Far from Madding Crowd: Sengokubara Nature Trail 仙石原自然探勝道

 

Walking past the memorial for Kobokusha, the strolling path becomes wider. We’re going through Dai-Hakone Country Club where sometimes PGA tournaments are held. Over the course on our left, there is a peculiar rock exposed on the slope of Mt. Marudake (丸岳 ASL 1156m). It has name, Daruma Rock. Long long before beyond human memory, it was supposed to be on the outer rim of Hakone Crater. Time made the rim fragile and slope failure occurred. That rock tumbled down from the ridge and situated itself there. On our right from the path is still smoke-billowing Owakudani. Hakone is actually an active volcano. We walk over a small bridge on a stream. In no time there comes a sign on our right saying “Sengokubara Shizen Tansho-do (Sengokubara Nature Trail 仙石原自然探勝道), This way.” Please depart from the cycling road and dive in it.

Daruma Rock beyond the golf course

A robot golf cart can come out.

A small stream down from our left

Adelante, por favor.

On our right it appears the signpost.

First 20m or so of this way is along the country club. Utility entrance for the golf course runs along the trail, but on our left, there is an ancient stone paved way which is typical of Hakone (; my posts for February 5 to March 5, 2021). This time, the terrain is FLAT! If you try this ancient civil engineering with your toddler, this section could be an ideal beginner’s entrance. I just wonder why such elaboration must have been done for mountain road 400 years ago … Probably, the route was a part of highway coming from Gotemba City 御殿場 on the slope of Mt. Fuji, via Nagao Pass 長尾峠 (ASL 911m), and reaching to Sengokubara Town. The community of Sengokubara still holds such traditional connections with Gotemba. I’ll tell you about it by the end of this month. 😉

Ancient and new roads

The flat paved way

This route is, for the first time for today’s itinerary, really a narrow trekking road in a forest. Yet, there are not many ups and downs. The paved ancient road eventually goes through a high wall of sasa-bamboos. They are Hakone-dake, Pleioblastus chino f. vaginatus, a very close relative for Azuma-nezasa, Pleioblastus chino (Franch. et Savat.) Makino var. viridis (Makino) Sad.Suzuki. Azuma-nezasa is ubiquitous in east Japan. Hakone-dake is found mainly in Hakone. Some say the plant is Hakone endemic, but genetic analysis seems to me does not endorse this claim. Still, the overall look of Hakone-dake is definitely slimer. The leaves of Hakone-dake are slenderer than their relatives in Yokohama. Once Botanist Mr. Teruo Katsuyama told me about any plants with name “Hakone” is slimmer or smaller than their relative in the world below. His guess was, due to colder climate in Hakone despite its latitude plants evolutionary adjusted their characteristics to their environment. For a kind of evidence of his conjecture, Hakone-dake can be found only in the forest where human afforestation took minimum even in Hakone. They have been there for centuries.

A small stream flows
in the field of Hakone-dake.

An ancient road goes through
an old field of Hakone-dake.

We soon find ourselves on a way running along Hayakawa River. Hello again! By this point, the River has enough water that would be difficult to be dried up. Basically, Hakone is a place where it rains a lot. Although the size of the river is not large enough to sustain population of Odawara, Hayakawa River keeps on going as river. We go ahead and cross Hayakawa River. After departing the field of Hakone-dake, I noticed there are lots of deciduous trees, like Maples and Bridal wreath, that will turn colors when autumn comes. During early summer with fresh verdure, it is an attractive enough strolling path. And the course will be impressive in fall. After crossing Hayakawa River, the route has a bit of going up with stone pavement. Then it becomes a comfortable stroll in beautiful forest. The exit of this trail is called Tsutsuji (Azalea) Street where in May many homes compete for flowering shrubs in their garden. After the housing area we find ourselves the road Shitsugen (Wetland) Street running in front of Hakone Botanical Garden of Wetlands (; my post for May 5, 2023). From the start of Kojiri Watergate, it is a leisurely walk of less than 3 hours. If you do not intend to go mountaineering, or want to avoid crowds of tourists in Hakone, this is a relaxing itinerary, especially with kids. Please try.

