Nokogiri-yama (Saw Mountain)

Today, being a Sunday and the first day of my school summer holidays, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of pancakes. After that we went to K’s (electrical store) to spend a 10000 yen gift voucher we got for signing up for our internet during a campaign. We bought a printer for Benno’s work and while we were there we met this water droplet mascot for an airconditioner company that were handing out free stuff like notepads and hats. Bonus!

We heading off to the Kisarazu train station late morning. We caught the Uchibo line south to Hama-kanaya station. It took over an hour because of the strong winds were slowing the train down but finally we made it to the station. We followed the road to the ropeway that goes up to the top of the mountain but ‘zan nen desu ne’ the ropeway was closed due to the strong winds. So we saved our 900 yen each and we walked up. It took about 40 minutes to hike up the hill, through an animal-path (narrow hiking trail) that was slippery underfoot. The stairs were covered in moist moss and mud and it was tough going. We soon were drenched in sweat due the humidity and our exertions climbing all the steps. When we arrived at the top we sat down and ate our bento lunch in the fog.

Continuing on a little way we came to the entrance gate to the sacred Daibutsu grounds. 600 yen entry gave us access to more fog and mist. It was very misty so we could see nothing from the lookout “Ruriko Observatory”. Ruriko is on the edge of the cliff with a steep drop 400m down (a ‘saw edge’ but with all the white fog we couldn’t see the drop.)

We trekked to the hundred-shaku Kannon but it was very hard to see with a thick layer of fog covering most of it. So we moved on, past some statues to the Daibutsu of Nihon-ji (the Giant Buddha of the Temple of Japan). It was impressive- 31.05m tall carved into the rock (twice as tall as the Todaiji buddha in Nara and three times as tall as the Kamakura daibutsu). It took 28 men 3 years of work back in 1783 to complete it. Benno saw frogs and tadpoles in the little moat around the base of the Daibutsu. We couldn’t stand still for too long or our leg muscles started shaking from climbing all the stairs. That’s why a lot of our photos turned out blurry.

Before the Daibutsu was carved the appretice artisans first created 1500 stone images of Arhats. Unfortunately many of the statues were eroded or deliberated destroyed by an anti-Buddhist movement from the Meiji era. Lots were missing their heads. By this time we had been walking for over 2 hours (40 minutes hike to the lookout and then 90 minutes around the mountain) so it was time to return home. Unwilling to go back down the slippery, dark and foggy animal path, we came down the other side of the mountain.

Heading down the southern side of the mountain we passed the Nihon-ji temple and grounds with lovely gardens and lots more stairs. We exited the sacred mountain and walked about 5 km to the Hota train station. It was quite a small station and walking there we felt like the only people around for miles (as it was just sparse farmland). The station had no gates, only a small building and a couple of benches to sit on while waiting for the train. This was another side to Japan – the countryside is a completely different world to the Tokyo-Japan.

It took less time to travel back to Kisarazu so the winds must have died down. We caught the 6.45 local bus back to Apita and then home to rest our poor feet and legs.

We watched the least strange movie that we have seen so far tonight, simply called “Always”.

1,500 Arhat statues

Nokogiri yama (Saw Mountain) covered in fog – view of the south side from the road leading to Hota station.

Nokogiri yama – covered in fog, view from the seaside town, following the road from Hama-kanaya station to the ropeway entrance.

The two hundred shaku kannon (kwan-non) – a little hard to see all the detail because of the mist up high.

Part of the walking trail around the 1500 statues.

One of the rather strange Arhat statues. Interesting expressions (if they had heads) and often large ears and open mouths.

The animal path with moss-covered slippery steps that were muddy and covered in leaf litter.

Another part of the walking path near the 1500 statues had big trees with crazy above ground roots.

The Daibutsu in all its foggy glory.

Lara in K’s electrical store with the water droplet aircon mascot.

Lara resting before moving on to the next lot of stairs.. we sure proved to be worthy pilgrims.

Lara at the lookout. Yep, you can definitely see Mt Fuji over the water…it’s just through that bit of fog there..

Benno with some Arhat statues.

More mossy stairs and Benno.

Benno in front of the Daibitsu. 31 m is quite tall.

Hmm…an interesting statue.

Lara in front of the Daibutsu.

More statues.. there were 1500 remember?

In front of the Daibutsu was a tiny shrine. People bought little stone dolls to place there as part of their prayers and offerings.