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Published: September 21st 2006
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare I doubt if William Henry Davies ever visited Kamikouchi, but surely if I had met him here I would have shaken his hand and told him that I understood exactly how he felt.
But I digress even before I begin.
Kamikouchi is located in the Nagano prefecture around central Japan.
It is around 30 kms from Matsumoto and around 200 kms from Nagoya where my journey began.
Metitetsu Travels offers the Dragon Pack tours to Kamikouchi, with lunch and no lunch options.
I did not have to choose as only the No Lunch option tickets were available by the time I booked with the rest of my group.
To those few who are wondering why it is called Dragon Pack, the hugely popular baseball team from Nagoya is called Chunichi Dragons(incidentally who are on their way to win the one of the Japanese League title this year).So the tour is named Dragon Package tour and with the Japanese fetish for abbreviating English Words( Pascon for Personal Computer, Aircon for air conditioner etc etc) it becomes Dragon Pack.
The literal meaning of
Kamikouchi is ‘ The place of the Gods’. My Japanese colleague told me that people believe that God lives in 2 places, in the person’s heart and Kamikouchi.
Though an argument over the existence of God is beyond the scope of this piece, but the question that comes to mind is Why?
Why of all places God decided to settle down in Kamikouchi is a little difficult to understand.
There are places with better views, weather and access, but still God decided to settle down here.
We started from Nagoya on a package tour bus, 13 Indians amongst the 40 odd people on the bus. Since the tour was fully booked around 2 weeks back is an indicator of how popular the place is with the Japanese.
The start of the tour is an eye-opener and the reminder on the basic differences between the Indian and the Japanese. If there is something on which one can count on Indians it is not to be on time.
It had been decided that all members ould assemble at 7 AM and then proceed to board the bus at 7:10 AM.
The sequence is as follows
Out of
a total of 14 members
8 members had assembled at 7 AM( 1 Japanese)
2 people came at 7:05
2 people came at 7:10
2 people came at 7:25 well after the bus had started.
The bus was stopped Indian Style and the late parties got in with customary apologies.
However none of the people who arrived at 7:05 or 7:10 apologized.
My Japanese boss is hopping mad and muttering necessity of Kaizen.
And I shake in my boots hearing the word as it means days of endless meetings and tiresome discussions on what is wrong with Indians.
So what is the lesson here, if the meeting time is 7 please tell all that it is 6:30, so you can be reasonably sure that people will arrive by 7. But still no guarantees there.
From Nagoya the bus gets on the Tomei expressway, then gets off near Takayama and goes on the local road. Once it hits the local road, the countryside begins to appear.
Lonely houses, long stretches of farmland and the scarce population is a welcome change from the city life in Japan.
From my viewpoint country life in Japan would be idyllic-peaceful
A view of the sky
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
atmosphere,low crime, good roads, conveniently connected by rail and if you can add Satellite TV and Broadband Internet access, life couldn’t get better.
But I guess from the Japanese point of view it would be very boring, no Karaoke Bars, no hostess joints, few drinking places.
Mountains have been cut up to make the road to Kamikouchi. The bus goes through many tunnels on the way, and few of them did stretch a couple of kilometers.
Thankfully traffic was scarce in spite of it being a weekend.
The bus dropped us off in front of the start of the hiking trail.There is a restaurant in the place and the bus guide hands over 5% discount coupons.Since I have heard food is expensive I guess 5% discount will makes it slightly less expensive. And being Indian we carry packed lunch.
The start of the trail is besides the Taisho pond which was formed by a Volcanic eruption of Mount Yakedake in 1915. As I stood bunging rocks into the pond, somebody pointed out smoke coming out of the mountain. I was made to believe that the volcano was still active.
However if my eyes were not playing a
trick, I could make out a couple of moving figures near the top of the mountain. Though most my team members believed the smoke came from the volcano I feel it was a trick played by somebody who has scaled the mountain peak.
From here on the disappointment starts. My lack of proper homework led me to believe that I will be hiking in mountains, but actually Kamikouchi is a basin. And as basins go it is flat.
