Spring up and thrive like a wildflower: walking along the ridge of Mt. Takao, Part 2

First, yeah, you can start this ridge walk from Mt. Takao 高尾山. But, I have to tell you this. If you take Mt. Takao as your starting point, you’ll complete your hike descending from Mt. Jimba 陣馬山. The communities at the foot of Mt. Jimba have quite limited commuter bus service to the nearby train stations (all are for JR Chuo-honsen Line 中央本線). It is quite likely you complete your hike at dusk when you enjoy cherry blossoms. Say, from Wada bus stop 和田 (pls. see my post for Mt. Jimba) to JR Fujino Station 藤野, the last service is at 18:20. If you miss it, you have to either pay for taxi or walk to the station, for about 6km, on a mainly mountainous, street-light-shy winding car road. I don’t think it’s a fun itinerary after 8 hours’ ridge walk. In contrast, from Mt. Takao, although the last cable car departs at 18:00, even if you miss it the road to Takaosanguchi Station 高尾山口 of Keio Line 京王線 is more relaxed well-lit main approach to Yakuoin Temple 薬王院, which is roughly 1 hour walk from the cable car station. Of course, you can choose the short-cut of steep descend for Mt. Takao hiking course without any light. I don’t recommend it unless you’re an expert of the area ... The number of train service from Takaosanguchi to downtown Tokyo is far more than that for JR Fujino. It’s definitely a safer plan to end the hiking at Mt. Takao Ridge Way … Mmmmmmmmm … hotel-wise, if you don’t mind using taxi (with cost for about 100 USD or more), it may not be much different ending the hike at Mt. Takao or Mt. Jimba … There are lots of resort hotels around Lake Sagami 相模湖. Takaosanguchi Station has two hotels within 5 minutes walking distance. Hotels near Mt. Jimba has free pick up service from Fujino Station, RSVP of course. If you plan to spend 2 or more days in this area and you’re confident enough for your stamina to reach to a train station before sun set, ending your hike at Mt. Jimba could be an option, I guess. In any case, I tell you my adventure starting from Mt. Jimba side.

The beginning of today is from Takao Station either for JR or Keio Line. Please leave the station from the North Exit and find the Bus Stop #1 for Nishi-tokyo Bus 西東京バス. Ride a service to Jimbakogen-shita 陣馬高原下 to the terminal stop, Jimbakogen-shita (; time table is here). It’s about 40 minutes ride to ASL 300m. From there proceed along the road to the west. If you’re in doubt, find a sign around the bus stop saying “Mt. Jimba, this way.” There is a similar kind of road near the bus stop to the south along Okinatsurushi Stream オキナツルシ沢. If you take this road, you will go straight to Sokozawa Pass 底沢峠, economizing 30 minutes or so of your itinerary … but it’s a pity to take such short cut for this trekking fun, I think. Anyway, the paved road to the west is an old road called Jimba-kaido Avenue 陣馬街道 going around Mt. Jimba to Wada 和田 community we’ve visited before. As such, there are some car traffic, but it is a quiet forestry road. Actually, I liked a lot this road along Ange River 案下川, because it’s a wonderful humid way full of many kinds of moss, including several endangered ones! If you’re interested in these species, you can spend your whole day without climbing up to the ridge, I bet. About 20 minutes or so of walk from the bus stop, we’ll find a signpost telling us this is an entrance to the hiking road to Mt. Jimba.

Takao Station, North Exit

I tell you even it’s a weekday morning,
the cue waiting for the bus to Takao Ridge Way can be
LONG.

Jimbakogen-shita, the terminal stop

To Mt. Jimba, please go to the direction of a cherry tree.

In today’s itinerary, we also meet lots of wild azaleas.
This is Rhododendron dilatatum,
endemic species of Japan,
which flowers before their leaves come out
just like cherry blossoms.
These days, they are suffering theft.
Please protect them if you find their flowers.

I think it is Brotherella henonii …

The climb from this starting point to Mt. Jimba is the steepest ascend for today. The entrance to the trail is about ASL 540m, and Mt. Jimba is ASL 855m. The estimated time for standard hiker to reach to Mt. Jimba is within 1 hour. Gaining 300m in one hour … You’ve got an idea, hah? Please endure here: the rest of today’s itinerary is not this much tough. You can spend your time at the top of Mt. Jimba for toilet and morning snacks, but this is just the beginning of a long trail. Staying here not long may be a wiser move. Follow the sign telling us “Myo-oh Pass 明王峠, this way.” It’s the direction for the ridge way of Mt. Takao. Once you enter this route, it’s almost one way running along the prefectural border between Tokyo and Kanagawa. Simply keep on going the ridge. After 1 hour or so from Mt. Jimba, we reach to Myo-oh Pass.

