Momiji in the Koyo

Told you it wouldn't be long 'til the next post! With the present backlog of photos there'll be a few more to come I'm sure!


After seeing Morgan and Matt off on the Saturday night, I went back to Komaba to get ready for the next day's mission - climbing Mt Takao to see the Autumnal leaves (called Koyo in Japan). In particular we were wanting to see Momiji (Japanese maple) which is the source of some really strong red colours.

Viktor and I joined about a dozen other students and took the train to the base of the Mountain, around 50 minutes West of Tokyo. As Japanese seem very keen to get amongst nature at crucial points of the seasons, the mountain was teeming with people, all looking forward to getting a view of the leaves and colours.

Being a mountain, there's not a whole lot to write about, other than the mountain is 599 metres tall, and has a Buddhist temple to Tengu on it.  Tengu are Japanese gods, often depicted as birds of prey, or as men with large noses. They are often regarded as fierce and aggressive defenders of nature, which in Takao's sense makes sense given they are in an in oasis of greenery (or red and orange in this case) in Tokyo.

Autumnal colours at the base of the mountain

A Buddhist guardian statue at the base of the mountain

A sign used by one of the cable car attendants to indicate where queuing was to begin...or where it all falls apart? 

Awesome reds and yellows were ever present up the mountain

They look small in the picture, but this is a flippin' great big spider!

Buddhist figures standing sentinel up the mountain

This statue led me to believe that the very first Sony headphones were found on Mt Takao in antiquity

A little stream in a gully up the mountain



A table of offerings in a shrine set into a cave

My climbing companion Viktor




Looking to the South West, with Mt Fuji in the background


The crowds at the summit - can you see Wally up there too?



The views to the South of Sagamihara City

A beautifully Autumnal Momiji leaf

A whole tree of Momiji!





Meeting a Tengu!
All in all, it was a good adventure up the summit, I had visited the mountain once before on my Beer Mountain mission with David in mid-October, but being able to see the mountain in daylight, as to actually go there for the purpose of seeing the sights, rather than to eat and drink to excess, was well worth it!

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