Always Look on the Bright Side of Life … Bird watching in Suburbia (and Pre-emergency Measures against COVID-19)

Pre-emergency measures again for Kanagawa … OK. Let’s visit a place where wings let the owner of the tool fly away from enclosed atmosphere … I mean, a place good for bird watching. In any case, winter is the best time in Japan to have a quiet conversation with wild birds. Many birds come to our relatively mild climate from far away (like Siberia) or snowing mountains. Deciduous trees have shed their leaves. Their boned boughs and branches stand out. It is easy for us to find birds parching on them. Besides, to enjoy bird watching, we have to go to open-sky space in nature, preferably solo, or maintain our conversation minimum. PERFECT activity for the pre-emergency against COVID-19! … Anyway, today I tell you my adventure of bird watching in suburbia. Yeah, the place we visit today is surrounded by sleepy residential area. Silver lining: the place is SLEEPY and I hope less dangerous to be infected by COVID … Let’s go to Flood-Control Park for Sakai River of Kanagawa Prefecture 神奈川県立境川遊水地公園.

Unfortunately, there is no bird here …

An exemplar attitude for
 Pre-emergency measures in Yokohama

The access to the Park is from Shonandai Station 湘南台駅. It’s a quiet terminal station for Odakyu Enoshima Line 小田急江ノ島線, Sotetsu Izumino Line 相鉄いずみ野線 and Yokohama Subway Blue Line 横浜市営地下鉄ブルーライン. Whichever commuter service you take, please leave the station from East Exit H. Just keep on walking straight. In no time, we get across Shonandai Park 湘南台公園 to enter pure housing area. In front of us are railway viaducts of Sotetsu and Yokohama Subway. From that point, our road goes down to the bank of Sakai River 境川. Simply go to the River and we are now at the northern tip of the Park, which is Imada Flood Control Pond 今田遊水地. It’s about 10 minutes relaxing walk from the Station. Welcome to the Flood Control Park of Sakai River!

Shonandai Station.
Please proceed to the bottom of this photo,
turn right at the end, then,

We’re here. Simply go ahead …

to cross this traffic light.
Over there is Shonanadai Park.

Across the Shonandai Park is standard residential area.
 Please keep on going to

find railway viaducts over there.
Yokohama Subway is coming to Shonandai Station.

Below the viaducts is an entrance to
 Flood-Control Park for Sakai River.

Imada Flood Control Pond 今田遊水地

In our neighborhood, the most famous flood-control park is Shin-Yokohama Park where Nissan Stadium stands (; my post on September 18, 2020.) Civil Engineering wise, the idea is the same for Flood Control Park for Sakai River. Sakai River, 52.1km, runs from the City of Machida 町田市, Tokyo, and pours into Sagami Bay 相模湾 at near Enoshima Island 江の島 (; my post on June 30, 2017.) When it departs from Tokyo, the eastern bank of the river is Yokohama for a while until just before it meets with Route #1. Eastern side of today’s Park is in the City of Yokohama, and the western portion is in the City of Fujisawa 藤沢. Almost entire basin of Sakai River now is very urban, mainly boring bed towns for downtown Tokyo and Yokohama. The process of development was housing first, then flood control … Hmmmmmmm, something was wrong, don’t you think? Sakai River runs down not so steep slope. It was flood prone. To build my-sweet-homes, people dug deep its riverbed and concreted banks of almost entire river. The suburbia around it is covered with paved roads and concreted structures. The idea backfired. Soils along Sakai River became under concrete almost entirely. It cannot absorb rainwater anymore. Water simply runs down to the River, which caused floods easily. It is a serious risk for offices and homes. People rethought the strategy to deal with the problem. The construction of flood-control park was started at the beginning of the 21st century. It works. Already in 2004, the flood-control system with overflow dykes in the Park prevented floods downstream. Good, good. When there is no storm, the Park consists of dotting flood control ponds, sports fields and nice mainly paved strolling path.

Overflow dyke in the Park

Along the dyke, the strolling path is for walkers and bikers.
 Lots of cyclists use this route in Fujisawa.

