I’m trying to decide which of the other 99 mountains on the 100 mountains of Yamagata to climb next and I think I’ll go for Mt. Arakurayama and Mt. Takadate on the coast of Tsuruoka. Reason being, they’re close. Maybe even closer than Mt. Kinbo. Plus, it seems possible to do both in one day. I would have seen those mountains at least a few hundred times, so it would be cool to go and see what it’s like up there.

It’s fun just to do research on the mountains too. Arakurayama in particular was a Shugen mountain from the 8th century onwards, and it starts from Yura as well, one of the coolest little villages that exists along that coast. Picture a bay with a tiny island and a stark red bridge to that tiny island. Then, put a 2000m high mountain in the background. That’s Yura.

I’ve also been to a local fishers’ market there, and it’s crazy. They have their own language for auctions! They don’t want people from outside to know the prices fish sell for, so people don’t know how much profit the supermarkets etc. make 🙂

Plus, the name Yura comes from a place in northern Kyoto prefecture. That was where Prince Hachiko escaped from and set sail for the Dewa Sanzan way back in 592.