The entrance to the trail to Mt. Jimba

The beginning is relatively flat …

The road then climbs up for about an hour …

White paint and ropes indicate the route.

Nearly, to Mt. Jimba

The road coming down from the top of Mt. Jimba

When we are from the peak,
there are lots of signpost like this
showing the way to Myo-oh Pass.

Here! Cherry blossoms!

The hiking road of the ridge is like this:
wide and well-maintained.

Myo-oh Pass

The ridge way is really a well-maintained trekking route. Also, even during weekdays, you’ll find yourself with lots of companies. In this regard, this is a safe hiking course. The road goes with slight ups and downs in afforested conifers and broadleaved deciduous trees. Although today’s main attraction is cherry blossoms, you’ll be greeted by several kinds of spring wildflowers. For example, the area of Mt. Takao is famous for many kinds of violets. Please do not deviate from the hiking course. Those pretty violets can be stumped down easily by us without notice. + They are vulnerable for theft. Let’s protect rich biodiversity here … From Myo-oh Pass to Mt. Dodokoro 堂所山 ASL 731m, it’s about half an hour walk via Sokozawa Pass 底沢峠. There is a small detour around the peak of Mt. Dodokoro for proceeding the ridge way. Either you check the peak (but there is not much to see there), or go ahead straightforwardly the ridge, please follow the sign directing to Mt. Kagenobu 景信山.

This is a very well-behaved Viola grypoceras.

Sokozawa Pass. Please go to the direction of Mt. Kagenobu

When we approach to the peak of Mt. Kagenobu ASL 727.3m, we started to see pink smokes within trees here and there along the ridge and beyond. They are Cerasusu jamasakura, the endemic wild cherry trees of Japan, and THE grandma of Japanese cultivated cherries. Although cherry trees in Ueno 上野 or Meguro River 目黒川 have less than 100 years of lifespan, these wild cherries in Takao can be hundreds of years old. Real grandmas. They are tall and big. And so, we can admire them from afar. On the ridge way, I recalled somebody’s advice: “Naomi, if you want to enjoy cherry blossoms, don’t go near a tree. View the entire slope of a hill. That’s the proper way of doing cherry blossoms party.” Yeah, we can enjoy such fun on this ridge way. Soon, we reach to the peak of Mt. Kagenobu. Next week, I tell you my adventure with more cherry blossoms. Please stay tuned!

High above us is pink clouds of cherry blossoms …
I think I was late last year.
Probably just few days earlier, they were more splendid …

Before the peak of Mt. Kagenobu,
there also is a large bush of Lidera praecox
with pretty yellow flowers.

This is Potentilla freyniana.

Viola phalacrocarpa

The contact address for the office in charge of Meiji Forest Takao Quasi-national Park 明治の森高尾国定公園 is

Bureau of Environment, Tokyo Metropolitan Government 東京都環境局
2-8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 163-8001
Phone: 03-5388-3539, 

FAX: 03-5388-1379 

S0000618@section.metro.tokyo.jp

The Most Beautiful Cherry Blossoms of Tokyo is … : walking along the ridge of Mt. Takao, Part 1

 

I personally think we have a colder-than-usual winter this year. Yeah, not much snow has fallen in Yokohama or Tokyo, but the minimum temperature of a day has continued to be below zero. Even though, Japan Meteorological Agency forecasts we’ll have warmer than average weather next month and beyond. These couple of days could be the last cold spell … We long for spring to come. And the main event of Japanese spring is CHERRY BLOSSOMS!!! Many meteorologists estimate we’ll have a slightly earlier opening of cherry blossoms this year in Metropolis Tokyo area. It may be on 19th or 20th of March. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Not only warmer days of spring but also cold enough days of winter are needed for cherry trees to have a beautiful opening. Sufficiently long, cold, windy days kick off the sleep of buds to prepare nice opening, the scholars say. We have had a very cold winter this year … I hope we can expect spectacular blossoms next month!

Winter buds for Lindera umbellata are also longing for spring.

