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Monday, April 10, 2017, 8:28 PM
2. Mount Tsukuba (筑波山), Ibaraki


Mount Tsukuba was considered as my impromptu plan. I was supposed to hike Mount Io and Mount Aka at Yatsugatake. But due to unpredictable weather and strong wind, I could not proceed to Mount Aka. So I had to come up with a new plan right away.

I discussed with Sota-san about this mountain over dinner after we got back from Mount Io. I was hesitated at first because I didn't have anyone to accompany me. However, later, I was suddenly overflowed with confidence and bravery (that I didn't know where it came from) and decided to go for an easy hike the moment I woke up the next morning despite not having a buddy to go with.

Located in Ibaraki prefecture, near the Tsukuba city, Mount Tsukuba / 筑波山 / Tsukuba-san (877m/2900ft) is a well-known mountain for its’ double peaks, Nyotai-san (877m) and Nantai-san (871m) as well as the ancient shrine that is located at the foot of the mountain.






The shrine at Mount Tsukuba's base is among the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan and the mountain has been worshiped by the Japanese for over 3000 years as it is believed can bring them happiness and prosperity.






In Japanese folk cosmology, Nyotai-san means “Woman’s Body Mountain” while Nantai-san means “Man’s Body Mountain”, both represent Izanami and Izanagi, the nation’s first conjugial pair and creator deities, respectively.

Mount Tsukuba is listed in '100 Famous Mountains in Japan' written by an author and climber Kyuka Fukada. This list is famous among Japanese hikers and can be said as one of the ultimate goals for them to complete.

It took me about one hour and a half to reach Tsukuba from Nakano. Then, from Tsukuba train station, I took a bus ride to Tsukuba Jinja. The mountain trail is located behind the shrine. There are few trails that hikers can try, Miyukigahara trail, Shirakumobashi trail, Mukaeba trail, Otatsu-ishi trail, Shizen-kenkyuro trail, Sancho-renrakuro trail. (english.ibarakiguide.jp/news/climbing-mt-tsukuba.html). You can get the trail map at Information Office near the entrance. They also provide locker service.


                 






I used Miyukigahara trail for ascend and Shirakumonbashi trail for descend. It is better to use different trail for both ascend and descend as you can get to experience different side of the mountain, as told by Sato-san. Hehe.




It took about 1 hour and 30 minutes to reach Nyotai-san using Miyukigahara trail. The trail was not that hard despite the never ending stairs. It was clear and clean, as expected. One won’t simply get lost during hiking. But even so, always aware of surrounding and take precaution. I also met many friendly hikers on the trail and I like how they kept cheering me along the journey.


            




Sadly, the fog was too much that it covered most of the view. So there was no view for me this time too. I had my light lunch to recover my energy and walking around a bit taking photo despite the view. There's also few shops on top of this mountains selling food and souvenirs.
I continued my journey to the second peak, Nantai-san.






There’s another way to go to the mountain top without hiking, Mount Tsukuba also offers cable car service until Nyotai-san peak. And from there you can walk about 15 minutes to the other peak, Nantai-san.




I gotta say that Nantai-san peak looks more or less like Mount Datuk in Malaysia. The peak consists of rock. Most mountains in Japan are volcanic, but Mount Tsukuba is composed of non-volcanic rocks such as granite and gabbro.




There was a small shrine on top of Nantai-san. The hikers took their time to pray here. And there was a  view as well! Thank God, finally! I wandering around, taking photo (as usual), observing other hikers (because I was alone and didn’t know how to initiate conversation because my Japanese was bad haha). When I was busy selfie-ing, came this one uncle offered to help me taking my photo (I bet he saw my struggle coz I didn’t use monopod whatsoever). I gladly accepted his help and I returned the favor by taking photo of him and his family.


            


I spent few minutes enjoying the view before decided to go down. And I’m following Sota-san’s advise, to use another route which is Shirakumobashi trail. It took me about 40-50 minutes to reach the trail head. I was literally running down because the forest looked creepy to me. Haha. And there were also many memorial stones (or whatever it’s called) along the trail which added up to its creepiness level. Haha.










I met a group of trail runners training for their next running event near the trail head. They were funny, friendly and bright (I mean their running apparels). I had small conversation with them and we took picture together before parting our ways. I went straight to the shrine and wandering around a little bit before heading back to the bus station.










While waiting for the bus, I had conversation with this one Japanese man who happened to be a lecturer in one of the local university. He was amazed seeing me hiking the mountain alone as most tourists/hikers prefer to go to Fuji instead of Tsukuba. Somehow I understand that. Fuji is the tallest and the most famous mountain in Japan, of course it becomes tourists' number one's choice. As for me, I don't really mind. As long as it's a mountain, I will climb 'em all! Hehe.

As soon as I reached Tsukuba city, I rushed to the toilet to change my clothes as I couldn't find toilet near the shrine. Coincidentally, the city was having Summer Festival (or known as Matsuri) and there were many booths and stalls selling foods and souvenir. This was my first time attending Japanese festival. I was all excited and amazed. Again, I was being 'jakun'. Haha.


       




There were drum performance, Noh theater, Japanese traditional dance. It was fun watching all those in real life as I always have a thing on traditional stuff. I enjoyed the festival for few more hours and went back to Nakano at night. 


p/s : sorry for the bad photography skill. -__-"

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