Hayakawa River again

We cross the bridge.

Beautiful early summer stroll

Ancient trekking path

The exit for the trail

Azalea Street in May 2026

Hakone Town Hall 箱根町役場

256 Yumoto, Hakonemachi, Ashigarashimo-gun,
Kanagawa 250-0398
〒250-0398 神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町湯本256

Phone: 0460-85-7111
https://www.hakone.or.jp/

Got Milk? Peaceful Stroll in Hakone Sengokubara 箱根仙石原

Having visited a forest trying to escape from tsunami of tourists, today I will tell you about my adventure with a forest with 180°different approaches for the issue. It’s in Hakone. Yep. The town is fed by tourism. The way of thinking for the matter should be different from that of the suburbs of Tokyo. Still, probably due to a certain level of remoteness, the forest we will visit today does not have an atmosphere of crowdedness. In the first place these days, that should be a reason to take our time for going there. In addition, if we hike Hakone in honest, the place requires us serious mountaineering with proper gears, well-thought of itinerary, enough trail mix, water, etc … For today’s course, we stroll well-managed roads. Half of the course is paved for cyclists. Families of preschool kids could enjoy a day without serious concern for safety. (Of course, high-heeled shoes are NO-NO.) It’s Hakone Sengokubara Cycling Course. Let’s go there now!

The entry point for the course is Hakone Pirate Ship Togendai Port. Looking Lake Ashi on our left, there is a strolling path from the Port which goes through Ashinoko Camp Mura Lakeside Villa. Please dive in the path and reach to the end of the Villa, which is Kojiri Watergate 湖尻水門 (; my post for June 23, 2023). The road on our right is for Ashinoko Skyline whose toll gate is over there to the west. Please cross the road to the opposite side. This side is Hakone Kohan Golf Course, and from there one so-so wide paved road goes north. This is Sengokubara Cycling Course. As its main customer is bikers, there are occasional passing of cyclists on the course. Local utility cars also come in. But these are not frequent occurring and we can walk a well-maintained road with ease.

The path in the Villa. It’s a comfortable route.

Kojiri Watergate

Crossing Ashinoko Skyline,
the road ahead of us is today’s itinerary.
Carts for the golf course are coming out
 from the club house.

The route soon becomes a leisurely way.

On our right is Hayakawa River. At the Watergate, the flow was almost none, but now on our right, just 5 minutes or so walk, there is a reasonably smooth stream. Moreover, the water level of the river goes up as we walk to the north. The river collects water from the mountains north of Lake Ashi, of course. It’s interesting. The lake and river beds are one, and even if humans build a concrete gate, waters are coming whateva. Hmmmmmm. Around the point where we depart from the Kohan Golf Course, we say a small goodbye to Hayakawa River (we’ll meet again within one hour). On our left are now forests of afforested cedars, and on our right is a mixture of deciduous trees and cedars. Beyond the deciduous trees are Hakone Country Club, one of the best golf courses in Japan. When we meet a wide expanse of the golf courses on right, we can also observe volcanic steams of Owakudani beyond the country club ... This peaceful course provides you the representative views of Hakone, such as Lake Ashi and Owakudani. 😊 Please take a deep breath and enjoy the smell of forest.

Hayakawa River on our right.

After departing from the river side …

On our left is afforested cedar forest
which is the water source for Hakone Town.
In general, afforested areas in Hakone are
 well-taken care of, I think.

Hakone Country Club and Owakudani over there.

About 3K from the end of the Kohan Golf Course, on our left there is a monument commemorating Hakone Kobokusha 耕牧舎. The Kobokusha is the first Japanese ranch established in 1880 by Shibusawa Eiichi and his business partners in Tokyo. Shibusawa who? You may say. Please check Japanese 10000 yen bill. He’s there. Some say he is the father of modern Japanese economy. During his lifetime, he started more than 500 business, such as Mizuho Bank et al., Kobokusha is one of them. When Tokugawa Shogunate governed Hakone for the defense of Edo = Tokyo, the area we are walking today was for nurturing war horses for Shogun. When Shogunate was gone, Kanagawa Prefecture bought the land, then Shibusawa obtained the place from the prefecture. By that time, Hakone became popular among expats living in Yokohama to have summer society. Shibusawa thought there was a business chance for milk, western style. Shibusawa and his pal invested funds to develop ranch there and introduced milk cows.

