Beautiful combination

Last week I saw a beautiful combination of three stars, Jupiter, Venus and the moon in the dusk.
So beautiful I took a photo through the window of my workplace.

Mt. Iizuna.

I went to climb Mt. Iizuna last weekend though we didn't have nice weather. Sep 15 is Aged People's Day and also national holiday in Japan. I really wanted to go somewhere in such a day.

I was so fascinated to find many kinds of beautiful flowers this time (this is the 3rd time I climbed Iizuna this year).

I chose a route from Togakushi Chusha and this made me lucky to see many flowers. About an hour later than walking under conifer forests, you got out to the field of flowers.

I would be glad if you enjoy to see my pictures below.


Many 'Oyama rindo' along the route. This flower is The flower of Nagano-ken.

Torikabuto, beautiful purple

Yamabokuchi

Matsumushi sou

Yama odamaki

Hakusan furo

Kawara nadeshiko, also called as 'Yamato nadeshiko'

Tsurigane ninjin

The weather was so cloudy...

Summit sign and me...and a unknown man

I also found Tsuru-rindou, Tsurifune-sou, Azami, Yakushi-sou, Akino-kirin-sou, and Umebachi-sou...and a dooog!

Mt. Reisenji, 1875m

There is Mt. Reisenji nextdoor to Mt. IIzuna. Most people think it is a part of IIzuna so only little know about it.

Reisenji was a very old temple but now it moved to the other place so you find it as only historical place. I was surprised to know that it is more than 500 years old now.

More than half way to the top I walked and walked under dark woods. I couldn't see any vews there. One and half hours later I passed by 'sankaku iwa' (triangle rock) and found the signboard saying '38 minutes to the summit'. Don't you think it is something strange? Anyway I kept walking.

Then I found some flowers along the path. They are very pretty and beautiful. Very many kinds of flowers made me excited and I was happy to see them.

All the way this mountaineering I didn't meet anyone climbing it. This fact shows it is not very known for climging. Anyway I enjoyed it today, though the weather was so foggy that any views couldn't be seen.


The signboard says this temple enshrined 5 gods. They are very popular in Japanese legend.

Kurumayuri

Matsumushi-sou

Tsurigane-ninjin

Flower garden beneath the summit


Tsuru rindou

Yama-odamaki



Umebachi-sou

A butterfly, 'Ageha', on Azami

It took 2 hours to the summit today. I took a lot of pictures of flowers. If the weather permitts, you could see Mt. Myoko, Hiuchi, and Japan sea over there.

Mt. Yunomaru (in Ueda, Tohmi, Tsumagoi)

I climbed Mt. Yunomaru (2,098m) last weekend. This was the third time for me. This mountain is located at Ueda, Tohmi and Tsumagoi-mura. I joined a ham radio contest there.

I went to the foot of the mountain and stayed a night in the car so that I could start to climb very early in the morning.

Though I saw very beautiful stars in the sky around midnight there, there was dense fog around nearby mountains when I woke up at five in the morning. I had a light breakfast and then got started to climb.

On the way I passed by 'Yunomaru camping site', 'Central fork point' and 'Mushohtoh fork point'. I found the blue sky between clouds sometimes so I expected it would be better weather on the top, although it had been very windy and dense foggy while I was climbing.

At last I got to the summit and it was very strongly windy there. However, I set up a small radio antenna(skydoor antenna) at the back of a big rock and I got on the air, on 6 meter band of ham radio. I made contacts with Tochigi and Ibaraki, though a few with Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. I think they are blocked by Mt. Asama. I also made many contacts with Tohoku area, Tohkai area and Tottori.

But I enjoyed a ham radio although I only could set up a very small antenna. After I made 50 contacts, I decided to stop it and go down.

In early morning I was surronded by so tense fog that no good views could be seen. But later, around 10 AM, the fog was gone and it turned very fine. At last I could see mountains with a 360 degree field of vision. I even saw Mt. Fuji!

Next time I want to climb Mt. Eboshi as well as this Yunomaru.


Mt. Asama and the radio antenna

Hakusan furo

Matsumushi sou

Yama hotarubukuro









Mt. Fuji at the center. Can u see?

Mt. Omeshi, 2160m in Takayama vil.

I had given it up because the weather forecast says it would be bad. However, I got up late in the morning and then found that it was fine above high mountains. Quickly I set up my zack and left for Mt. Omeshi-dake.

I got the entrance, Kenashi Toge at 10 in the morning. I saw some poeple flying gliders there. It was fine there although there were clouds over Mt. Shirane and Asama and I could not find them. After setting up myself for minutes, I got started to walk.

