After a long interval, we
went hiking in Hira mountains. We left home at 7:40. It was cloudy
and rained a little in the morning. Trees in the mountains began
turning yellow, sapphire and brown. Gradation of the brown and
yellow leaves were just like a picture Higashiyama Kaii painted
in a Japanese way.
It cleared up when we reached the top, Bunagatake. It was lovely
walking in a ridge of Mt.Hira.
弘一
日本画を 填めてみたるや 山の秋
Autumn Mountains,
A Japanese painting picture are
Before my eyes
This summer, we went to Yakushima Island to see Jomon-sugi Cedar with our own eyes. Some areas of Yakushima Island are inscribed as a World Nature Heritage Area. It is really great natural environment from antiquity to the present ｄay. We learned that cedars over 1,000 years old are known as Yaku-sugi, and those less than 1,000 years old are called "Ko-sugi"(tiny cedar). The Yaku-sugi cedars living today are prohibited to cut down. Yakushima Island's forestry centers on artificially planted cedars and Domaiboku stumps, which are the trees fallen many years ago by natural disasters (typhoon, etc.). Jomon-sugi trecking tour was as follows;
Leaving Hotel (4:50 am) --Arakawa tramcar Starting point (6:50) -- Great Stump route entrance (10:50) -- Okina sugi(old man cedar) --Wilson's Stump --Lunch (near Daio-sugi) (11:50) -- Jomon-sugi Cedar (12:45 -13:00) --Great Stump route entrance (15:00) -- Remains of Kosugidani Primary & Junior High School (16:30) -- Arakawa tramcar Starting point (17:15) -- Returning to the hotel (18:35) 41,114 steps
There were many things that impressed us while walking up a mountain path to the Jomon-sugi Cedar. We saw the ruins of small school that used to be there for the children of the forestry workers in the mountain. The school was closed in 1970, when EXPO '70 in Osaka was held. At the resting spot there, we pressed a button and listened to the school song from the loud speaker there, which Yaku-chou Board of Education might have installed for the Jomon-sugi walkers. Children's vigorous voice moved me a lot. People's society or daily life here lasted very short in the cedar-mountains that have lasted for thousands of years. Actually school children and their parents lived there for certain periods.
Everlasting green forest was the second thing that moved me a lot. Mosses and ferns had made all the visible sceneries into the world of various green-colors. Mosses were very thick and like a sponge when touched.
On many of the very big stumps were new small cedars growing up. Cedar seeds flown from somewhere landed on the stump and were joining the everlasting forest. Generations change.
Jomon-sugi Cedar was far. It is the largest cedar on Yakushima Island. It is 16.4 meters in circumference. There are different theories as to the age of the tree, ranging from 2600 to 7200 years, but nobody knows for certain. It was big enough. I remembered the American red wood I saw in Yosemite National Park while visiting San Francisco more about 30years ago.
The tram rail path felt very long. It took us about 10 unexpectedly long hours and we got very tired, but we surely enjoyed this trip.
弘一
切り株の 魂となり 新芽立つ
A sprout grows up,
A big old cedar stump's
new spirit縄文杉 幾千年の 夏の空
A summer sky
Above the Jomon-sugi Cedar,
thousands of years passed苔清水 緑の絵師と 生きてをり
Water drippin' on mosses
gives life to every thing around
as a great green painter屋久杉や 教え子嫁ぎし 南風（はえ）の島
Thousands year-old Yaku-cedars,
my former student married
to the island of south winds
登喜子 Under Construction
We enjoyed hiking in Mt. Hiei. Mt. Hiei is a very popular mountain in Kyoto for Enryaku-ji around the top.
We hiked up starting Kirara-zaka on the route where the cable car goes up near. The route on the way was so steep. Lots of fallen and rotten woods lied there. The route had lots of steps with different heights.
When we reached the top, we enjoyed seeing fine views. After lunch we dropped at Konpon-chudo, which is a national treasure building. Inside the building, it was dark. Three dim-light-lanterns placed in the center have been kept burning for about a thousand years. The lantern is now lighting the present world. It's an incredible history. It is very interesting indeed.
