A modern-day mountain priest

A modern-day mountain priest
Torikabuto by YK

At six o'clock in the evening of a beautiful Indian summer Saturday in November, three couples were sitting, sharing one large wooden table and were to about to start a simple dinner. We all had the same box-shaped plastic plates in front of us, filled with Tenpura of wild vegetables and a landlocked salmon - a sort of fish only living in the mountain side - cooked in sweetened soy sauce. We were unacquainted with each other, simply sat at the same table in order of arrival. Although the outside temperature were below five degrees Celsius (41 Fahrenheit), I asked my wife whether I should buy a can of beer. One guy with a low profile, who had been watching me, suddenly stood up and placed an order of a couple of bottled sakes and put them in the boiling water of a large kettle over an oil stove. To my pleasant surprise, he kindly handed the hot sake bottles out to us saying "Please take this." All of us really enjoyed chatting and exchanging our experiences in the mountains even after dinner. It was a nice ending to the first day, since I left my home in the early morning, walked five hours and finally reached the mountain lodge named Sanjo-no-yu.

Sanjo-no-yu

The room light powered by a generator turned on exactly at five o'clock in the morning. It was still dark outside and the temperature was minus two degrees Celsius. Everyone, ten people in one room, got out of the Futon bed already fully dressed, as there was no heater during the night. Breakfast was ready to be served from 5:30 am and most people departed the lodge around six o'clock in the dawning mourning time. I exchanged a greeting saying "Mata doko kade, Nice to see you and maybe again in some mountain." with the guy who had treated us the hot sake the night before and moved along in the morning mist, soon finding ourselves in a narrow road covered with huge fallen leaves.

After climbing a very steep slope panting heavily, we finally reached the summit of Mt.Kumotori, an altitude of 2,017 meters. In fact, "Kumo" is a Japanese word for cloud in the sky and "tori" means capturing something by hand. The highest elevation point in Metropolitan Tokyo is not Tokyo Tower, and this is the point in Tokyo. There was a 360 degree panoramic view like a bird's eye view. We could see the snow capped Mt. Fuji, the highest summit in Japan, under the very crisp air. There was a chilly breeze there but the sky was perfectly clear.

Mt.Fuji

After a short break with hot coffee poured from a thermos, we were determined to take the longer course to the Mitsumine Temple, which is a trail where mountain priests treaded many hundreds of years. The road was very quiet but a bit tough one with repeating ups and downs. In fact, the meaning of Mitsumine in "three summits" of mountains, so we had to climb the summits and down the hill again and again.

From the ancient time to today, people have deified the mountains and walked along the mountain side in the past even in today. A modern-day mountain priest walked two days long equipped with mobile digital gear and then returned home with the result of 64,009 steps and nice memories of the mountain lodge.

December 2002

	A modern-day mountain priest			Torikabuto by YK
	At six o'clock in the evening of a beautiful Indian summer Saturday in November, three couples were sitting, sharing one large wooden table and were to about to start a simple dinner. We all had the same box-shaped plastic plates in front of us, filled with Tenpura of wild vegetables and a landlocked salmon - a sort of fish only living in the mountain side - cooked in sweetened soy sauce. We were unacquainted with each other, simply sat at the same table in order of arrival. Although the outside temperature were below five degrees Celsius (41 Fahrenheit), I asked my wife whether I should buy a can of beer. One guy with a low profile, who had been watching me, suddenly stood up and placed an order of a couple of bottled sakes and put them in the boiling water of a large kettle over an oil stove. To my pleasant surprise, he kindly handed the hot sake bottles out to us saying "Please take this." All of us really enjoyed chatting and exchanging our experiences in the mountains even after dinner. It was a nice ending to the first day, since I left my home in the early morning, walked five hours and finally reached the mountain lodge named Sanjo-no-yu.			Sanjo-no-yu
	The room light powered by a generator turned on exactly at five o'clock in the morning. It was still dark outside and the temperature was minus two degrees Celsius. Everyone, ten people in one room, got out of the Futon bed already fully dressed, as there was no heater during the night. Breakfast was ready to be served from 5:30 am and most people departed the lodge around six o'clock in the dawning mourning time. I exchanged a greeting saying "Mata doko kade, Nice to see you and maybe again in some mountain." with the guy who had treated us the hot sake the night before and moved along in the morning mist, soon finding ourselves in a narrow road covered with huge fallen leaves. After climbing a very steep slope panting heavily, we finally reached the summit of Mt.Kumotori, an altitude of 2,017 meters. In fact, "Kumo" is a Japanese word for cloud in the sky and "tori" means capturing something by hand. The highest elevation point in Metropolitan Tokyo is not Tokyo Tower, and this is the point in Tokyo. There was a 360 degree panoramic view like a bird's eye view. We could see the snow capped Mt. Fuji, the highest summit in Japan, under the very crisp air. There was a chilly breeze there but the sky was perfectly clear.			Mt.Fuji
	After a short break with hot coffee poured from a thermos, we were determined to take the longer course to the Mitsumine Temple, which is a trail where mountain priests treaded many hundreds of years. The road was very quiet but a bit tough one with repeating ups and downs. In fact, the meaning of Mitsumine in "three summits" of mountains, so we had to climb the summits and down the hill again and again. From the ancient time to today, people have deified the mountains and walked along the mountain side in the past even in today. A modern-day mountain priest walked two days long equipped with mobile digital gear and then returned home with the result of 64,009 steps and nice memories of the mountain lodge.
	December 2002