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Shosenkyo Gorge (昇仙峡) and the Arakawa River
As previously mentioned, Kakuenbo (覚円峰) is the most common photo you see in advertisements for Shosenkyo (昇仙峡). After seeing it only in photos for 25 years or so, today’s photo shows my first glimpse of it in the flesh.
Shosenkyo near Kofu, Japan
Kakuenbo (覚円峰) is the normal “face” of Shosenkyo, but the rocks in today’s photo have a similar appearance, even from this different angle. Maybe this is the backside of Kakuenbo; I’m not sure.
When I took this photo I had just come from more than a month of looking at and hiking through somewhat similar rocks in the mountains above Gwangju in South Korea.
BTW, I took today’s photo from a place called Yasaburotake (弥三郎岳), a giant rock you can get to easily from the top of the Shosenkyo Ropeway (昇仙峡ロープウェイ). Most people doing the ropeway are heading to this spot so just follow the Japanese people.
rock gate (sekimon or 石門) on Kofu’s Shosenkyo hike
Japanese maple trees in focus
Most people drive to near the top of Shosenkyo these days. If they don’t they usually take a bus. While the views near the top are great, there is a ton of beauty along the journey should you choose to hike instead.
I couldn’t decide which photo I liked better so you get them both. I tried to focus stack these images, but my camera settings and perspective weren’t close enough in the originals for a decent result of having both the foreground and background in focus in a single composite image.
Buddhist statue in focus
I have seen Mt. Fuji from Kofu many times. In fact I could see Fuji San from my apartment window in Kofu back in the 1980s. Seeing it from Shosenkyo (昇仙峡) would have been fabulous, but this was the hottest day of the year, and the air was thick with moisture–not the cooling kind of wetness, the muggy, mushiatsui (蒸し暑い) kind. Those are the worst days for visibility and a good reason to go to Japan in winter if you want to see Mt. Fuji.
Photomerged panorama of the Shosenkyo hike
Hottest day of the year, hottest part of Japan, extremely humid, and I was going to go on a long, uphill hike. The good news was the hike was mostly in the shade. Most people drive up to Shosenkyo these days via a car or bus. Don’t do it. Walk up. It’s a beautiful journey that you will mostly miss in a vehicle.