The return route to Sakamoto was rather long. There was Kino Tsurayuki's tomb halfway down the mountain.
We were a little tired.登喜子
踏み行きて 雨にじみ出る 竹落葉
With steps on the ground,
Rain water comes out of the pile
Of fallen bamboo leaves千年の 灯の沈みたる 闇涼し
Cool in the dark,
Lanterns have lit softly
for a thousand years
弘一
ウグイスと 競演するかな 比叡の鐘
Nightingales in the mountain,
The temple bell of Hiei-zan tolls;
Competitive performance睡蓮を のぞき見る雲 池に映え
Water lilies bloom,
Clouds reflecting themselves on the pond
look off the flowers
We enjoyed walking on a hill-side path called "Yamanobe-no-michi"on June 7, 2003. We started walking at Sakurai Station around 10:00. It was fine in the morning. The sky showed that summer is around the corner. We saw an old wall-relief of Buddha on the way. Plum trees in the orchard there were heavy with their green fruit.
There were vegetables, plum fruit, flowers and strawberry vending stands with nobody at the stand on the route. We bought a lot as usual. The sweet fragrance od strawberries came toward us in winds when we were walking . It was nice. The sweetness in the air too was telling us summer is coming soon.
Then we met very heavy thunder shower on the way. We fortunately found refuge from the heavy rain. Thunder cracked the sky with lightning. I have never experienced thunder and lightning in the field and mountains. Nature is super. I thought ancient gods in the sky were dancing with joy giving us much water for the rice planting.
We walked for about 5 hours that day. It was tough.弘一
緑葉に 玉のごとき 青梅かな
Green plum fruit
are just like jewel beads
among green leaves
We enjoyed one-hour-hiking up in Ten-nou-zan, May 4, 2003. It was a fine day and we saw many hikers walking down and up in Ten-nou-zan.
Ten-nou-zan is a hill in southern Kyoto Prefecture. The Yamazaki district at the foot of the hill was the site of a decisive battle where Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeated the force of Akechi Mitsuhide, the murderer of Oda Nobunaga, in 1582.
While we were enjoying eating lunch at the top, a family sat near us and they enjoyed lunch, too. Father and Mother and a son and a daughter, they talked very merrily. They looked the happiest family.
登喜子
若衆の 御輿担ぐは 佳かりけり
Oh, beautiful,sacred palanquin on the shoulder
of young shrine parishioners
山めざし すれ違いたり 祭人
On the Mountain pass
I pass shrine festival guys
Heading down from the top緑陰に 楽しき親子 隣り合う
In the shade of trees
A chatting family is
beside us
弘一
新緑も 親子の会話 聞いてをり
Fresh green leaves, too
listen to the laughing chats
of parents and children
若葉風 我をつきぬけ 青空へ
Fresh green breeze
goes through my body
to the blue sky
天王山 京を眺めし 今昔
Ten-nou-zan
comands a view of Kyoto
as it was and as it is
We
went on a cherry viewing picnic in Yoshino, which is one of the
most famous and popular cherry viewing spots in Kansai area.
The weather was not good but not bad. It was raining in the morning
and around the noon fine but cloudy with occasional showers of
rain after that.
Yoshino was very beautiful with its cherry blossoms called "Lower Thousand Cherry
Trees, Shimo-senbon", "Middle Thousand Cherry
Trees, Naka-senbon", and
"Upper Thousand Cherry
Trees, Kami-senbon". Upper
Thousand Cherry Trees were not in bloom, but the other cherry
trees were so beautiful, which covered the mountainside of Yoshino.
Yoshino, a temple village on a ridge line of Mt. Yoshinos was
among the clouds and surrounded by those cherry trees. The village
looked another place away from city life. It was a cloud castle
filled with cherry blossoms.
