Report of JICA tour on 1st October

 After 3-year absence, because of Colona, we resumed our Mount Takao English guide hiking with JICA member, yet.

Today, we have 5guests from Egypt, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, and a visitor from JICA Tokyo office. We started the tour around 11:00. Since it was fine Saturday, many people were in front of the station.

To get 11:10 cable car, we only made simple guidance around there. And enjoyed nice scenery from the slope.   Around the upper cable car station, we divided into two teams.

 

 

At Kasumidai observation deck we enjoyed the view of Tokyo and Yokohama. High rise building in Shinjuku, Tokyo Sky Tree, Yokohama Landmark Building or so.

At the Monkey Park, they were performing a special show from “Nikko-Saru-Gundan”. The monkey was adorable.

 

A lot of religious structures are on the way and in Yakuo-in Temple. Our guests were very interested in them. Therefore, our guides could explain with passion. For example, about “Tako-Sugi, or Octopus Cedar Tree”, 108 worldly desires, relationship with Shintoism and Buddhism, Izuna Daigongen that is the principal image of Yakuo-in Temple and #Tengu, the messenger of the principle and so on.

 

By chance, we saw the monks’ procession in the temple, and an adorable girl in decorative kimono. The girl seemed to make “seven- five-three year” festival, one of rites of passage, wishing for her health and happiness. Monks do a fire ritual for various kind of wish and desire of believers.

We went up many steps to the top of the mountain. It was like a hard training for mountain monks!

We reached the top at 13:10, at last! The view was clear but not enough to see Mt. Fuji.

During lunch, we had a chat about monks’ procession or customs or so.

After lunch, we went down trail 1⇒trail 4⇒trail1. On the trail 4 we breathed fresh air and purified ourselves.

 Lastly, we took a chair lift. It was another highlight of the tour. On the lift, we enjoyed not only the superb view of the mountains but also thrill of an aerial walk because there’s no safety bar on.

At the lower cable car station, we took the last group picture and said good-bye with joy.

 (Written by Keita)投稿者 TENGU Takao-san English Volunteer Guide Club

Regular Tour on June 19,2022

 

Today we had no foreign guest joining the tour but instead, had a Japanese visitor who was interested in TENGU activities and wanted to experience the tour.

So the participants were the Japanese visitor and 5 TENGU members, making total 6.

 As TENGU’ activities have been suspended for some time due to the Corona pandemic,  some of TENGU participants felt that they needed to refresh their guiding skill as well as to revive their physical strength.

So the tour leader decided to take this opportunity to do so, by doing guide work for other participants , assuming they were foreign guests.

Though the weather forecast for the day had suggested possible raining, it was a fine day from the start to the end.

We took the cable car going up and walk the No.1 trail to Yakuoin temple and the summit, with TENGU members making guide in turn at various points of interest on  the way.

As before, we took lunch at the summit, where we saw almost as many visitors as before but unfortunately could not see shy Mt.Fuji.

 We took No.4 trail, crossing the suspension bridge on the way, then No.1 trail again to the chair lift climbing down.

The sunshine, blue sky, green leaves and the fresh breeze made the tour perfect, which started 9:30 am and ended 2:30 pm.

 

We hope that the day will come back soon when we receive as many guests as before.

 

Written by Nori

Regular tour on May. 15,2022

 

Today we have 1 guest from Indonesia.

He came to Japan one month ago and lived in Hachioji city near Mt.Takao.

We met at the station gate of Mt.Takao and start the hiking tour.

Mt.Takao had 599 M in high, so we got on the cable car that let us go up on  the steepest railway in Japan.

We went through the gate that was believed to get rid of your suffering, Kunuke_mon and reached to Joyful garden. There Maki-san explained about many interesting stories about the bronze statue of main god, Izuna.

And then we took the photo of jumping together, that was a great fun.

Please look at our great shot !!

We visited the main temple of yakuo-in temple, and study many tips about Buddhism temple and Shinto shrine, that was explained by our guide Sally.

At the peak of Mt.Takao, we took a lunch and chat about the culture on each country. We enjoy the food and precious moment.

Then we got down on hiking route in the mountain, getting back to the starting point. Again we took a group picture in front of the sation of cable car.

Although it’s a little cloudy day, our guest seem to enjoy our tour and we also enjoy a great hike in Mt.Takao

 (by Gucci)

 

Warm-up & Remind tour on Dec.4th,2021

 

In the morning Dec. 4th, a clear and sunny day, 8 TENGU members gathered at Takao-sanguchi station 9:30 am for the first time activity in the past two years: Warm-up & Remind,. This was the first real activity of TEMGU in the age of living with COVID-19. No guest, but a newcomer Goreilo also attended. Nabe’s Sweeper boy started the excursion. Octopus cider, Different woods, Ghost girl orchid, Chestnut tiger butterfly, Nikko maple, Prifying-mind gate, Jinpen shrine, a worldly disiere (Bonnou), The great god Izuna, Main hole, Stupa, Flower blooming goddess and etc. were guided by Sally, Chiko, Kate, Comson, Shin and Nao. Goreilo asked some questions about those. We gradually remind the explanations but some are not yet. Autumn leaves are still so beautiful in Mt.Takao. We reached Fuji sengen shrine at 12:30. We had a closing meeting then dispersed.   