Flood gate from flood control pond, connecting to Sakai River

The majority of the path in the Park is barrier-free and flat. If you’re with strollers or wheelchairs, you will not have a serious problem to enjoy the park. The Park has ample parking space capable of welcoming more than 200 cars. 😉 The map of the Park is here. Basically we can start walking from whichever point we like. Having said that, I recommend visiting Information Center near the baseball field. If you understand Japanese, they have good panel exhibitions explaining the history and environment of the Park. Even if you’re challenged in Japanese, they have interesting display for fossils found during the construction works. These discoveries tell the place was the bottom of sea some 130 thousand years ago. Next to such presentations, there are aquariums showing the present dwellers of Sakai River and the ponds of the Park, including endangered Japanese ricefish. Oh, if you plan to use sports fields (with coin-operated showers) here, such as baseball ground, football field, athletics tracks, or tennis court, this is the office for making reservation. They also rent wheelchairs. For the detail, please check their HP here. Plus, this site tells us the existence of lunch delivery service to the Park from nearby cafes. 😊

Information Centre

Beautiful fossils …

Paths in the park are like this in general.

Baseball Field

In the middle of the park,
there is this elegant Saguimai Bridge 鷺舞橋,
which means “A bridge where herons dance.”

And at the foot of the bridge are toilets and showers.
Could you see the blue indicator on the wall?
It says in 2016 the flood water came this high by a typhoon.

It’s a relaxing waterfront not only for humans, but also for wildlife. Inside the Park Sakai River runs through and 3 flood control ponds-cum-biotopes exist along the River. Although I told you Sakai River basin is almost entirely concreted, the area around the Park preserves thin strips of agricultural land and petit forests … a sort of mass of trees beyond which from the other side we can recognize rows of housing roofs. For small wildlife, it is enough to thrive. The place is famous for its families of herons. Majorities of them stays here all year long. Migratory birds also make the Park their seasonal home. Young barn swallows have their “summer school” in the Park before they leave to Southeast Asia. In winter, many ducks come from Siberia to mate and nurse chicks. Information Center has monthly bird-watching program … Though due to Covid, it is suspended now. Let’s keep crossing our fingers for 2022 … for information of educational programs in the Park, please check here. The Center also leases binoculars for birdwatching, free of charge. Please bring your photo-ID to use the service.

Eurasian Teal

Lots of Great cormorant …

Eurasian coots are busy on shore for lunch.
It is said that their numbers are growing
these couple of years in our neighborhood.

A beautiful Grey heron

I don’t know why this Little egret kept up
 its left leg for a while and did not move at all …

I think it is Long-toed stint.

I was a sort of amazed to know these biotopes were man-made. In information Center, we can see photos of the area before the park development. It took less than 20 years to receive these wild bird families. Wow. Actually, not only professional landscapers, but volunteers, including college kids from nearby campuses, regularly work to maintain the biotopes in the Park. In the end these ponds are part of the flood controlling system. We need to make them alive in order to maintain safe suburbia … Something very typical nature-human relationship in our neighborhood of Yokohama, I think.

I could not identify the guy on the right corner …
Heeeeelp!

If you find environmental issues in Flood-Control Park for Sakai River of Kanagawa Prefecture 神奈川県立境川遊水地公園, please make a contact with

Information Center, Flood-Control Park for Sakai River of Kanagawa Prefecture
神奈川県立境川遊水地公園情報センター
5-5 Shimoiida-cho, Izumi Ward, Yokohama, 245-0017
〒245-0017　横浜市泉区下飯田町5-5
Phone: 045-805-0223
FAX: 045-805-3917

http://kanagawa-park.or.jp/sakaigawa/index.html

Niiharu Citizen Forest in snow

 

With La Niña, Japan always has lots of snow. In the afternoon of 6th of January, Yokohama had snowstorm. Yeah, it was not much compared with the other places like in Niigata 新潟 or Hokkaido 北海道. But for us, it was a lot. We had a cold night on that day. The temperature dipped below zero. Next morning, I’ve been to Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森. Sure enough, the roads were frozen. Several car crashes I’ve witnessed. Many open spaces were in white. But …

Frankly, it was beautiful …

Ikebuchi Open Space

Of course, where the sun came in, the ice and snow started to melt. That’s that. But, I noticed. To begin with, the dark forest floors did not have snow. Tree canopies caught the snow far above. Before the snow came down, they were melted. Yeah. There’s no wonder for that … I simply wonder how then forests keep accounting rain or snow for survival … Especially how do those neglected afforested areas, where the floor is too dark, trees were tall but lanky, and sometimes receives illegal damping, manage water intake …? It would be natural for such places to collapse by a uber-violent storm and create massive land slide …

We really need to take care of our forest particularly now with rapidly changing climate. I just remind myself in that morning.

