Rome Wasn’t Built in One Day: Shonan Village for Mt. Ogusu Hiking Course 大楠山

 

There are several forests in Kanagawa Prefecture where it is famous for their cherry blossoms. In previous few years, I told you my adventure with cherries in forests of western Tanzawa 丹沢, near Yadoriki Water Source Forest やどりき水源林. This year, I change my destination to the south, that is Miura Peninsula 三浦半島. Compared with Tanzawa, or even Yokohama, the area is warmer with sea breeze from Tokyo and Sagai Bays all year round. Inevitably, cherry trees there are for such climate. Planted Cerasus lannesiana ʽKawazu-zakura’ and Somei-Yoshino trees aside, the majority of cherry trees in natural forest there are Prunus speciosa and Cerasus jamasakura. Actually, it is said that Prunu speciosa there were also transplants by humans from Izu Peninsula 伊豆半島 and Ohshima Island 大島 which is visible on fine days from Miura Peninsula. Miura Peninsula appears in ancient documents from around the 12th century as a party place of cherry blossoms for Japanese politicians. Geologically, the peninsula ends with Kamakura 鎌倉 where the first samurai Shogun, Kamakura Shogunate 鎌倉幕府, yielded power for national politics during 12th – 14th centuries. I guess since that time people planted a lot of seedlings from Ohshima Island in their forests. 700 years later, their offsprings adorned the peninsula. Not bad, don’t you think? (More to this in my later post of this series.)

Buds almost reaching to opening …

Our itinerary is to Mt. Ogusu 大楠山, the highest peak of the Peninsula at ASL 241.1m. The peak has several approaches. Today, I will tell you the easiest way to the top. And the descending routes to the eastern shore of Sagami Bay have a VERY high concentration of cherry trees, many probably planted hundreds of years ago. If you plan to have leisurely hike for admiring cherry blossoms, they are the best choices. Oh, I have to tell you this. The majority of cherry blossoms on the slopes of Mt. Ogusu are not Somei-Yoshino, but wilder variety. Somei-Yoshino was created during the early 19th century in Edo (aka Tokyo) whose parents are Prunus speciosa (dad) and Cerasus itosakura var. itosakura f. ascendens (mom). There would be natural hybridizations in the area, but it would be more relaxing thinking the cherry trees there are mainly Prunus speciosa and Cerasus jamasakura. How to distinguish them? Well, Somei-Yoshino and Mom tree open their flowers before leaves come out. Whereas Dad tree and Jamazakura open flowers and leaves from the buds at once. Many cherry trees above our head in Mt. Ogusu have both leaves and flowers when it’s in flowering season. You see?

Cherry blossoms with young leaves together in Mt. Ogusu.
Could you figure it out the petals are white
and young leaves have pointed tips?
These are the sign the tree is Prunus speciosa.

The starting point of today’s hike is the bus stop Shonan Kokusai-mura Center Mae (the Front for Shonan Village Centre 湘南国際村センター前). The public transportation to the Center is from JR Zushi Station 逗子駅 or Keikyu Zushi-Hayama Station 逗子葉山駅 by Keikyu Bus Zu-16 逗-16 service; the bus starts from JR Zushi, then stops at Keikyu Zushi-Hayama (; the time table is from here for JR, and here for Keikyu). Oh, I have to add this. It’s better to go to toilet at the stations. The reason follows below. Please keep on reading. It’s about 25 minutes’ bus ride, and please get off the bus at the terminal stop, Shonan Kokusai-mura Center Mae. You’ll find yourself in the middle of some campus. No wonder. Once upon a time, Mitsui Fudosan, a developer, bought the land here planning to build a golf course. In the middle of the development, around 1983, they figured out it was a bad plan for their bottom line, and sold the entire area to the Prefectural Office. Kanagawa Prefecture re-planned the idea, and re-sold sections to Mitsui Fudosan for housing development and to several corporations, including National University Corporation. Now the area has houses, research and training centers for large companies in Tokyo, the National Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), etc. No shopping center. To enter the premises there for, say, toilet, you have to carry your IC-tipped ID. So, my advice for toilet.

JR Zushi Station

Please take Zu-16 service from
Bus Stop #1 in front of Zushi Station.

The bus stop Shonan Kokusai-mura Center Mae
(the Front for Shonan Village Centre 湘南国際村センター前).

Near the terminal stop there is this map for Shonan Village.

The hike for Mt. Ogusu starts like this. Adelante, por favor.

The entrance to IGES we pass by.

Anyway, you arrive at the terminal stop and start walking to the direction of the east. Don’t worry. The road is impeccably wide and paved and the sidewalk is beautiful. Most of all, it’s one way. We slowly go up. In less than 10 minutes, we reach a large roundabout. Over there on our right is an ample parking space. We take a wide paved road sans sidewalk to the left. It slowly goes down and winding. Soon you’ll notice the both sides of the road are something of under-nurturing, with notices like “Planted area” or “Keep-out; Under vegetation-restoration.” The area is called Megurino Forest for Shonan Village 湘南国際村めぐりの森. When the Prefecture re-planned the development with Mitsui Fudosan, the developer donated the area to the Prefecture and the Office decided to make the place for nature conservatory. I surmise when they completed the negotiation, this portion of the land was a half-completed golf course, the original vegetation was stripped off. Many spaces are now hayfield with sedges as pioneer plant. Several places are cleared and reforested with seedlings of broad-leaved trees found commonly, say, on the slopes of Mt. Ogusu. Probably, for the area to be like Mt. Ogusu, it would take 700 years or so. But, anyway, it’s a start. Better than nothing, right?

The roundabout and the parking space over there.

We go this way.
There is a signpost showing the direction to Mt. Ogusu.

It’s a good road, for sure.

Both sides are mainly like this.

But occasionally such notices are standing.
It says beyond the point of notice board is
 for permit holders only
as the area is for vegetation restoration.

The trees at this point were planted in 2019.

Beyond the bush,
we can see the beach and Pacific Ocean over there.

The good thing about this route is, it’s a care-free stroll on the perfectly paved road with very little car traffic. The road ends at the beginning of the hiking road to Mt. Ogusu, and before reaching to that point, there is nothing, really nothing, except nurtured vegetations on both sides. + No parking space at the end. No casual driver has incentive to drive here. So, as hikers, we relax and proceed on a one-way road. Eventually, we can start recognizing a strange looking white tower in our direction. It’s a very important meteorological facility for us living in megalopolis Tokyo. I’ll tell you more about this next week. To the left of the tower, we can recognize a slightly higher ridge of the mountain. It’s the peak of Mt. Ogusu, the place we go today. Our way is still smoothly paved and winding. Soon, there is a clubhouse for a golf course, Hayama International Country Club 葉山国際カンツリー俱楽部, beyond the fence on our left, and soon, we can find the end of the road over there. From the bus stop to the end of the road it is less than 30 minutes. We can finally start hiking!

There are directions to Mt. Ogusu along the way.

Could you see white something on the ridge over there?
 We’ll go there soon.

The clubhouse over there.

We are reaching the end of the paved road.

Let’s hike!

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/