But COVID is still roaming around town. It would be difficult to have noisy parties under cherry trees on crowded streets. Having said that, not all Japanese like boisterous flower get-together in downtowns. Actually, many aficionados say the best cherry blossoms place in Tokyo is not in town. The spot we should go is the mountainous border between Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures, i.e. the ridge way of Mt. Takao 高尾山. From this week, I’ll tell you about my adventure with cherry blossoms in Mt. Takao area.

This is one of the most popular hiking destinations in Japan. There are many approaches to start this ridge way fun. My recommended course goes like this:


Start: Jimba-kohgen-shita Bus Stop 陣馬高原下 (toilet spot)

From the bus stop +20 min: Entering the trekking road to Mt. Jimba 陣馬山

From the above point +60 min: The peak, Mt. Jimba, ASL 855m (toilet spot)

From Mt. Jimba +40 min: Myo-oh Pass 明王峠, ASL 738m (toilet spot)

From Myo-oh Pass +10 min: Sokozawa Pass 底沢峠, ASL 721m

From Sokozawa Pass +30 min: Mt. Doh-dokoro 堂所山, ASL 731m

From Mt. Doh-dokoro +60 min: The Peak, Mt. Kagenobu 景信山, ASL 727.3m (toilet spot)

From Mt. Kagenobu +30 min: Kobotoke Pass 小仏峠, ASL 548m

From Kobotoke Pass +30 min: Mt. Shiroyama 城山, ASL 670m (toilet spot)

From Mt. Shiroyama +70 min: The peak, Mt. Takao, ASL 599m (toilet spot)

From Mt. Takao +50min: The cable car station, ASL 480m (toilet spot)

I think this is the easiest way to conquer the course. Caution: yep, there are lots of toilets in this itinerary, but please do not expect all are open. Fully utilize any chance you encounter, just in case. Open poop is not recommended for the reason of nature conservation: half the itinerary of today is in Quasi-national Park, aka Meiji Forest Takao Quasi-national Park 明治の森高尾国定公園.

The toilet at Jimba-kohgen-shita Bus Stop.
I think this one is reliably open every day.

In this blog, we’ve already visited some peaks for “Tokyo’s best” cherry blossoms’ itinerary. We’ve been to Mt. Takao, ASL 599.3m (; my posts on December 15th and 22nd, 2017). And the starting point for ridge walk is Mt. Jimba (; my post on May 24th, 2019). Connecting these two peaks is a popular one-day hike which walks roughly 20km for 8 hours or so (meal-times included). It is said that the course is good for novices of ridge walk in Japan. In winter some peaks could be covered in snow. So, I recommend if you’re new to Japanese ridge walk, wait until middle March to try. It would be just about-time for cherry blossoms. 😇

It is a damned-well maintained hiking road.
There are lots of signpost with English translation
like this all the way.

The peak of cherry blossoms of this course is roughly 2 weeks after the full bloom in Chidorigafuchi Moat of the Imperial Palace 千鳥ヶ淵, but sometimes it could be earlier. I took this course last year approx. 10 days after the full bloom in downtown Tokyo. It was a close call. Cherry blossoms can be gone completely within a day or two after full bloom. Measuring the timing of your hike could be one of the most important things to witness the splendid flowers of Tokyo. You can check the HP of Mt. Takao Visitor Center daily during the season to know the situation. Also, thanks to the COVID the crowd once gathered in Shibuya 渋谷 or Ginza 銀座 are now flocking around Mt. Takao especially for weekends. Inevitably people have started to notice the best cherry blossoms in Tokyo. This means, if you plan to go there on Saturday or Sunday for cherry blossoms, probably many people would think exactly the same as you do: “It is the only chance of a year for me to admire the beau.” The condition under the cherry trees may not be much different from that for Ueno Park 上野公園 or Meguro River 目黒川. Hey, it’s COVID. Take a day-off in weekdays to breathe deeply clean mountain air, without fears of airborne infection …

In front of the Visitor Center of Mt. Takao,
with cherry blossoms and people.
It was late weekday afternoon, FYI.

For the prep, these are standard hiking cautions:

• Wear your best-fit walking shoes, protective gloves, and a hat. It’s a long walk.
• Don long sleeves and pants. As this is for Japanese mountains there are several bushes of sasa-bamboos or the like to traverse. Their leaves can cut your skin easily. Also, during the cherry blossoms season it will still be cold in the ASL 500m+ area. Prepare accordingly.
• Carry a map of the area, a compass, a headlight (just in case), a rechargeable battery, your cell phone, and a first aid kit.
• Water, water, water and food = lunch and snacks. Though, there are several mountain cafés on today’s course. You can try their offerings which are several times more expensive than the same menu in downtown. Also, the route has designated areas where we can use our outdoor gas burner, i.e. we can cook our lunch. If you don’t mind carrying extra weight for home, nay, mountain-cook, please do. (Please remember water availability is extremely limited.) Oh, of course we strictly have to use those particular places for cooking. To prevent mountain fires, you know?