登喜子
山間を ぐるりまわりて なお桜
Hiking around
On a mountain path of Yoshino,
Still in cherry blossoms
しんとして 桜の息吹 こだまする
Silence---
only breath of cherry blossoms
echoes in mountains桜餅 吉野の山を 一口に
Sakura-mochi,
I take in the Yoshino mountains
in a mouthful*Sakura-mochi :rice cake wrapped in a cherry leaf
段々の 桜の陰に 太閤舞う
Among the cherry trees
On terraces of theYoshino Mountains
Taiko danced*Taiko:old shogunette, Hideyoshi Toyotomi
弘一
ぜんまいも 背をもたげての 花見かな
Tiny fresh ferns
lift their spiral heads up
to enjoy cherry blossoms遠山も 桜の里も 雲にあり
Over the clouds are
a village blooming cherry blossoms
and distant mountains深吉野は 桜の盛り 夢の色
Oh, Yoshino,
Cherry trees with a dreamy color
are in full bloom桜舞う 花咲爺の 心意気
Shower of cherry blossoms,
Hanasaka jiji shows
his spirit* Hanasaka jiji: the old man who made tress bloom
(Japanese old folk tale)
We went hiking in Mt Hando
(664m) in Shiga prefecture. We left home at 8:25 and took JR
line to Kibukawa.Station in Kusatsu Line. There we headed for
Mt. Hando. It was a lovely day, warm, sunny, clean. We found
horsetails and butterbur sprouts coming out of the rice field
banks on the way. Butterbur sprouts are tiny but their green
leaves are so fresh under the warm sun. We picked some of them
planning to cook as tempra (flied food), spring food on the dinner
table.
Mt. Hando was not so high but near the top the route was so steep
with rocks and stones. The top of Mt Hando was not large but
it commanded a fine view of the distant mountains across the
Lake Biwa. Mt Hiras were snow-capped. They looked like floating
in the spring mist. Oumi-fuji (Mt. Mikami) looked small seen
from the top of Mt Hando.
While we were hiking we felt spring has come here and there in
the mountain. Green leaves caught warm sun light in laps and
ruffles. We felt happy being alive, walking together.
登喜子
ふきのとう 摘む手やさしく 濡れにけり
Cool velvety dews
touch my hands when picking
butterbur sprouts
土筆あり 音符のごとく 踊りけり
Horsetails
grow dancing like musical notes
on a rice field bank
山里は かすみの中に 眠りをり
In spring mist
A village surrounded by mountains
Lies peacefully弘一
陽いっぱい 畦のつくしの 背くらべ
In bright light of the sun
Horsetails on a rice field bank
Compete how tall they are
杉林 静かな沢音 絶えずして
In cedar woods
Quiet sounds of brook water
echo incessantly
春霞 比良の白嶺 遠く見ゆ
In spring mist
Snow-capped Ｍt. Hiras
appear in the distance
Spring is now around the corner.
春休み 娘の笑顔 心ひらく
We planned hiking in a snowy mountain this time. Mt. Kongo (1125m) is one of the most popular winter-hiking mountains in Kansai area. We chose Mt. Kongo.
We left home at 7:20 am and took Keihan Line to Yodoyabashi. Transferred at Yodoyabashi to Midousuji Line Subway and went to Namba. Then changed again. We took Nankai Line and went to Kawachi-nagano. There took a bus to Kongosan-noborikuchi. It was a long way before we hiked up Mt. Knogo.
At the beginning of the path leading up to Mt. Kongo top the route was covered with iced snow, so we need to put on climbing irons. The route was not difficult, because wooden stairs were equipped almost to the top. A lot of people from primary school kids to old people were hiking in various color of wears. Even dogs joined hiking. Primary school kids are vigorous. Some of them were running up the slope.
Near the top of the mountain the scenery changed into a white world. Silver frost covered every twig and bough of the trees around. Twigs were glazed with white needle-like ice. It was the first time for us to see the silver frost.
As always, we enjoyed hot noodles at lunch. It was snowing while we were eating lunch.
It was very mysterious to walk in the silver frosted woods. Nature is beautiful.
Before going down the mountain we went to Konan-so, mountain inn and enjoyed taking a nice, long soak in a bath. (500 yen) It was so pleasant to take a bath at the top of the mountain.
Then we went back home. We arrived at our home at 17:30. My wife and I enjoyed today's hiking very much.