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau
横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016
FAX: 045-316-8420

Niiharu Administrative Office / Satoyama Exchange Center
新治管理事務所・里山交流センター
Phone: 045-931-4947
Fax: 045-937-0898
Email: info@niiharu.jp
http://www.niiharu.jp/

More Brownies, or Sympathy for the Devil: Hiking for Mt. Takamatsuyama, Part 2

So far, our hiking is not much of climbing up but strolling. If Takamatsu 高松 community has public transportation services, the route from Matsuda Stations up to here via Saimyoji Temple 最明寺 would be suitable for first-timer kids in a long-day walk … Er, Takamatsu community is really a sleepy mountainous village which had only a satellite campus for Kawamura Elementary 川村小学校 of Yamakita Town 山北町. Kawamura Elementary is the only Elementary School in Yamakita Town, and Takamatsu Satellite Campus was the last satellite campus for any elementary and junior-high schools in Kanagawa Prefecture. In 2010, after the number of kids reduced to two 9 years’ old, the campus was closed. The rest is a typical history of aging Japanese rural community … No public transportation comes here now. In any case, from here our way to the peak of Mt. Takamatsu 高松山 becomes a standard hiking to the top. I mean, it’s a bit demanding.

Takamatsu community

When we come down to Takamatsu community, a paved commuter road appears. In 20m or so we find ourselves at a Y crossing. Please take the right road that is relatively run straight from the direction we have come. The route almost immediately has another Y crossing whose left road is a paved way wide enough for cars, and another on the right is paved but a bit narrower for city cars. Take the right road. It goes straight to Hisari Pass 尺里峠. You can take wider road for sure, but it’s a roundabout commuter road that joins to the narrower right road in the end. The right road has more rudimentary surface with asphalt. It goes up first slowly and eventually gaining gradient. On our left when the slope is free of afforested conifers, we enjoy the magnificent figure of entire Mt. Fuji. From around here to the top of Mt. Takamatsu, when the west facing slope is clear, we’ll be greeted by elegant scenery of Mt. Fuji almost continuously. Brownie Point #6 for today. 😊 After less than 40 minutes of walk from Takamatsu Community, we reach to a fully paved Forestry Road from Yadoriki Community 寄 of Matsuda Town 松田町. Now we’re in Hisari Pass, which has a small space for car parking, maybe for 2 or 3 cars. From here there’s no pavement to the west or north.

The right road is like this.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm …

Hisari Pass has another name, i.e. Dairoku-Ten 第六天. It has a small shrine. In Japan, shrines for Dai-roku-ten (in Sanscrit, Para-nirmita-vaśa-vartin) can be found only in the areas for present-day Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Luis Frois, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary who was active in Japan during the late 16th century wrote Oda Nobunaga 織田信長, a ferocious feudal lord of medieval Japan, called himself the incarnation of Dairoku-Ten. In Buddhism, Para-nirmita-vaśa-vartin is at the highest echelon of greed-filled this world. The deity does not need any carnal exchange to have sexual ecstasy or even babies. The common Japanese moniker of this supernatural figure is Maou 魔王, i.e. Asian Lucifer … Nobunaga was killed when he almost completed his project for ending civil war age. His subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 cleverly inherited the achievement of his late boss and ended the civil war. After he reached to the top in Japanese politics, he ordered to destroy all the Dairoku-ten shrines in his domain. Maybe, his rival, Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康, who moved to Edo, aka Tokyo, from Nagoya when Hideyoshi made his way, deliberately spared these shrines in his territory from annihilation … From the forestry road, there are small but steep steps that bring us to the petit shrine for the “Satan.” It’s the short cut to the top of Mt. Takamatsu. Let’s go up to say hello to the Devil.

We’re at Hisari Pass.
Could you see two small structures here?
They are toilets, but I don’t recommend to use it …
The wide unpaved road beyond toilets will join
in the end the ridge way to Mt. Takamatsu.

Please go up these steps, then …

Stones, any one?