A river( I guess Asuza) flows around and the hiking trail has been built around it.
The only problem with the hiking trail is that you have to share it with a few 1000 people. The trail is not wide nor long enough to give space and most of the route it is pretty congested.
Stopping on the trail is a big No No and the signboards specifically mention so.
Though at points where the trail meets the river you can get off the trail and sit on the rocky river side, throw stones, walk in the freezing cold water or even take a nap.
But once you are back on the trail there is no stopping.
The main
advantage is the place is that in spite of thousands trundling up and down everyday the place still has an unspoilt look.River Creeks straight out of picture postcards dot the trail and the total absence of any litter has to be seen to be believed.
I did not find a single beer can or cigarette butt(smoking incidentally is banned here) throughout the trail.
And also the behavior of the tourists, even though it is a crowded trail, it is orderly, quiet(no shouting, screaming adults or kids), and cool. I visited in September when a nip of Autumn is already in the air. It was coolly comfortable and the sweat from the hiking dried gradually without any shivers.
Kamikouchi serves as a starting point for the mountain climbers aiming to summit the nearby peaks and I think for that purpose it is most suitable.
You can start you hike relaxedly and come back and take a nap after the climb is over.
But if you are looking to be one with nature then be ready to share it with a few 1000 people with the same purpose.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We No squirrles here though, only ducks
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
have no time to stand and stare.
I can understand exactly how you feel old chap, but there are a few hundred behind me and giving me dirty looks for staring , so gotta move on.
Or the other options is to stay in one of the 2 hotels in the place. I have heard Hotel Imperial is prohibitively expensive but I guess Hotel Kamikouchi is a better bet.
Staying over in the Hotel and walking along the trail in the night, sitting on the riverside and watching a clear night sky would be more enjoyable than hustling through during the day.
I am sure there is an On-sen(Hot Springs) somewhere around, so if you do not have too many inhibitions about public bathing, then finish your hike and soak in the on-sen and sit down for beer and food.
There is a bridge called Kappabashi which is at the end of the trail. It serves as a point for taking final photographs before boarding the bus. There are a few souvenir shops and restaurants around the bridge and the place is unbelievably crowded.
Kappabashi, it seems is based on a mythical animal, but there
Supposedly volcaninc mountain
My camera is in full zoom and I think there are people up there is not much information available as to why the animal is mythical. It must be something on the lines of the Loch Ness monster but I am not sure as nobody could answer my questions on this matter.
As per the guide you can view the relief of the Rev Weston from the Kappbashi bridge.
I am sure it must be somewhere around but could not make it out in the crowded atmosphere.
The good Reverend lived in Kamikouchi in the late 19th century. However at that time the place was scarcely populated consisting only of a few woodcutter and shepherds.
So I guess in the absence of a regular flock, he took to climbing mountains. The guide says that the Reverend scaled most of the peaks during his stay there and there is a place named after him at one of the points of the trail.
So finally the trip ends and back to the bus for the journey to Nagoya. If Indians are there can Antakshari be far behind. There were a few attempts at this game during the journey back, but thankfully keeping in mind the fact that most passengers were Japanese it was kept
low key and was voluntary.
On the way back the bus stops at Takayama. It seems Takayama Ramen is famous all over Japan and the factory offers free samples to all passengers.
Either my taste buds have finally adjusted to Ramen, or what they say about the Ramen is true, but it did taste good.
Small bowls are served to people in groups of 6, and it is always possible to get a second helping by joining another group. My greed for Ramen had not reached the level for me to attempt a second helping by many other people did get a second or a third helping.
From Takayama it is back to Nagoya with the normal service area stops. If you are Japanese you can open a beer can and snacks. But being Indian and with company alcohol is frowned upon.
To sum it all up, the place is definitely worth visiting once, but make sure you don’t go with too many expectations. Go hiking but do it leisurely, sit down on the river bank and bung some rocks.
Then it is worth visiting.
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