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After a brief descent from Mt. Mitake we were once again climbing, this time up Mt Hinode (日の出山). From there you can see Tokyo from a distance. The dome in the middle of what looks like a forest is the Seibu Dome in Tokorozawa, home of the Seibu Lions.
I’d love to return to this spot again someday after dark. During the day there is probably always a haze, but at night I’m guessing it is usually clear and offers one of the most majestic panoramas of Tokyo.
Almost nine months ago I left you hanging with part 5 of our Mt. Mitake hike taken in November of 2009. I will probably include a part 6, 7, and maybe 8 later; for now, I’ll skip ahead to the conclusion as a bit of a warning to anyone trying this hike, which is excellent this time of year (mid to late November).
As mentioned in the first post in this series, the hike, as laid out in the book we were following, was supposed to take 4 hours and 45 minutes. If you take no breaks, have no kids with you (like we did), and jog portions of the trail you may be able to do it in 5 hours. After seven hours, the sun began to set, and we didn’t know if we were 10 minutes from the end or 3 hours. I took the above picture at that point with flash. We had already been jogging a bit as we didn’t want to get stuck in the dark.
With no headlamp, the only way to make the correct turns was by taking a picture of the signs with flash. My camera saved us from getting stranded in the Japanese wilderness for the night. The last hour, in the dark, was a bit scary, but we made it. That was the last time in Japan that I went hiking without bringing along a headlamp, just in case.
Last November we hiked Mt. Mitake on the 21st. The fall foliage was spectacular. If you are in or near Tokyo, you should head to Mt. Mitake on the first blue sky day after about the 10th or 15th.
Resuming our fall hike, at the top of Mt. Mitake is Musashi Mitake Jinja.
After exploring the shrine and the views from it (below) we ate lunch in one of the several restaurants near the top (above).
At this junction, you can take about eight different paths. One takes you to the top of Mt. Otsuka. The book we were following didn’t say anything about what you’d see there so we didn’t go to the top of Mt. Otsuka (which turned out to be a really good thing as it would have put us back another hour and likely left us stranded in the dark later in the day). Another route looked shorter and said (in Japanese) that it took you to the picnic area from which you can see Mt. Fuji. However, we could pretty much see the top, and it was surrounded in tall trees. So I don’t think you could really see Mt. Fuji from there unless you climbed a tree. Instead, we followed the above sign towards Mitake Jinja (御嶽神社), which is the Shinto shrine on top of the mountain. For some unknown reason the kanji is different (御岳山 for Mt. Mitake vs. 御嶽神社). Anyone know why?
As we neared the shrine area the number of people increased dramatically. Houses, shops, etc. also sprung up as we neared this remote location. The building pictured above had the strangest roof I have ever seen. It was all one building but appeared to have at least three or four completely different roofs.
For most of the uphill climb after departing Highway 45 near Kori Station (古里駅) the above is all you can see. Few people were on this trail (in the 奥多摩町 area). In fact, we would have thought we were on some of our favorite hikes near home in Ashland, Oregon were it not for the roots lining the trail, the trees not being quite the same (sugi maybe? 杉), and the occasional hiker saying konnichiwa to us.
Upon reaching the ridge after a couple of hours, the views changed rather dramatically. They were also very different depending on which way you looked. Trees on one side of the ridge were non-existent on the opposing side and vice versa. Some trees had lost most of their leaves.
Other trees, like these Japanese Maples, were peaking.
I wasn’t expecting to see susuki up here, but there it was. From this last spot, if one could jump 50 feet straight up, they would be treated with a vast overview of Tokyo.