Flowers Galore Hike

For my hiking club, I had organised a hike in the Chichibu area in Saitama to check out the spring flowers, namely the moss pinks, that had come into bloom. It was about a 6-hour hike, with the following itinerary:

Ashigakubo Station - Mountain Flower Road - Mt. Hinata - Bokuunji Temple - Gokadou Hall - Daijiji Temple - Hitsujiyama Park - Chichibu Station.

The sun was blazing, but everyone was in good spirits with the lovely company we were in and the fresh and vibrant scenery we were seeing as we going along the trail. We also got to experience "osettai", hospitality of the local people towards pilgrims and travellers. We were pleasantly surprised to see an old lady, a complete stranger, coming over to us, and pressing homemade sakuramochi and kashiwamochi, traditional Japanese sweets, into our hands. Later on, an old couple invited us into their patio for refreshments and a friendly chat; it was even of a surprise to our Japanese companions to experience such kindness and generosity in Japan.