I joined the Tokyo Meet-up hiking group (very much like the Sunday hikers in Kaslo) and had another fabulous Hike Japanese style.
1. It was fabulous to be with a mixed group of hikers, all of them who could speak
English and most spoke Japanese as well. all of the huge energy I put into simple details such as when the ferry leaves, or which of these signs says "danger, do not proceed" was taken care of. I could enjoy, hike, explore ... And actually talk about more than "this is nice" "thank you"!
2. This hike required money as so many of them because of several long train rides and a ferry, an entrance fee, a taxi, the ticket for a Hotsprings then finishing off with a fabulous dinner. So where are those restaurants in the Valhallas?
This hike took us up the back side of a massive granite mountains that has been quarried for thousands of years. Check out some of these old paths grooved into the mountain. The trail itself showed ruts from the millions of hand carts drawn by women down the mountain with massive granite blocks on them.
From the heavily wooded mountain sided we popped out into a gully reminding me of Petra to be confounded by a huge Buddha meditating over the entrance of a mountain preserve where, hundreds of years ago, a partly devout sect vowed to carve a 1000 Buddhas. During one of the later Meiji eras another sect of Buddhism was embraced so most statues had their heads knocked off. They were all repaired in the last hundred years.
These Buddhas, smiled, frowned, laughed and flowers at us from every twist and turn of the trail as we clambered all over the mountain on steep winding staircases.
The route finished at a massive Buddha (the largest in Japan) with a sacred tree and statue next to it. This figure is meant to bring good luck if you buy a mini Buddha to put at its foot. Each of the mini-Buddhas is about 10cm tall, with its own expression and dressed for winter because it is still a bit cool in the evening. These Buddhas are carved by the monastery monks as a form of meditation. Look at how many years people have been doing this! I bought one for our window sill to bless our Tokyo home.
After winding out through the sacred gate, down a valley road where monkeys were playing in the trees, we walked through fields to a very local hotsprings to soak our sore legs. From there it was back to the ferry, a rollicking dinner feast and a two hour train ride home and back late to my empty apartment.
As a balance to that spiritual experience I went to Quaker meeting on Sunday (30km round trip bike ride) for simple meditation . In the afternoon I biked out to Tokyo National stadium (another 30km round trip) for another spiritual experience, (right Bill?) with tickets given to me by my secretary to watch FC Tokyo play an intense match that they lost 0-1. Me and 43000 others.
Check out the video to get the complete feel for this spiritual experience!
Ah yes, just another quiet weekend in Tokyo!
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