Ten minutes later I got to the peak of Mt. Kenashi. And then it took fifty minutes to the summit of Mt. Omeshi. The path was so well maintained that you don't need to be afraid of bad underbush of bamboo grass. Walking through several underbushes and wet silvas, finally I reached the summit. It was broader than I thought and doesn't have trees except bamboo grass. You could see nice view from there if it was fine.

It was a weekday and this mountain is not so famous that I met no one all through the mountain. Moreover, I couldn't see any nice view under the cloudy and misty weather. I didn't heard any sounds of people or cars. At last I felt somehow lonely there. When I found the new signboard of the name of the mountain on the top, I felt better.

I was so glad to walk and get to the peak. After about thirty minutes tea break there, it was getting worse and nearly raining. So I decided to start to walk down this mountain.



Yakushi sou


Gozen tachibana

Kyogakura in Ikusaka vil.

I went to climb a mountain in Ikusaka village, Nagano. I heard that they call those 1000 meter high mountains like Ikusaka mountain range, standing along the sides of Sai River. This, Kyogakura is the highest peak among those.

On the way to the top, I saw many kinds of mushrooms. I don't know those names so just saw. Many kinds of butterflies, too. The path was well maintained. Someone built short wooden ladders several places.

Near the mountain ridge, you can find very strange shaped rocks. And you can enjoy good views from there. I walked on the narrow knife ridge thrillingly, and then I had to go up on some rocks with ropes. Finally I reached the summit. Today it was fine in the cities, but the skies above the higher mountains were cloudy. So I couldn't see good views for them. Instead I enjoyed the beautiful green of nearby mountains.

You can see down slowly running Sai river and some dams. The summit has a 360-degree field of vision so they used this place as a castle and beacon fire point in Samurai period.

It took an hour to the top. I enjoyed this mountain very much.

A serow!

It was very fine morning, therefore I rode on my bicycle and went to my favorite place where I lately like to go, Mt. Sakata-yama. It took less than twenty minutes from my home but there is a steap slope at last so I had a very hard time going up.

I parked my bike in the parking space and took a few minute walk to the gazebo. On the way to it, I suprisingly met a serow, who was standing to look at me. I thought we had only around ten meters between us so it was very exciting to see him.

It was fine but hazy in the sky so I couldn't see even Mt. Izuna or the other mountains around Nagano. And I enjoyed to have a very nice breeze there. But I was very satisfied to see a serow this morning. On the way back to my bicycle I found a butterfly stopping on the flower of dandelion. I later found it looked like 'Usuba-shiro-cho'.

I like this season.

Mt. Izuna 1,917m

In this golden week I enjoyed climbing Mt. Izuna located in Nagano city. It is called as 'Citizen's mountain'. Yes, I met a lot of people including some families with kids on the way although the weather was not so good.

Ito san, my friend, and me entered Ichino-torii and started to climb. We went up while finding and see the little famous 13 jizos along the path. At Suzuri-iwa, we heard some raindrops falling on leaves or grounds so we thought again and again if we could continue it or not. But finally we knew we were right to go on.

Finally we got to the summit but it was so cold and so strongly windy that we got back soon after we took photos with the summit sign pole. Back to the southern summit (it is several meters lower than the real summit) and the Izuna shrine, we had a brucn (early lunch) there. Many people came back there and did the same too.

All through the route we had mere chances to enjoy the view from the top because of the deep fog.

I found some flowers like Okameno-ki, Shojo-bakama and Sumire on the way.
After back down to the place where we parked, we found the signboards and knew that we shouldn't have cars parked there. You know, there is a large parking place along Bird line and that is where to park.

Mt. Wakaho-Taro yama. (997m)

I know that there is Mt. Taro Yama in Nagano city as well as in Ueda. I went there in Nagano city for the first time today, and I understand this one is very fun to climb as a 'satoyama'.

It is located in Wakaho area of Nagano city, and has various route to enter. I chose one from Rendai-ji temple, and it took an hour and a half to the top of it.

On the way you will find some spots for good views. At first, I got to a rock, called as Shiro-no-Mine. It is the first point you can enjoy the beautiful view of Zenko-ji plain and mountains around it. Secondary, I reached a bigger rock, called as Koshiki-iwa. It is so big as about three or four meters tall. You can climb it up. But I could not stand up on my foot on the top of it, and then I sat up on it to enjoy the great view with some fear.

On the top, there is a wide plain place, looked as if well maintained by local people or City Office. I stayed there for an hour, having a cup of coffee, a talk on the radio, and a talk with the other climber.

I saw many kinds of flowers so took lots of photos of them and looked into them in the picture book later. I figured out some names as follows; Sumire, Hitori-shizuka, Haru-rindo, Ikari-sou, Yamabuki (see photos below) and Kibushi, Dankou-bai(or Kuromoji). The photo at the bottom is Koshiki-iwa, let's stand up on the top of it!