Here, there was a ranch.

The manager of the ranch was Sunaga Denzo 須永伝蔵 who dedicated his life for the project. The soil of the area is volcanic, and had/has water problem of Hayakawa River. The project faced numerous technical difficulties and legal matter for the water. Sunaga and ranch lost the water lawsuit against the farmers in Shizuoka, became the important precedent about the Lake Ashi issue between Shizuoka and Kanagawa. Moreover, the market for the milk in Hakone was not big, and in the 19th century there was no adequate refrigeration technology to transport milk outside Hakone. The ranch focused on nurturing milk cows for exporting to the later coming ranches in Japan, but after Sunaga died of an illness the business was closed. Shibusawa thanked Sunaga a lot, and built commemorative stones for him at Sunaga’s birth place in Gun’ma 群馬 and here in Hakone.

The road running in front of the memorial stone

Now the former ranch is a forest and Hakone Country Club. The point where the stone exists has a peaceful picnic bench within the forest. In Japan these days, demand for milk is in flux and ranches all over Japan is searching for the next stage for their business, such as producing gourmet cheese. But the beginning was not so easy. Probably it is as always for such matter. We keep walking from the stone, thinking the history of the place AND want to have soft serve! We’ll meet Hayakawa River before reaching our ice creams. Please stay tuned. 😉

We walk through a part of Hakone Country Club.
It is understandable
once there was ranch for milk cows.

Hakone Town Hall 箱根町役場

256 Yumoto, Hakonemachi, Ashigarashimo-gun,
Kanagawa 250-0398
〒250-0398 神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町湯本256

Phone: 0460-85-7111
https://www.hakone.or.jp/

Quiet Life with WILL: Rokkokuken’zan Forest Park of Kamakura 六国見山森林公園

 

These days, City of Kamakura is inundated with tourists, domestic and international. When I first told you about my adventure in Miura Alps existing from somewhere in Kamakura (my post for April 29, 2016), the end of our mini-through hiking was calm and sleepy towns. No more. JR Kamakura Station is always crowded with visitors. Downtown Kamakura has now lots of fashionable cafes catering to the tourists. My favorite Japanese sweet shop was taken over by a café. Sad. My feeling for losing a confectionary store would be shared with long-time Kamakura residents. In 2026, once a slow and old suburb of Tokyo is full of vivacious tourists. Maybe it’s a good thing for new local business. Though, if you prefer quiet life near centuries old religious establishments …

A sweet shop has gone.
Though, new shops of my interest also sprout.
 This one in Kamakura is for mini-bonsai.
All bonsai there looked so attractive …

When now-homeowners in Kamakura bought their property decades ago, housing areas of Kamakura were just an ordinary residential section that happened to be near sea or old temples. In 2026, the entire city may be becoming a derivative of Disney Land. But. This being Kamakura where the first-ever Japanese National Trust was established for conservations of greeneries, people of the City is quietly resisting to a part of theme park. How? They care for their neighborhood forests that may be near the old tourists’ attraction. It seems to me, they intentionally omit providing parking spaces and toilets for their forests. Today I visit one of such secret camps for guerrillas of anti-overtourism. Well, posting my adventure in their forest could undermine their effort to protect the place … My excuse: it’s really “not easy” to visit there, and their forest is attractive. Anyway, one volunteer I know for the forest said “Heck, I don’t care!” about reporting their forest in this blog. OK. Let’s go to Rokkokuken’zan Forest Park 六国見山森林公園. Here is the web-page introducing the Forest, but do not expect the detail of it, as we can find for HP of Niiharu Citizen Forest. I know it’s intentional!

A sign installed at the observation point of
Rokkokuken’zan Park.

