First hike in Japan: Mt. Nantai ( 男体山 )

Yesterday we wanted to go to Mt. Nantai ( 男体山 ), one of the better known mountains of the area; that was my first hike in Japan. Executive summary: we reached the top in about 4 hours (easy pace). Could be done in 2 hours, or more than 4 if it has recently rained. We started from the shrine at 1350m, where you could buy prayer plaques and fill up with water from brass ladles. The peak was at 2500m approximately. The direct path is very steep, but there is a passage peu aérien connecting to an asphalt road that circumvents the steepest. Travel costs: approximately 6,000 yen from Tokyo.

There was apparently a combination ticket for the area around Nikko. I didn't actually manage to get it, so we just used our Tokyo metropolitan area cards to enter the railway system and prayed that it all worked out. At some point a conductor passed, but I didn't actually talk to him. The second time, I asked him about tickets. He had a little illustrated flipbook in Japanese & English for Frequently Asked Questions, which apparently didn't have an answer to mine.

But he came  later, and sold us tickets for 2060 yen each. We also got refreshments for 130-160 yen, and got out of the express train to the main station, where we discovered that we had to pay extra. In fact, the trip itself is ~2000 yen, while the 2060 yen was a surcharge for booking on the express train.
We then got a bus for ~2000 yen, which gave us free transportation for two days in the area. This would have been useful had we been actually staying, but it was cheaper than buying two single tickets. Anyway, in the end we arrived at the shrine Futarasan  (二荒山神社 according to wikipedia). Do ask at the train station for information.

The shrine has souvenirs, prayer and dedication plaques, plus water, which is good to use. My water bladder sprung a leak, so I filled it up just before starting. We started going up and managed not to make too many stops, even though Katerina was grumbling as usual. Te way started with stone steps, which later became mud supported on logs. Thankfully it hadn't rained recently otherwise the passage would have been incredibly hard.

 Later on, the way becomes smooth, moist ground. Every now and then there is a small station, or a larger shrine. Later on, the path becomes strewn with boulders and the going gets tougher. It was the second half of the climb that is the hardest, as the steepness becomes quite pronounced. It was doubtful that the group could efficiently navigate the boulders on the way down.

Nevertheless, we got some very nice views to the lake. Later, we reached a temple where some people prayed and where I was viciously attacked by a small dog. It looked quite friendly initially, but it tried to bite me when I tried to pet it. Do Japanese dogs hate me?

There was also a small hut next to the temple, which might be useful in an emergency, but which had no facilities.

Going up, we met many people, including an investment banker who hated money and had lived in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Brussels and Los Angeles. When asked why he was wearing gloves for a hike (as many other people did) he answered that it was to protect his very sensitive skin, which I found hilarious. I am not sure if he was joking, though.

We also met a group of people from Fujinkoron, who were very friendly, and which later invited us to meet them in Tokyo. I think that would be an excellent opportunity to practice some Japanese. Overall, I found Japanese people quite friendly, and even eager to socialise, in the mountains, as opposed to the town (though of course they are unfailingly very friendly).

Final climb to the top

Actual final climb to the top, no really

Yet another view

Part of the top

The way to the top was relatively easy and smooth, as the mountain rounded up. The way was now strewn with frozen lava rocks, which are surprisingly light. The view from the top was majestic and there was another small shrine, a statue, a mark signifying the peak, and a road that continued to the north and north east. We took this opportunity to eat a meager lunch, which was enough to fortify us for the time being.

On the way down, I looked for a way to avoid the boulder field. There was a road marked as passing near the path at the 2150m mark, so I ventured in to the thick woods a few times, until I spied some kind of structure and flat ground a bit below. I scrambled down in the soft mush of mud and rotten leaves to reach a narrow path. Sure enough, following the path west, and I reached an aerial section, made of not very secure wooden planks, that was crossing a water duct, and connected to an asphalt road. I then returned to pick up the group from the main path and we started upon the asphalt.

Connection with the road

View from the waterway

The asphalt road was longer: starting from 2150m, it took us down to 1300m in 7km, while the direct path is 3km. It is also much much faster as we passed many groups that had zoomed ahead of us on the way down the steeper path.

A metal structure of doubtful purpose

On the way down, we chanced upon a goat's leg which somehow had been detached from the rest of the goat, as well as cryptic signs that depicted a sideways mushroom leaving two thunderbolts in its wake - white on a blue background. The three proferred explanations where that it had something to do with hunting (bullets flying through the air), earthquakes (fault lines?) or sounds (megaphone?). In the end Katerina's guess was the closest: it means 'sound your horn'.

Later on we found the remains of two more goats. One had three legs - the other one was nearly whole. They didn't seem eaten as the skin and hair were quite whole. 

On the way back, I talked a bit more to our Japanese fellow mountaineers, which was good fun. They were going straight to Tokyo, but we wanted to have dinner there. In the end, we just missed the next train, so we had to stay for an hour anyway. We passed up on freshly made bean paste sweets (thinking we'd have them for dessert) in favour of sushi. Sadly, the bean paste shop was closed when we went back.

The way back was slightly longer (2.5 instead of 2 hours) and took us to Tokyo SkyTree. It cost about 2,000... At SkyTree we talked to a train employee about the tickets (showing all our receipts and our Tokyo rail cards) and I think that we now have the rail system figured out...