Monthly Tour, March 20, 2016

Our monthly tour for March was held on March 20, 2016.  It was a perfect Spring day for hiking and we are fortunate to have two guests from Hong Kong.

We were able to observe flowers of Mitsumata, (means three-pronged in Japanese) known as a paper bush.  Mitsumata's bark is used to make "Washi", Japanese traditional paper.   Its flowers have been used as one of season words for Japanese poetry.   You can find it in Manyoshu, the oldest collection of Japanese tree.

One of famous poetry used Mitsumata was written by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.  

 春さればまづさきくさの幸くあらば
　　　　　　　後にも逢はむな恋ひそ吾妹

In this poetry, he speaks to his wife not to miss him so much because they can see each other in Spring.

Though it is little too early for cherry blossoms, you can observe other signs of Spring in Mt. Takao.

Our next monthly tour will be held on April 17, 2016.  We are planning to take longer walk to observe cherry blossom to Icchodaira. Please make a resevation by e-mailing us with your name, number of persons joining the tour, e-mail address and cell phone number.

If you would like to join our tour for other date, please e-mail us with the date you would like to visit Mt. Takao along with the information above.  We will check our members' availability and get back to you.

(Photo by Kei, Article by Cat)

Mar 5,Tengu Tour

It was slightly couldy today, March 5. TENGU monthly JICA tour was held. I was a leader for it. Guests were two from Mozambique and Afghanistan. Japanese visitors were three and supporters were two.

Guides were six and they explained 23 points in turn. We reached the summit of Mt. Takao at 12:00 on time. Ascending way was the cable car and the route No.1. After having lunch, descending though the route No.4,& No.1 and the chair lift.

 The guests heard our explanation with fervor, so it was a good tour. I explained some points as below.

No.18 Nature of Mt. Takao on the ridge: Why here is one of top three insect habitats?

No.24-4 Great god Izuna（Pleasure park）:Izuna magic art as a taboo.

No.28 Tengu: The three big tools of Tengu.

No.38-2 Goma fire service: Genius Kukai battled to vengeful ghosts in Heian Palace.

No.46-4 Tekkai of the 8 Chinese drunk hermits: Out-of-body experience is very risky.

 

(Nao)

TENGU Tour 6FEB2016

February is the coldest season in a year, so I assumed no foreigners might have participated Mt.Takao Hiking tour on Feb.6.
However 14 foreigners and 8 Japaneses joined!
They came from various contries,
Afghanistan,Cambodia,Philippines,Thailand,Nicaragua,Uzbekistan,Morocco,Indonesia, and Tunisia.
It was really international!!
We went half way up the mountain by cable car, and enjoyed walking, taking pictures and talking at several guide points.
I was concerned about bad condition on path due to snow which piled up three weeks ago. Fortunately there was no slippery path except one located behind the Visitor Center.
Guests listened well our guide talking and often gave us questions.














Some of them had first time experiences during the hiking, touching "Snow", Getting on Chair Lifts and so on. It was great experience to them, and they really enjoyed.









Finally we had wrap up meeting at Kiyotaki station , and took group pictures.
After that we had linering farewell.





Written by leader for Fe.6 tour

With Japanese guests

On December 20th, Sunday, we hold guided tour with three Japanese guests, using English mainly, but Japanese language on complicated matters.
                             
At lunch time, one of our member did picture-story show which was based on the 109th tale of Tsurezure-gusa written by Kenko-Yoshida around 700 years ago. It says "Failure might happen when you feel at ease." Accordingly we are very careful not to stumble, strike our foot something like rock on going down.
(Comson)

Red & Yellow leaves of Late Autumn

As you know Japan has four distinct seasons as Winter Spring Summer and Autumn.
On December 5th, we were able to enjoy red and yellow leaves of Mt. Takao.
                     
On hiking tour of this day, we guided 8 foreign guests in the remaining of Autumn tree leaves.
                  
In the balmy Autumn weather, a shy Mt. Fuji was also seen from the summit of Mt. Takao.
We are lucky!
                    
(Comson)

Work together with TV station

Last night’s rain had stopped and it was a little cloudy, today.
I headed for Mt. Takao with a nervous feeling.
TENGU got to work together with some TV station to make a　drama for English education for students, and today was a　shooting day.

My role was an English guide who introduced Mt. Takao to an American　student and his friends. The shooting was done at an open space in front　of Kiyotaki station and a place with benches on the Trail no-1. Casts, other than me, were all professionals and native speakers. However they were practicing their lines over and over again before the shooting. Seeing them made me more nervous. There were a camera for shooting, a big microphone and a reflecting plate. They were just the same as what I saw on TV!

Only remembering my lines and speaking them correctly was enough for me. On top of that, I had to follow a lot of directions such as “stop here” “look at trees” or “pronounce this English in this way”  Doing those things at the same time was truly hard. But everything was so interesting and exciting.

After the shooting we were treated to lunch at a soba noodle restaurant.  It was a kind of the event of my life and I thank TENGU for bringing me such an opportunity. I hope more people get to know our activity through this event.

By Nancy Nov.19

Momiji Festival has started! Mt. Takao Tour for JICA on November 7th, 2015

It was a little too early for Momijigari (Maple Viewing) but we were able to observe some autumn leaves during our tour and there was no doubt that it was a perfect autumn day for our tour.

Staffs of Momiji Matsuri

There were 7 guests from JICA (3 from Egypt, 2 from Iran, 1 from Vietnam, and 1 from China) and 11 TENGU members joining the tour.

November is the month of "Momiji Matsuri" (Maple Festival) .  Every weekend of November, you can enjoy various live performances such as "Taisho Koto" (Japanese harp) and Japanese traditional drums at the stage by Kiyotaki Station.   In addition to it, there are two booths set up near Takaosan Station.  One booth is for "Tokyo Kokeshi" (Japanese traditional wooden dolls) that you can observe amazing skills of Kokeshi master and the other is for  "Sake Brewer" that you can buy a cup of Japanese Sake brewed in Hachioji area.

While waiting for the cable car at Kiyotaki Station, staffs of Momiji Festival handed out a bag that have giant flying squirrel illustrations printed along with a soda candy manufactured by Sakumaseika Co., Ltd.  One of the staffs told us that Sakumaseika has a candy factory in Hachiouji City.   Sakumaseika is famous for a canned candies called "Sakumashiki Drops" (Sakuma style candies) which has been loved by Japanese people since its release in 1913.

As expected, there were many people visiting Mt. Takao to enjoy its rich nature and a long queue for a chair lift and cable car.  Overall our our tour progressed slower than usual due to the crowd.  However, we were able to guide some points that our guests enjoyed and go down the mountain without any serious incidents.

Our regular November tour will be held on November 15, 2015.  If you are interested in joining us, please e-mail us with your name, number of persons joining the tour, e-mail address and cell phone number.

If you would like to join our tour for other date, please e-mail us with the date you would like to visit Mt. Takao along with the information above.  We will check our members' availability and get back to you.

Momiji Festival Information 

Momiji Festival schedule for performances and booths. (Japanese only)
(By Cat)