Having never climbed a mountain before my time in Japan, having one RIGHT next to my apartment was a daily temptation, I must say. Since I come from the mountain-less region of Iowa (which blew my students' minds when I told them), I have always loved the idea of hiking UP instead of just AROUND. Moriishiyama was perfect. It took about 15 minutes walk to get to the base of the mountain. It had a road that wound through and around and up its sides. The trees were on every available spot of dirt, forming a dense forest and making it seem like you were miles from any sort of civilization (except for the road being there, of course).
On the road up from my apartment, there was a sort of farm (?) that had sawdust around it all the time. I assume it was a sort of logging house?? Anyways, after the house/farm, the road quickly climbed up the mountain. There was perpetual moss growing on the road. A thin green and slightly yellow moss that covered the sides of the pavement, but was never slick. During the summer and fall, there were always yellow and black spiders that spun their gigantic webs between tree branches on either side of the road. They were usually bigger than my thumb which is a good two inches. They weren't poisonous, so I wasn't too afraid of them, but there was always the thought in the back of my mind that one day one of them would drop from the trees to land on my head! (that never happened) Also in the end of summer and fall were the endless mosquitoes. As I have gotten older, I have become more sensitive to bug bites, and since I was in another country where my body is not used to the mosquitoes, it rebelled. I ended up getting bites the size of baseballs which were so incredibly itchy I had to take Benadryl and put on itch cream, just to get a little relief. Eventually, by the end of fall as the mosquitoes were dying, my body finally got used to the bites and they only grew to the size of a quarter. (note: yes, I did put on bug spray, but they still got me) There were so many different paths that one could take on that mountain, that I never did go down them all. My favorite, however, was the one that led me to the flower park at the top of the mountain. After walking/running there, it was nice to walk among the various flowers and relax before run/walking down the mountain's other side and around back to my apartment. On some of the paths, there were small shrines, no bigger than two feet tall/wide where people put open sake or burned incense. It didn't look like graves, but I didn't know what else they might have been for, other than for their religion (?). Each time I hiked the mountain, it gave me a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes, if nothing in my day went right at the school (if my lesson was a flop), then it was good to feel the achievement of climbing a mountain. How many people can say that?
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Myself
Video blogger and now a blogger as well. My life in Japan has changed me for the better. However, it wasn't easy... Archives
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