Up to Hisari Pass, the road we’ve taken is Mushizawa Kodoh 虫沢古道. From Hisari Pass to the peak of Mt. Takamatsu, the route is called Takamatsu Kodoh 高松古道. The condition of this road is standard trekking route for Japanese mountains. It is a well-maintained ridge way with enough signposts and wonderful views. We relish entire Hakone Mountains 箱根全山 and Mt. Fuji to the west. Not only that, to the east we start to admire mountains of Omote Tanzawa, such as Mt. Nabewari 鍋割山 (ASL1272.4m), Mt. Toh 塔ノ岳 (ASL1490.9m), and Mt. Oyama 大山 (ASL 1252m). Brownie Point #7 for today. 😊 Along the way, there are several colonies of oriental paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) and Lindera praecox. So, in early spring we can enjoy fragrant aroma from flowers of these plants. Colonies of Perilla citriodora are also here and there. Please try to collect leaves of them from late spring in fresh green to early winter when they are completely dry and desiccated. It has citrate fragrance that can remain on you finger … Nice. Brownie Point #8. Oh, Perilla citriodora is not edible and could cause diarrhea if you swallow them. Even omnivorous deer don’t gnaw it. Please do not lick your finger after enjoying their smell! Hmmm, come to think of it, the plant is very Dairoku-ten like …

Hello!

Lindera praecox

Perilla citriodora

Tanzawa mountains come into our view …

The road becomes steeper, but well-maintained.

The last 200m or so before the top of Mt. Takamatsu is a steep steps going up. Then, we reach to the peak of Mt. Takamatsu, ASL 801.2m. It is a very wide-open meadow. The western view of Mt. Fuji and Hakone mountains from here is stunning. To the south, we admire Sagami Bay 相模湾, Ohshima Island 大島, skyscrapers of Tokyo and Yokohama, and Pacific Ocean. To the east is Omote Tanzawa mountains. Perfect spot for lunch, especially when it does not have much wind. Brownie Point #9. After lunch, we return to Hisari Pass and take paved forestry road of Mushizawa Kodoh to the east.

Almost there …

The peak of Mt. Takamatsu.

We can see Odawara City 小田原.

The Mushizawa Kodoh to this direction ends in Yadoriki Community. We bid farewell to the views of Hakone and Mt. Fuji, but continuously admire the Tanzawa Mountains now. Brownie Point #10. Not many cars come to this dead-ended forestry road. For the last leg of a full-day hiking, it’s a relaxing one-way down. In less than an hour from Hisari Pass, we enter Yadoriki Community. Mushizawa Kodoh ends at the crossing with a community road wide enough for two-way traffic system. There runs a river along this route, which is Mushizawa River 虫沢, the godparent of Mushizawa Kodoh. Keep on descending along Mishzawa River that joins with Nakatsu River 中津川 coming from Yadoriki Water Source Forest やどりき水源林. Please cross Nakatsu River at Tashiro Bridge 田代橋 and Prefectural road #710. Here is the bus stop of Tashiro Mukai 田代向. Fujikyu-Shonan Bus 富士急湘南バス has roughly one to two services per hour from here to Odakyu Shin-Matsuda Station 小田急新松田駅 (; the timetable is here). From the end of Mushizawa Kodoh to the bus stop, it’s about 30 minutes’ walk. At the foot of Tashiro Bridge on the west bank of Nakatsu River, there is a well-equipped public toilet. From Tashiro Mukai to the Station, it’s about 30 minutes’ ride. If you need the occasion, please don’t miss the chance!

Tanzawa mountains

This part of Mushizawa Kodoh is well-paved.

To the bus stop, please go to the right direction.

Mushizawa River.
Along this river, there is a training house for circus artists.

On the bank of Nakatsu River.

Please cross that red bridge over there and go straight.
You’ll find the bus stop.

The structure of pointed roof is a toilet.

From tomorrow (January 15) to February 6th, Yadoriki Community plans to have the 10th Wintersweet Festival. From 29th to February 20th, Nishi-Hirahata Park 西平畑公園 would have Cherry Blossom Festival … With this Omicron variant, the situation is very fluid … Please check these sites if you’ re planning to go there. If we’re lucky, we can enjoy the marvelous flowers finally for 2022 …

At least in December, the route was tranquil …

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/