Mount Takamikura

I had the BEST day today! Tina, Lauren and I woke up extra early (on a Sunday, mind you) to catch the 9:00am train to get to Kakogawa Station. From Kakogawa Station, a friend of ours, Paul picked us up and took us to the most beautiful mountain to go hiking in the morning. Paul is Australian, but he came to Japan quite a few years ago and married a Japanese lady. He speaks Japanese fluently, so I am so jealous. Paul likes hiking and boxing and doing lots of active stuff, so he promised us that he would take us hiking one day. Well today was the day!

Mount Takamikura was tranquil and picturesque.




There were many green trees and plants and lots of flowers in bloom as it is the season of Spring. It was so pretty just walking along, appreciating the scenery. The first part of the hike was really steep and tiring, but after about twenty minutes of hardcore climbing, it was a pretty flat terrain, so it was smooth sailing from then on. When we reached the top of the mountain, we got an amazing view of Kakogawa.






It was so beautiful. We also saw a really cool shrine right at the peak of the mountain. It was amazing to see that such a detailed-looking shrine could be so perfectly erected on such a tall mountain. It would have taken them a long time to erect. It was beautiful all the same.

I also saw a small stone shrine that had two fox statues guarding it.





The foxes are the protectors of the shrine. In between the foxes, was a small fruitbox that someone had left behind. Well, that was what I thought. I was about to move it so that I could take a picture of the shrine, when Lauren explained to me that people often leave their food and drink behind as an offering. So this fruitbox was part of the tradition. Lucky I didn’t move it!

As we were climbing back down the mountain, we spotted some Yamabushi (mountain priests).





They were taking part in a special ceremony on this day that only takes place once every fifty years. How lucky we were to be able to witness such a rare event! There were about ten to twelve yamabushi standing half-way up this mountain, amongst all the dense vegetation, participating in a traditional ceremony. It was completely surreal!





During the ceremony, they were blowing a conch, using a bow and arrow and aiming it towards the air, burning some green leaves and chanting. It was such an amazing sight and I am so glad that I got to see it. We were later told that the purpose of the ceremony was to wash and cleanse one’s sins away. I was so impressed and intrigued by the entire ceremony and I watched with astonishment as the mountain priests chanted and prayed.

When we got to the bottom of the mountain, we met up with Paul’s wife and Noriko and her family who are also some Japanese friends of ours.





We had a barbeque with them and I can tell you now, it was so different to the barbeques we are used to in Australia! They had all sorts of vegetables to put on the barbeque including eggplant, onion, pumpkin and corn, as well as yaki onigiri (rice balls), squid, Aussie beef and chicken. It was absolutely DELICIOUS!!!

After eating non-stop for what seemed like two hours, we went for a drive to a shrine nearby.





It was a beautiful shrine and Tina, Lauren and I took many photos. We also saw the largest Tori gate in the Hyogo Prefecture (and perhaps the largest in the whole of Japan). It was HUGE and it was made of titanium. I was pretty impressed!




We left later in the afternoon and when I got home, I was absolutely exhausted! It was such a long, tiring day, but very enjoyable all the same. I can’t wait until my next hike and Japanese-style barbeque!