The only transportation to near the Forest is commuter bus service N7 by Enoden from the East Exit of JR Ofuna Station. Its final stop is our destination, Takanodai 高野台(; the time table is here). Please get off the bus at this final stop standing next to Ofuna High School, one of the best public high schools in Kanagawa. When you get off the bus, you are now in a well-designed residential area. There is no sign for “Rokkokuken’zan Park. This Way.” However, when there is a will, there is a way. The terminal stop is a roundabout. You get off the bus and walk Clockwise for the circle. In no time, we’ll see small steps go up on our left. The steps will take us to a residential road deadened just at the beginning of the steps for the bus stop. The only destination we are allowed is to the right. Along the way on our left is a hill on whose slope detached houses are built. Along the ridge of the hill behind the houses there spread a forest. It is Rokkokuken’zan Forest Park. Strolling 5-6 minute from the bus stop, we encounter steep steps going into the forest. Welcome!

Takanodai Bus Stop

Please take these steps.

Just walk the road along the hill.

Here. Welcome to the Forest Park!

Rokkokuken’zan itself is a small “mountain” whose peak, ASL 147m, is at the southeast of the Park. You can visit the park, walk to the peak, and go down to the valley of Meigetsuin Temple 明月院. Though the peak of Rokkokuken’zan does not have a view as we can enjoy the observation point in the Park. From this point, weather permitting of course, we can enjoy the vista of Kanto Plane, Sagami and Tokyo Bays, and Mt. Fuji. The vegetation of the forest is typical for Miura Alps. It has a mixture of evergreen broad-leaved trees, such as Machilus thunbergii, and deciduous trees such as maples and cherries. The mix of them provides just the right amount of sunlight reaching the forest floor. Thanks to the sunshine, the foot of trees has enough variety of grasses, such as sasa bamboos, chameleon plants, Asiatic dayflower, etc. The trekking road within the Park is well taken care of. I had an impression the locals have looked after the place fairly well. There is a local volunteer group, North-Kamakura Spring-water Network 北鎌倉湧水ネットワーク, tend to the vegetations of the forest. Weekly, they mow the grass along the strolling path, thin the crowded trees and branches, and plant cherries, maples, and mountain hydrangea, aka tea of heaven.

From the observation point.
We can see Oshima Island.

After going up the steps, the road is like this to

Ofuna Takano Water Distribution Reservoir
for the City of Kamakura.

After the reservoir,
the route becomes standard trekking road.

Fairly well-managed

I think this route will have beautiful autumn scenery.

Volunteers are at work.

Tea of heaven, or Hydrangea serrata var. serrata is native of Japan. Kamakura has lots of temples where they are proud of their beautiful hydrangea, such as Meigetsuin 明月院. With this atmosphere of the city, they have a Hydrangea Lovers’s Club which is famous nation-wide. They walk mountainous areas of Japan to find a new variety of Hydrangea serrata, collect cuttings, and propagate them with cutting. The volunteers of Rokkokuken’zan Forest collaborated with the Club and planted 500 cuttings of Hydrangea serrata, especially around their symbol tree, an old Cerasus jamasakura. Hydrangeas are still young. But volunteers for the Forest hope in decades the place is beautiful with cherries blossoms in spring, hydrangeas in early summer, and autumn leaves of maples et al.

A baby

It is amazing all the hydrangeas below
were originally found wild somewhere in Japan,
 then propagated from the cutting in Kamakura.

“We scraped lots of grants from many sources to procure the seedlings. It’s a fortune, I tell you. But the Forest will give us beautiful colors from the windows of our home and JR trains in future.” One of the volunteers told me. He continued, “I don’t think I can survive to see such scenery of 30 years later. But don’t you think it is full of dreams imagining our work now could present such result after our life?” Kamakura is an old city 1000 years ago Samurai worriers established. Rome was not built in a day. And so are the flowering forests in Kamakura. Maybe it is inevitable for the city to attract such a crowd of tourists. We could feel safe from touching the evidence of LOOOOONG and continuous endeavor from our ancestors. They are steady and do not care much for the fashion of the day. Especially in this day and age it could be a precious attitude.

Kamakura City Parks Association

1667 Yamazaki, Kamakura City
Kanagawa 247-0066, Japan

Phone: 0467-45-2750
Fax: 0467-45-2760

Email: info@kamakura-park.com