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A weekend visiting old storehouses doesn’t sound that interesting, but when the storehouses contain sake breweries with tasting opportunities, things look a whole lot brighter. It also helps that the storehouses are traditional old structures with a lot of character. Aizu Wakamatsu and neighbouring Kitakata, north of Tokyo in Fukushima Prefecture, have lots of old kura (storehouses), samurai history, sake breweries, and a nearby onsen. This was a visit to old Japan.
The Tour de France? No, the real tough hill climbing cycle event is the Tour de Utsukushigahara, with its gekisaka (檄坂 – severe slope). The race is only 22km in distance, but ascends 1,270 metres up to Utsukushigara from Asama Onsen (in Matsumoto) – the first few hundred metres of the race ascendup an 18% incline. Last weekend, I headed up to Asama Onsen, with a group of friends – Phil, Matt, Bruce, Naoko & Dan) to take on the mountain and join the Tour. Most of them had done the race before, but I was a first timer anda little unsure whether I’d make it. Matt is an around-the-world cyclist who has just arrived from England by bike (see worldwidebikeride.com), and was not going to rest up too much in Tokyo when there was a mountain to race up!
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Yufuin is a charming onsen resort town in Oita Prefecture, inland from Beppu. It is full of ryokan with hot springs, and is situated under a towering mountain called Yufu-dake. The spring flowers were still out – it was a nice town to walk around before heading back to the ryokan for a big meal and a soak in the rotenburo.
In the last weekend of November, I spent a weekend in Osaka with Akiyo (high school host family sister) and her family. On the Sunday, we headed to Arima Onsen, a hot spring resort in the hills behind Kobe.
According to the website, Arima Onsen is the oldest in Japan. Its waters are loaded with iron, which creates rust-red opaque water to sit back in. Not sure if it was because of the hot bath water and cool weather outside, or because the minerals actually worked, but I felt like a million bucks after lazing back in the waters of the Kin no Yuu hot spring.
Outside, the months of autumn continued, with brilliant maples outside a temple and in local parks.
With my new gear in tow, I got out of Tokyo for the first time this trip, and headed out early on Sunday morning on the Odakyu Line to a town called Shibusawa (Kanazawa Prefecture), about 75 mins south west of Shinjuku. From there, it’s a short bus ride to Okura, where some hiking trails start through the Tanzawa-Oyama Kokutei Park.
To no Take 塔ノ岳 is a 1,491 metre mountain that attracts a lot of hikers – even on muggy, humid, misty Japanese summer days. The last row of vending machines before leaving the road and hitting the steep slope was very tempting. I must have lost litres of sweat climbing that mongrel of a hill. From bottom to top was a climb of around 1,100 metres.
At the first Yamagoya (mountain hut), I was wondering what I thought I was doing. It’s one thing to plan a hiking trip from the comfort of an airconditioned apartment, but it’s another thing again to execute the plan in this level of humidity. The yamagoya sell food, drinks, beer, and often accommodation. The standard rate seems to be around 5,500 yen for a sleeping space plus two meals. No tent necessary, but could be a bit squished in if there are a lot of people hoping for space.
The first yamagoya was a good stop for a break. Not only because it was the last water source before the summit, but also because it’s where I made friends and teamed up for the rest of the day with another hiker out by himself. Hayashi-san is an IT guy from Kawasaki, and even had a stove for a cup of tea for the summit.
Because of the humidity, it only got misty/foggy at the top, although thankfuly the temperature was a bit cooler. Along with the rest of the crowd, Hayashi-san and I ate our bento (mine puchased with throngs of other hikers at the conbini inside Shinjuku Station at 6:30 in the morning) on the summit, facing the direction of Fuji-san. On a good day, it’s apparently out there along with the rest of the Alps.
We came down a different path, passing some rock scambles with chains installed to haul yourself up the rockface. More yamagoya (some closed), and lots more people. We managed to get to our bus stop with only a minute or so to spare before the bus left – the next option was a 90 minute wait, or another hour down the hill to another bus stop.
Click on the photos to scroll through the album of the climb up and down To no Take:
It was then off to Tsurumaki Onsen, at the next station along the train line, to give the aching calves a soak. No photos of that obviously, so the next best thing is a link to the Onsen’s website so you can get the general idea. The onsen was full of hikers recovering from the day’s exercise.