After this tour, I’ve got a cramp in my legs after returned home. Shakuyakukanzou-tou cured it soon.    

In the night 8 pm same day, 5 members have a remote year-end party. We drank and talked about the three big news 2021 in yourself, the three big crises in your life and New year’s resolutions. Those were very fun.

Nao

Messages from the representative

I am Nao. I became a representative of TENGU from April. Though TENGU tours are stopping from last year due to COVID-19, we are preparing for restart. We are also guessing the possibility of new type of tour and some events between members. We will work with safety first. Thank you for your cooperation. Tour resume will be posted on TENGU’s homepage. Look forward! 

Ｎａｏです。

４月からTENGU代表になりました。よろしくお願いします。コロナ禍で、昨年からツアーは停止中で、現在、再開に向けて準備中です。新しいタイプのツアーや会員間での種々のイベントを模索中です。安全第一で活動していきますの、皆さんのご協力をお願いします。ツアー再開時はホームページにお知らせを掲示しますので、お待ち下さい。 

저는 나오 입니다. 4월 부터 TENGU대표가 되었어요. 코로나 유행병으로 지난해부터 투어를 정지해서 1년이 지났습니다. 재개를 향해 준비하고 있습니다. 새로운형태의 투어나 회원끼리의 이벤트를 모색하고 있습니다. 안전제일로 활동할수 있도록 여러분의 협력을 부탁합니다. 투어 재개시는 홈페이지에 알림을 개시합니다. 기다려 주세요. 

https://www.facebook.com/naohiro.hirose.5

JICA tour on February 1st.

Cold but surprisingly very clear weather welcomed 15 guests from JICA. Their country of origin varies 11 countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Columbia, Congo, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar).  

For some reason, arrival of some guests delayed, so while waiting for their arrival, we talked about design of Takaosanguchi station which was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Kengo Kuma is the designer of new national stadium renovated for 2020 Tokyo Olympic game. More likely, his name will be popular, and we expect to have many guests as well in this summer.

After successfully meeting with all the guests, we started our tour around 10AM.Firstly, we got on the cable car to go halfway up the mountain, then enjoyed very clear view from Kasumi-dai. It was surprisingly clear view. We could recognize not only for Tokyo sky tree and cluster of buildings of Shinjuku, but also from Yokohama Landmark tower, Yokohama Bay Bridge to Enoshima Island and Pacific Ocean.

From Kasumi-dai, we walked on the Trail No. 1 talking about vegetation, main gates, historical halls and statues along the trail, then arrived at the top of the mountain around noon. Again, it was unusually clear view, all the guests got excited by the beautiful Mt. Fuji covered with snow. 

Near the top of the mountain, we took lunch then enjoyed an attraction prepared by Hide, one of the guides from TEGNU.  The attraction was quiz about Japanized English. All the guests excited with the game, and the winner got awarded 100M yen.

After the lunch break, we started going down the mountain through Trail No.4, then took the chair lift and ended our tour safely around 2:45pm at the foot of the mountain.

Thanks to all the guests from JICA, we hope they will enjoy the rest of their stay in Japan, and safe trip back to their home country.



By Shin

The tour on the 20th January, 2020

The party today is three of us, a young lady guest from Malaysia and us, 2 old guides. You can say Beauty and Beasts.

As she was to come rather far, from Saitama prefecture, we had agreed to start the tour at 10:30 am instead of usual 9:30am.

Though we had been a bit worried about the condition of the mountain because of the snowfall on the previous Saturday, the weather was perfect with blue sky and sunshine and the staff of the information center by Takaosanguchi station told us that there was no problem except that somepart of the mountain trail could be slippery due to the remaining snow.

We took cable car up and walked via Trail No.1 to Yakuoin temple, visiting many points of interest on the way. 

Then we arrived at the summit, where we could see shy Mt. Fuji above the cloud.

Because it was a week day, the summit was not so crowded and we could sit at the table there for lunch, which was a rather rare experience for us guides even on a week day.

Then we took Trail No.4 where there was remaining snow here and there, making it necessary for us to walk carefully. Passing the so called “love-love tree” and crossing the popular suspension bridge, we returned to Trail No.1.

We climbed down by the chair lift, enjoying the fresh breeze and the panoramic view down below.

We arrived back at the foot of the mountain, fully refreshed.

We thank the guest and Mt.Takao for making us old guides feel younger.

Written by Nori.