Tokiko
冬山に 色とりどりの 道一筋
In a mountain in winter,
A line of colorful wears leads up
toward the top
天をさす 樹氷や固き 意志のあり
Silver frost
Points at the sky as if
It had a strong will幾百年 雪に耐えたか 夫婦杉
An old Couple Cedar
Shows great patience to the snow
For hundreds of years
針の如 樹氷の先に 芽吹きあり
On a twig glazed
with needle-like silver frost,
early sproutsHirokazu
樹氷咲く 小枝の先に 新芽あり
Silver frosted trees,
push out tiny green leaves
on the tips of their twigs踏み入れば 山一面の 樹氷かな
A few steps further to the top,
Silver frosted trees appear in sight
All over there一面に 樹氷咲きて 山の夢
Mountains are in dream,
Trees are in full bloom
with silver frost雪山を 駆ける子らや 生命湧く
Snowy mountain path,
Children run and walk up
Energies well up within
平成15年1月
25日 January 25, 2003
We went to Kitano-Tenmangu in Kyoto to enjoy shopping antiques or small trees. Last year we bought an old spring wall clock. In the Kitano shrine some apricot trees were in bloom with tiny red blossoms. The shrine was fragrant with the blossoms, which seem to tell us spring is not far behind. Hatsutenjin is on the 25th of January, which is my eldest daughter's birthday. She is now 22 years old. Time flies.
弘一
紅梅の 薫り、娘は 二十二歳
Red apricot blossoms,
The fragrance floats in the air
My daughter becomes twenty-two紅梅の 観るほどに小さく 香りくる
Tiny red apricot blossoms
Smell sweet faintly all the more
As I stare at them
We started this year's first hiking on Jan. 4. We went to Mt. Atago (924m) again, which is very familiar to Kyoto citizens for its fire-protecting god shrine. As was last year, we left Kyoto Station bus stop at 8:30 and went to Kiyotaki bus terminal. We started the hike heading for Tsukinowa Temple (560m). Compared with the hike last year, there was more snowfall this year on the route. The way near the top was snow-packed.
The same state happened this year, too. That is my wife's pace was rather faster than mine. I couldn't keep up with her pace. I hiked up alone slowly with my pace. First she was irritated with my speed. After she noticed I had to walk up slowly because it was tough for me, she changed her pace. She said that she needs to think about diet meals for me much more than before. She thought it was because my weight prevented me from walking up rapidly. How kind my wife is!?
We reached Atago Shrine. We bought "hi-no-youjin" talismans and had lunch.
At lunch , we enjoyed outdoor gas burner cooking this year, too. We could eat hot meals in a very cold atmosphere.
We hiked down to Kiyotaki by way of Omote-sando to Mt. Atago this year. There were too many stone stairs. We got weak knees. It was 3:10 when we reached Kiyotaki bus stop. We came back home 5:00. Shijo street was too busy and it took more time to go back to Kyoto Station. We were very tired but enjoyed a lot this year, too.
中井 弘一 (Hirokazu)
火の神の 山、山、山に 雪が舞う
Snow flutters
covering every mountain
Of aboriginal fire god雪道の 神の山にて 年迎ふ
A new swear of the year
On the top of god mountain
After hiking up snow-covered way寒風に 心膨らせ 深呼吸
Against cold winds,
Deep breathing
To fill my heart with push
中井 登喜子
雪道を 踏みしめ祈りの 登山かな
Firm step by step
on a snowy way to the top
I walk up praying白息を 手にかけ詣で 愛宕山
Atago-yama,
white breath on my hands
on the way to top
山川を 点描したる 粉雪かな
Falling powder snow
Dot-paints the scenery
Of mountains and riversAnother year is over and 2003 has come.
Shakespeare wrote,
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwilling to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon
With spectacles on the nose and a pouch on the side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
No teeth, no eyes, no taste, no everything, "What stages are we on?
When a person gets old, he or she tries to hold on to the image of his/her youth, tries to keep the memory or the hope of his/her earlier and more lively age alive by dreaming the adventure that will never fit him/her again.
My wife and I will continure hiking up in montains to recover some energy that youth has in abundance.
Hirokazu
満天に 煩悩響いて 年がゆく
To the whole starry sky
earthly desires in a temple bell sound,
another year is over