A café in Myo-oh Pass was closed early spring last year
 on a weekday.

Next week, I tell you the detail of this course. Please stay tuned! 

P.s. The Cherry Blossoms Festival in Matsuda Town 松田町さくらまつり I told you on January 14th has now postponed their closing from February 20th to March 6th. It’s still very cold, and there is not much flowers yet as of February 20th. Fingers crossed for Cerasus × kanzakura ‘Kawazu-zakura’ to flower before 6th …

But wintersweets in Yadoriki are in their final bloom now …

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/

Dry 2: Kobotoke Group Stratum and visiting Mt. Jimba 陣馬山

Whenever I visited forests and mountains around Mt. Takao 高尾山, I felt the place is drier than Tanzawa 丹沢 or Hakone 箱根. Recently, I have encountered a possible explanation for that. The northern Kanagawa Prefecture sits on different geological formations from mountains of western Kanagawa. It would affect features and atmosphere the area gives to the visitors. Let’s visit this week there by going Mt. Jimba (ASL 855m) 陣馬山, in northern Kanagawa.

I’ve met Ephemera strigata there!

The stratum I learned is called Kobotoke Group 小仏層群. Scholars for geology think it was created by the crash of North American and Philippine Plates. They collide beneath Sagami Bay 相模湾, Tanzawa and Hakone. There, tectonic energy tears off upper oceanic crust of Philippine Plate as it slides down beneath the North American Plate. The ripped off crust together with deposited sand and mud in the ocean floor is subject to gigantic pressure from North American Plate and metamorphosed and pasted on the sole of North American Plate. So, Kobotoke Group is made of multilayered stratum of sandstone, mudstone, chert, basalt and gravel rock accumulated in the bottom of Pacific Ocean. By humongous force of compression the stratum is broken up in a complicated way here and there and pushed up slanting with the edge of North American Plate. Researchers consider the basement layer in the Southern Kanto Region 関東地方 is being created in this way since 145 million years ago. Through this stratum, volcanos like Hakone burst out its magma. Or, former volcanic island of Izu 伊豆 in the Pacific Ocean is moving on this stratum of Philippines Plate and began poking out from the sea bed some 60 million years ago. When there was no volcanic opening or island, the basement layer appears on the ground. Kobotoke Group is one of such areas where we can see the foundation layer of Kanto Region.

Sanogawa River 佐野川 bed on the foot of Mt. Jimba.
 Yeah, they are gravelly, but
 don’t you think the size of stones are definitely smaller than …

This in Yadoriki Water Source Forest やどりき水源林.
 This photo is of rocks far younger than the above.

Mt. Jimba is one of the easiest points to “experience” Kobotoke Group. This is uber popular hiking destination from downtown Tokyo, probably next to Mt. Takao. To take the easiest hiking route, we first go Fujino Station 藤野 of JR Chuo Line 中央線. It’s a simple train ride for about 1.5 hour from Tokyo Station. Many Tokyoites, including school excursions, come to hike here. From Fujino Station, we ride Kanacyu bus service #NO-08 to Wada 和田 terminal stop (time table is here). Standard hiking course you find in a tourism guide tells you to get off the bus at Entrance to Mt. Jimba Hiking Course 陣馬登山口 Stop, and start walking Ichino’o Ridge 一ノ尾尾根. This course is very simple, or monotone, going up, which may be convenient for trail runners, but a bit boring. This week, I tell you a hiking course different from the regular. I think mine is more checkered, and interesting to walk. Besides, the number of hikers taking this route is not that large as the standard route which frequently receives a party of more than 100 heads, like of lively kids. In today’s course, we can enjoy the soil of Kobotoke Group beneath our shoes in a more relaxed way. So, please keep on riding the bus till the terminal stop Wada. It takes about half an hour from Fujino Station.

JR Fujino Station

This is the bus stop to Wada.
 The photo was taken immediately after
 the departure of 2 temporary large services, completely packed.
 You see?

