Spent the morning with some folks from the village walking to the castle ruins in the mountain behind our house. There is no castle there anymore, but the geographical features are evident. This is one of several in the area which was on the border between two waring clans back in the day.
We were joined by some experts on such ruins and the period in which they were built and used. Unfortunately I understood very little of the discussion – not because of the language, but because I don’t know any of the names of lords or important families that were being tossed around. My neighbors, on the other hand, had all seen the famous and popular period drama about the era, so Tomoe and I were the only ones out of the loop.
The drama aired in China, resulting in a marked increase in Chinese tourists to the general area. It is soon to air in Korea, so we can expect some interest from Korean travelers (Koreans make up the highest number of foreign visitors to Japan). While I don’t intend to learn Korean, I am thinking about making a Korean web-site and hiring someone who can to come along and guide.
Anyone?
Even without understanding what was being talked about, it was a beautiful day for a hike. We will be going back again soon as there were many trees along the path with gigantic wild nameko mushrooms. Despite the neighbors swarming over everything they saw, there are still several trees I spotted that no one else noticed.
Mona rode on my back on the way up, but she got sick of that and decided to hike the entire way down. Even at the steep parts she would refuse my help and opted to slide down on her butt. I can’t wait until the snow comes so I can see how she does with snow-shoes.
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Hey Kevin – that bit in the first photo looks familiar (especially the gully on the right) – did we go that way on our ridiculously snowy outing?
Hope all’s well with you guys. I should be back in Japan most of this winter, would be great to swing by & see you again.
Yep, we went right by there.
Come on out. I have a big hiker/outdoors friend from Tokyo visiting with family to do some snow-shoeing in December before christmas, then we will be gone for two-three weeks in Jan. Back in Feb in time for the real snow. Maybe this time we can makle it all the way to the goal.
Wow, cool post. There’s a similar place near Tsuruga on a ridge separating Fukui from Shiga, but no one in town knows about it, and the place is rarely visited. At the top of the ridge there’s also some sort of concrete pillbox. No idea what that would have been, although I’m pretty sure the trail would have been used by woodcutters and others to travel between Shiga and Tsuruga (one of many old roads).
I’d love to see this place. I’m also happy to do any research about the fort in your neck of the woods.
looks like a nice hike. i would love to volunteer for that korean guide position only if i am in japan and not pregnant. lovely pictures as always.
Is it your camera or wordpress but these photo’s are so clear and beautiful!
The beautiful part is because I am just a good photographer in a beautiful place. The color and clearness are photoshop touchup. My camera is an old Nikon d70 (first consumer DSLR from Nikon with only a few megapixels and lowest ISO of 200.) with the cheapest lens I could find. I always touch up photos in Photoshop before uploading, and for every photo I upload there are thirty that I throw away.
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