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Published: November 10th 2006
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The Stone Hammer. This is the summit at almost 2,000 meters. It's unusually shaped peak makes for a terrifying climb with steep cliffs on both sides. This past weekend I finally got off the island for the first time in about a month. I was definitely starting to get a case of the island fever, so I decided to go mountain climbing on the tallest mountain in Western Japan, Ishizuchi-san. It’s almost 2,000 meters high which is only about half the height of Mt. Fuji. However, the hiking on this mountain was just as difficult, if not more difficult than Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji was terrifying because I climbed it at night, and feeling like you’re up in an airplane in the dark with nothing to protect you is not a very comforting feeling. But the trails on Mt. Fuji are actually fairly manageable. The trails on Mt. Ishizuchi, however, were at times not even trails at all. I am used to hiking, but I’ve never done any real rock climbing before. The mountain was so steep that you have to climb up these huge chains bolted to the side of big cliffs. It was so dangerous! There’s literally nothing to protect you and also no signs warning you of the danger ahead. I found myself climbing up completely vertical cliffs with nothing to catch me if
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This was the cozy mountain inn we stayed in. This lounging room was filled with Japanese antiques. Very nice. I fell. How do I always get myself into these kinds of situations?
Luckily, I was not alone. I went with Ethan and Nick, the two English teachers on my neighboring islands. We left the islands early (for us) on Saturday morning, but didn’t arrive at the base of the mountain until almost 3pm. The last leg of the trip there was a beautiful bus ride through this gorge in the middle of huge mountains that eventually opened up into a big lake. It’s amazing that almost 80% of Japan is like this with most people living in the other 20% of the more habitable land near the coastlines. It makes for a hiker’s paradise.
When we got to the base of the mountain, we still weren’t able to make out where the summit of Ishizuchi-san was because the trail actually takes you through some smaller foothills of Ishizuchi-san before you actually make the final ascent to the top. The first part of the hike is nice because you get to take a ropeway (lift) to a shrine halfway up the mountain. From the shrine, it takes about three more hours to climb to the top, and about
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Ethan and Nick enjoying their elaborate dinner at the inn. 2 1/2 hours to get back down. However, we made it to the shrine around 4pm, so we only had about two more hours of daylight left.
Lucky for us, there is a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in the shrine area that hikers can stay at. It was pretty pricey, but it was completely worth it. The inn had a great atmosphere, and we got two excellent meals out of the deal, not to mention a hot bath after a day of traveling and hiking on a cold mountain.
The next morning, we woke up early to start the climb. The leaves around the shrine were at their autumn-color peak, and the air was perfectly clear. The hike started out beautifully, although I was having some trouble breathing. The dangerous chain climbing doesn’t start until about halfway through the hike, so by the time we got to the first set of chains, I was already feeling the pain. We saw old ladies and young children climbing the chains, so I figured it was nothing. However, halfway up the chain, hanging on for dear life, I lost whatever confidence I had. If I hadn’t been with a couple of
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My dinner. It was delicious! tough guys, I probably would have started crying too (like I did on Mt. Fuji!). But the fact is that once you start climbing the chains, there’s no turning back. There’s nothing else you can do but keep climbing, no matter how freaked out you are. After I returned to Yuge and told my story to some Japanese friends, I learned that the sign for Ishizuchi-san in Japanese sign language is linking your fingers together like chains! So, the mountain is famous for them.
Finally, when the summit was in view, I saw where the name of the mountain comes from. Ishizuchi means “stone hammer,” and the jagged edges of the summit where huge boulders stick out at an unusual angle actually did look like they might come hammering down on us. Knowing that I would soon be standing on those giant rocks, up so high in the sky, gave me an uneasy feeling. But I hiked on.
When we reached the top, the view made me speechless (or maybe it was just because I was so out of breath). I have no idea how, but somehow they built a shrine on top of the mountain as well.
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The trail head. Through that gate, the journey began... The mountain is actually regarded as a holy mountain, and is visited by many pilgrims every year. In fact, on the opening day of the climbing season, only men are allowed to take the first trek up because it is thought that women will destroy its purity(?!).
Yet, even when you reach the shrine at the summit, you still have to go a little farther to be able to stand on top of those jagged boulders. Of course, this is the most terrifying part. To make it out there, you have to climb across the point of the mountain where you are in a narrow stretch of rocks with a straight drop-off on either side. My method was to lay flat on my stomach with arms and legs stretch out. Then I slowly inched my way across and tried as hard as I could not to look over the edge. You might say I was feeling a bit on edge (haha!). It felt like the slightest breeze would lift me off the rocks and I would be like a feather in the wind.
Coincidentally, I ran into a fellow travel blogger at the summit whom I had never
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A shinto torii gate towards the beginning of the hike. met before, but whose face I knew from her blog. Together with her, Nick, Ethan, and I, we were all of the travel bloggers from Ehime! Small world, isn’t it? I guess travel bloggers think alike (or something).
After taking in all the breath-taking views we could, we started hiking back down the mountain. It was much shorter, but equally as painful. Somehow I injured my knee on the way down (a twist maybe?), and had to limp the last half of the way out. It still hurts, but I think it’s going to be okay. So, there are supposedly seven holy mountains in Japan. I’ve climbed two of them now. What else can I do now but climb the rest, right?
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amanda jane miller
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mmmmm mountains
looks absolutely gorgeous jennie! good job with the climb...i'll bet it was nothing compared to dolly sods, eh? :-P