Wada Bus Stop.
 The café is open weekends.
 They have public toilet here.
 For today, there are two more toilet chances,
 but all of them, including this one,
 are always congested + no western style facility.
 FYI, Fujino Station has western style toilets.

For today’s itinerary, we get down these steps to …

this direction.

Wada Stop is in Sanogawa 佐野川 community. They have several traditional rural houses that themselves are worth a visit. You’ll find they do not have rice paddies to speak of. That’s something for a traditional village in Japan. It’s because Kobotoke Group is so porous that rains sink into the ground very deep without hanging around. i.e. The area is not suitable for rice cultivation. The traditional meal in this community has been based not on rice but wheat, like Udon noodles. If you are a student of geology, please walk for 1.5km from Wada Bus Stop along a small stream called Sanogawa River to the direction of Wada Pass 和田峠. You find points like

North latitude 35 degrees 39 minutes 35 seconds and East longitude 139 degrees 9 minutes 28 seconds,

or

North latitude 35 degrees 39 minutes 9 seconds and East longitude 139 degrees 8 minutes 54 seconds.

Those are large slopes where Kobotoke Group comes out above the ground along a paved road. Though, I prefer walking on the stratum. We can feel the ground directly, can’t we? So let’s turn right around 300m point after the bus stop, to the peak of Mt. Jimba.

The second toilet spot for today.

In mid-April, Sanogawa community is floating in flowers.
 The two structures on the left of this photo are traditional warehouses.

Tea farm in Sanogawa.
 The first flash green teas are available in late May
 at a souvenir shop in Fujino Station.

For North latitude 35 degrees, please go straight here.
 We turn to the right on this photo.

 

But not this paved one on the left, but …
 Could you see a stone monument on the right edge of this photo?
 That is an entrance for traditional
 commuter road to Mt. Jimba.
 An excuse: It’s almost next to a private structure,
 and I hesitated to take a direct picture.

It seems to me this hiking course was a commuter road till 40 or 50 years ago for villagers of Wada. Mt. Jimba is a part of an area spreading from Mt. Takao to Okutama 奥多摩 and Chichibu 秩父 mountains whose western side is Kofu Basin 甲府盆地. Due to its logistical importance for the defense of Edo, aka downtown Tokyo, this part of Japan has been owned by national or regional government for more than 400 years. People of Sanogawa community have had limited title in terms of ownership of the forests. Forestry has not been developed as business here. Instead, they received permissions to use resources from forests, and the hiking course shows us the traces how people used their backyard. Unlike Tanzawa’s Yadoriki Water Source Forest which was once a property of one of the largest forestry companies in Japan, the place is not entirely covered by afforested trees. Instead, large Quercus actissima and Quercus serrata are standing in the other side of afforested area, with tell-tale signs of regeneration by coppicing. The invasion of evergreens, like oaks and Japanese laurel, is very limited. Why?

The fallen leaves and bushy small trees were once useful for firewood and tinder. Japanese forest people also coppiced suitable trees regularly for baking charcoal, and rearing shiitake mushrooms. When people used forest in this way, the climate for Kanagawa and Tokyo would provide forests with lots of coppiced trees but fewer evergreens, as we find in today’s hiking course. In contrast, Yokohama’s Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 has large Quercues actissima and Quercus serrata AND lots of oaks and laurels. We know landlords for Niiharu stopped using the forest around 1950. Clear forest floor around Mt. Jimba indicates villagers of Sanogawa community managed forest floor frequently, and probably until recently. Actually, in this hiking, we can find a ruin of kiln for charcoal baking, surrounded by coppiced trees. Measuring the size of Quercues in this mountain, I guess people shuttled to the kiln and cut trees around it till the 1960s.

We can see how stratum of Kobotoke Group was used in the remnant of the kiln. The piled up rocks are all flat like a sheet. It would have been very convenient to build a structure with such rocks. Granted they are old, but the material look porous even for my amateur eyes. From the point of the kiln, the road of the hiking course becomes more and more dry and gravelly. Yeah, in Tanzawa we can meet lots of scree-covered slopes. But they are rockier. Here, the soil beneath our shoes is also rocky but finer. This is a parched mountain. We frequently meet with parts of road made of slanted stratum. After about one hour climb from the entrance of the hiking course, we arrive at a crossing with Ichino’o Ridge. From here to the peak of Mt. Jimba, it’s a main street of the hiking course. The roots of trees show up bony on the ground. It’s a sign of large volume of visitors … After half an hour from the crossing, we reach to the peak of Mt. Jimba.

