we could look Mt.Fuji though half of it was hidden by cloud unfortunately. We took lunch at Soba noodle restaurant.

 On the way back, we took trail-4, which is a mountain path and attracts people by suspension bridge. We took two breaks until arriving chair-lift station. Descending by the chair lift makes us feel comfortable with gentle breeze. We arrived at Kiyotaki-eki station around 14:30, then ended this hiking tour with satisfaction of accomplishing something. (Comson)