In a couple of weeks, I will be helping with a hike event for Oyama Senmaida. Today, Ushimura-san walked the route with me, Kawasaki-san, and mizuta-san, the unofficial Oayma Senmaida photographer. This was a hike I’d never been on before and oh my goodness, it was amazing.
The full hike event is 7.5 km, but in the interest of time, we drove the first part and parked at the community center. Then we were on foot along the roads behind people’s houses and into the woods and up the mountain to an amazing lookout at a 284 meter peak called Dainichi.
The view is spectacular. Not only is there an almost aerial view of Oyama Senmaida and all of the area around here, but Mt Fuji is on the horizon, too. (Look carefully, it’s there!)
After gawking and snapping photos and enjoying the very brisk breeze, we continued along the ridge, encountering some plants of interest. Ushimura-san was happy to find wild ginger called Kanaoi, with its flowers buried under ground cover. Jack-in-the-pulpit (actually, a Japanese cousin, Arisaema serratum) are already coming up and blooming. In Japanese they are called Mamushi-gusa and they bloom when the pit vipers are breeding. Except that’s usually later in the spring…
A little ways more and we reached the end of our route. Actually, the trail goes on quite a bit further, but the descent at this point is dangerously steep. That’s okay, because it’s here that you can glimpse another panorama – this time of Kamogawa city and the Pacific Ocean.
You cannot fault this walk for its views.
After turning around and coming down the mountain, we took a little spur to check out some serpentine stone (Jamon-ishi) outcroppings and discussed the best place to gather everyone for lunch. As we returned to the clubhouse from the bottom of the tanada, I admired the repairs made to the holes that were too big for us to fill by hand earlier this month.
While we had a cup of tea to warm up, Ishida-san, president of the NPO, decided that I must become a teacher for Oyama Senmaida and the best thing – or perhaps the funniest and most incongruous thing – for me to teach would be “matsuri sushi.” I gather that none of them actually want to be doing this one this themselves, as they all were busy with dentist appointments and other pressing matters when a teacher was needed. So stay tuned as I learn how to make fancy rolled sushi.
