Our hilly neighborhood has a lot of named peaks: Futatsuyama, Tomisan, Iyogatake, Hitoboneyama. The peaks are low, but the list is long. Tod has spent years researching them and getting to the top of as many as possible.

One of them, Gankoyama, is within walking distance of home but finding the trailhead has been elusive. Until recently, that is. Now there is a hand-painted sky blue sign at the trailhead on the road. So we went up the hill to mark Tod’s birthday yesterday.

It’s not a long walk but it has interesting bits, including a little roped section.

The view from the end of the ridge is stunning. There is a wide vista of our valley to the north. And off to the west on a cloudless day you should be able to see Mt Fuji. Close behind to the south is Futatsuyama; it’s easy to identify with its information board visible.

But looking down on our valley we spotted a mystery. A structure we didn’t recognise at all: tiers of wide orange walls, stairs leading up to a square building. It looked like an Indian temple or a resort. We spent some time sitting on a comfortable boulder using our phones to study Google Maps’ satellite view to find this odd feature.

Turns out it’s an old temple building near the “ibo-jizo” that’s just past the turn at “Mrs. Shouty’s house” and so we drove down to have a look. We both imagined the heyday of that little space. It would have been a lovely gathering place for festivals. I don’t think it’s used much any more.

Tod stood there a while and tried to look back at the mountains to figure out where we’d been, but Gankoyama is an elusive secret without its blue sighboard.