Climbing a mountain the ‘wrong’ way

Mt. Chokai from Mt. Kyogakura

My 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata project is as much about discovering new places as it is me being a guinea pig for others. The majority of the mountains I'm visiting, I'm visiting for the first time. This morning I made the most of the weather, woke up when the sun rose and headed to the hills, Mt. Kyogakura to be exact. Mt. Kyogakura is I think the closest mountain on the list to my house, it is only a 20 minute drive away, but even still I should have done a bit more research than I did.

Looking at the map, I think I just chose the least eventful of the two sides. It turns out that the best way to do Mt. Kyogakura, or at least the way recommended on the sign from the way I tried to climb from, is to climb the Ennoji Temple trail, climb down the Juninotaki Falls trail, and then loop back to the Ennoji Temple trail. If you're on your own though, the only way you'd be able to do that is by timing the busses, and I don't really fancy that idea at all.

Mt. Kyogakura starts at the Juninotaki Falls (lit. the 12 falls) trail, or the Ennoji Temple trail, both to the east of Sakata City. The Juninotaki trail is cool because you get to go to the Juninotaki Falls, and the river is quite refreshing to walk along, although I was assaulted by horseflies (even through my Skins!) as I got closer to the waterfall. Then, it is a pretty steep climb through a dense forest until you reach the 6th station (the 5th station marks the halfway point). From the 6th station to the summit, it is relatively flat, and there are one or two spots that you get a good view out over Mt. Chokai from. The summit has a lookout from where you get clear views of Mt. Chokai, Sakata City, the Shonai Plains, and The Sea of Japan, although unfortunately we weren't able to see out to Tobishima Island.

That's about as eventful as this side of the mountain gets. It's a good workout, that's for sure, but it doesn't sound as interesting as the Ennoji Temple trail. On the Ennoji Temple trail, there is Ennoji Temple, and even a 'Tainai Kugiri' which is literally 'passing through the womb' as this mountain is a Shugendo mountain, and a mountain of rebirth. I'm not entirely sure what this Tainai kugiri is, probably some huge rocks to pass through judging on my experience in Yamabushi training, but it sounds fun. However, it seems that this side of the mountain is almost entirely stairs.

In the end, I'm glad I was able to be a guinea pig, and thankfully the mountain is close so I can tackle the other side sometime soon if I feel like it. I guess that's what happens when you're trying to be the first (well not the first, but one of) person to do this sort of challenge, you may end up climbing a mountain the 'wrong' way.

ENJOYED THIS? HAVE MORE.

MOUNTAINS OF WISDOM

Subscribe to my yamabushi newsletter

RECENT BLOG POSTS

black and white book business close up
One great trick for learning vocabulary
woman draw a light bulb in white board
Use it.
selective focus photography of traffic light
Light up my way

YAMABUSHI BLOG POSTS

More enemies, more targets.
Opportunities for growth
round silver colored fossil chronograph watch with brown leather band on brown wooden surface
One Hour of Power – Daily

RANDOM POSTS

corn fields under white clouds with blue sky during daytime
Hang your thoughts out to dry
pathway between traditional houses
Getting accepted onto the JET Programme
gray stone with green plant
Reaching Enlightenment in Zen and owning stuff: Seeing the truth in the empty
Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Get In Touch

Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan 

tim@timbunting.com

Share this:

Like this:

Like Loading...
Scroll to Top