This hole was once a kiln for charcoal baking.
 You see? The ground of the area is clean.
 No evergreens found here,
 and deciduous trees grow in folk.
 It’s the sign of coppicing.
 And the trees are not large.
 They are not old as we find in Niiharu.
 When forest floor in Kanto Region
 can receive lots of sun shine during winter,
 shade-loving evergreens have disadvantage to grow.

Kobotoke Group stratum we can see up close.

Desiccated …

The southern slope of Ichino’o Ridge is afforested area.

Ichino’o Ridge

It’s amazing to see violets open their flowers
 in such a stumped hiking road.

We are entering the peak of Mt. Jimba.
 The place has 3 mountain huts/café and a toilet.

Literal translation of Jimba is “a stable for war horses.” Archeologists found the peak of Mt. Jimba has been a meadow for centuries. Villagers from the foot of the mountain used the place to harvest thatches for their houses. Legend says when Warlord Takeda Shingen 武田信玄, the protagonist of Kurosawa’s “Ran,” attacked the territory of his neighbor warlord, Hojo Clan 後北条氏 of Odawara 小田原, he came to the peak of Mt. Jimba from Kofu 甲府, and set up his main position. We can understand the logic of his choice. The view from the peak of Mt. Jimba is wide. Weather permitting, we can figure out Tokyo Skytree over there, and Enoshima Island 江の島 to the south. To the west is Mt. Fuji and the northern mountains are of Okutama and Chichibu. It’s the best location to plan your next move to attack Tokyo. Interestingly, the other sides of slopes for the mountains in the north of Mt. Jimba has stratum formulated during Jurassic Period, i.e. one period older than Kobotoke Group. I recalled the peak of Tanzawa Mountains spreading to the south of Mt. Jimba is made of stratum one period younger than Kobotoke Group … Kobotoke Group can be found in a very narrow area. It’s really a stripped crust sticking to the large land mass … woooooow …

To the peak of Mt. Jimba

The peak. Many people hike here these days.
 A former meadow is now like a picnic lawn.

At the top there is this indicator showing
 the names of mountains and landmarks
 we can see from Mt. Jimba.

It was supposed to be able to admire Mt. Fuji over there …

The other side of the mountain we can see here,
 Mt. Shoto (ASL 990.3m) 生藤山 is of Jurassic Period.

From the peak of Mt. Jimba, we can descend to (1) Sanogawa community again, (2) straight down to Mt. Jimba Hiking Course Stop via Ichino’o Ridge, or (3) down north to Jimba Kogen-shita 陣馬高原下 Bus Stop in Tokyo. All takes about 2 hours to the bus stop. Whichever direction you take, the bus service is quite limited to JR Fujino Station (; time table from Wada Stop is here) and JR Takao Station 高尾 (; time table from Jimba Kogen-shita is here) so that we should measure the length of picnic at the top of Mt. Jimba. To Sanogawa community, we can either take the same route at the first crossing we took for climbing, or turn right at the second crossing with Ichino’o Ridge. In this route, we reach to Sanogawa community via front yards of local houses. Before arriving to the paved way from Wada Stop, we once again see the forests of the village on Kobotoke Group. The forests near the houses are of deciduous broad-leaved trees and higher elevation is sometimes covered by afforested conifers. In spring, the contrast of continuing hues of green on the slopes, with dotting white-pink colors of cherry blossoms, is like an Impressionist painting … I just wondered the scenery might be thanks to dry Kobotoke Group. If the soil could keep water more, this area should have had larger population with more rice paddies, and more traces of human activities, aka development. It did not happen. The soil beneath our shoes today continues to be gravelly and powdery. Hmmmmmm ...

The second crossing on Ichino’o Ridge.
 The road on the left of this photo is Ichino’o Ridge.
 To Sanogawa Community we take the narrower road of the right.

The road is of fine clay …

Sanogawa Community in spring …

Do you know where people say the best place for cherry blossoms is in Tokyo? It’s along the ridge way from Mt. Takao to Mt. Jimba. They say in every late April, old trees of Cerasus jamasakura decorate the ridge of deep mountains quietly but gorgeously. On a map from Mt. Takao to Mt. Jimba, it’s about 5.5 hours … Let me see if I can try this itinerary next spring. The route is entirely on Kobotoke Group. The hiking route must be dry, gravelly and powdery.

If you find an 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/