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!

Mt. Azumaya in Chikuhoku and Omi (1387m)

On the gazebo just minutes before the summit you could enjoy the extremely beautiful scenery of North Alps mountain range. Though it was not very good weather when I tried it, I thought how big and tall North Alps mountains are, to see only a few mountains between clouds.

I started to climb it at Higashiyama district of Chikuhoku village. You would find it is not so hard work climbing this mountain as the slopes are not so steap. I reached the gazebo and the summit about an hour later.

On the top of it there stood a small building of the temple to be surprised. It is wider than I thought and very comfy to stay for a long while. It has an old growth forest area of beech trees on the northern sides of it. I took a lunch on the summit and took a rest for an hour.

There are two mountains that have the same pronunciation like 'Azumaya san'. The one is one of 'Hyaku-mei-zan' but the other, which I climbed this weekend, is lower one and located in just the center of Nagano ken.

Flowers of 'Katakuri'

Starch, or 'Katakuri-ko' is originally made from 'Katakuri'. But Katakuris are very rarely seen in Japan. Therefore, katakuri-ko is made from potatos nowadays.

Katakuris wear small and beautiful, purple-colored flowers. In Nagano city you can go see those flowers in spring season.

Today I went to see the flowers in the foot of Mt. Asahi-yama. After I parked a car I walked a couple of minutes to get to the place. I found a lot of small beautiful flowers there.

Mt. Taro-yama (1,164m), Ueda city

At first I wanted to climb Mt. Kurofu, near Asama on that day. I went to Kurumazaka-toge, but found that it was slightly snowing and that mountain tops were covered with dark clouds. So soon I gave up climbing there.

On my way back to Nagano, I thought I could climb a lower hill so decided to drop in Ueda city and climb Mt. Taro-yama.

The starting point is located very near the highway so it was very noisy. I saw some cars parked there so knew some people were climbing that mountain.

The path is well maintained so it seemed easy to climb but I was very tired because you have to go up with very steep slope almost all through the way.

After about an hour I reached a very big red Torii of Taro-yama temple. It is a symbol of a japanese temple. I prayed under the bell of the temple and found some 'emas' there and they show lots of school kids and even kindergarten kids had visited there. It was very surprising for me. *'ema' is a wooden board people write their wishes on it. And often they put them in a temple.

About ten minutes from the temple I got to the summit of Mt. Taro, 1164m. It was fine and warm on the top, which has a wide space of more than 100 square meters. I couldn't see the other tall mountains far away but enjoyed a lunch there. Surprisingly, the map of the pelorus on the summit shows you can see Mt. Fuji if views are clear.

On the way back down I dropped by the temple, where some benches are set for views for Ueda city and Mt. Asama. I enjoyed there nice views. It seems like better views in the southern direction than from the top if the weather is not so good. I thought I would come again for seeing Mt. Fuji.