The Chichibu Night Festival

After a rushed attempt to make it to this festival a few years back, when I was living and working somewhere different to now, I finally got to properly enjoy the Chichibu Yomatsuri this year. What makes coming to this festival difficult is that it's always held on the same dates each year, whether it's a weekday or weekend, and it's a 1-2 hours train trip just to get there. So, with some lovely companions, we oohed and aahed at the fireworks and the floats as we filled our stomachs with local brews and grub.

Lake Stroll

At the request of my supervisor, I organised a walk for my fellow English teachers. We strolled around Lake Tama, enjoying the autumn leaves as we went, before ending up at a karaoke box to kill time before the bars open for business.

Kimchi, Horses & Arrows

It was a pretty grey day for an outdoor event, but that didn't stop us from heading down to Koma City in Saitama Prefecture, a city with deep Korean connections that stem from centuries back, to watch a Korea-Japan joint-friendly horseback archery competition.

We got to try our hand at the Japanese-style of short bow archery (shihan mato kyudo 四半的弓道), and the U.K. beat America with straight wins at all three matches ;) The food stalls offered some local specialities, including kimchi nabe udon (thick white noodles served in a broth), I had mine with a cup of hot amazake (a sweet fermented rice drink)... which very much hit the spot on this chilly day!

Got lost afterwards, but getting lost is all part of the fun and the adventure!

Bon Bon Huevon

Language exchange over dinner with a new partner at Bon Bon Huevon in Iruma City, Saitama.

Buko & Ryogami

The plan was to hit some mountains in the Seibu-Chichibu area in Saitama:
Buko-san (1304m) and Izugatake (851m) on Day 1 (10-hours map time)
(Wild-camping at a Michi-no-Eki service area for the night)
Ryokami-san (1723m) on Day 2 (8-hours map time).

We managed Day 1 in 8-hours, and were all bathed, suppered up and comfy on benches, ready for bed, but unfortunately, the weather wasn't with us; with rain the next morning, we decided to postpone Day 2 for another day. Shaving map time on a wet day in the mountains is not a sane thing to do.

An Italian Welcome

I've never been happier at my new job. Some lovely colleagues found the time to treat me to a welcome dinner at a local Italian restaurant, Napoli no Kamado.

20-km March

Higashimatsuyama in Saitama was host to a 3-Day March event, and so, armed with good company and favoured by lovely weather, we leisurely did the 20-km option (no-one wanted to do the 30km or 50km, no matter how much I asked), which ended with a dinner of the local speciality, yakitori (chicken grilled on sticks) and sake.

[Tonjiro, pork and miso soup.]

Meditation & Mountains

ひさしぶりのソロハイキングをしました！ 太陽寺から雲取山に行って鴨沢までのコースです。 昨日、太陽寺に泊まって、宿坊の体験をしました。 写経したり、読経したり、座禅したり、精進料理をたべたりして、面白かったです！
It's been a heck of a while since my last solo hike, and what perfect weather I had for it for my route from Taiyouji to Kamosawa, via Kumotoriyama. I'd stayed at Taiyouji the previous night to do a temple stay experience, where I did sutra writing and chanting, zazen meditation (which all require me to sit in leg-numbing seiza), and had some seriously beyond yummy buddhist fare.

[The view, as I descend from the peak. I wanted to see how fast I was, and at the end, I was delighted to discover that I had shaved a third off map time!!]

Pizza....

The pizza at Costco is soooo good...

The Crossing of Two Prefectures

This was a hike that I had been wanting to do for a long time, crossing over the ridge from Chichibu, Saitama to Okutama, Tokyo. The weather was gorgeous, and it was Golden Week, so I was kind of expecting the crowds to be pouring into the mountains, but thankfully my companions and I met only a few people at the beginning, then didn't see anyone until we got to the hut. Apparently, from what the locals say, it's a rarely used route, since it's not so well-signposted, which was great for us!

All in all, we covered a distance of about 36.5km. The route was scenic, and the hut, clean and well-maintained with a water source just in front of the entrance. A highly recommended hike!

The route we was as follows:
Day 1 (2nd May): Shiroku Station 白久駅 >(Toridaniyama 酉谷山 1718.3m)> Toridani emergency hut 酉谷避難小屋
Day 2 (3rd May): Hut 酉谷避難小屋> Sobatsubuyama 蕎麦粒山 (1472.9m) > Hatonosu Station　鳩ノ巣駅

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.