Japan Travelogue   Mount Takao

From Sangaku Buddhism came an offshoot that called for even more rigorous training of the mind and body deep in the mountains. This is the Way of Shugen-do. Practicing the Way, it was said, improved a person’s powers and intellect. Shugen-do practices came to Mount Takao about 600 years ago, and Takaosan Yakuo-in Temple became a training center as well as a place to revere the Buddha and mountain gods. The statue of Tengu is said to represent a mountain priest fully trained in the awesome powers of Shugen-do.

Today, anyone can participate in exercises to train the mind and body—you can sit meditating under a pounding waterfall, or walk over hot, smoldering ashes. “Two to three thousand people come every year to meditate under the waterfall,” says Harada Akihito, a rep-resentative of the Takaosan Yakuo-in Temple management group.

After paying our respects at the temple’s Main Hall, we are off to the top of the mountain. The path is steep now, a tough yet pleasant 15 minutes or so to the highest point, 599 meters above sea level. At the summit, other hikers are resting in a teashop, or taking pictures to remember the trip, or just having fun in their own way. There are no clouds today, so from the lookout we can see Mount Fuji off in the distance.

The sun is high in the sky now, and its hot rays make us decide to take Trail No. 6 down through a cool shady valley to the station.

Unlike the paved Trail No. 1, this one is more of a hiking trail and we meet few people on it. The singing of the wild birds makes us completely forget the clamor of the metropolis we left this morning. Log steps lead us further and further down through the thick cool forest. Stepping stones add to the enjoyment of crossing a mountain stream, and your legs will surely stop complaining.

Trail No. 6 ends and before we know it the cedar forest is behind us and we are in the open again. It took us about 70 minutes to climb down the mountain.

But before going back to Tokyo we might as well eat supper near the station. We decide on a restaurant called Ukai Toriyama, where chicken is grilled over charcoal. The main building is an old thatched house that was moved here to a space more than 2 hectares in area. We look over our sake cups at the well-kept garden, listen to the bubbling stream, and munch on a few fragrant slices of chicken. Soon we begin to forget our aching muscles.