Nokogiriyama and Daibutsu

Daibutsu sits peacefully on the mountain side.

Across the bay from Tokyo lies the Bōsō Peninsula; to north end you will find Narita airport where a lot of people fly in to experience the wonders of Japan. My work in Tokyo always takes place towards the southern end of the Peninsula, in a town called Kimitsu, which I have written about before. On this occasion, I had a bit of time up my sleeve and so I asked my interpreter for some ideas of things to see and do. One of his suggestions was to check out the Ropeway up to the top of Nokogiriyama, Chiba prefecture's "sawtooth mountain".

After arriving to Haneda early on Friday 15th July, 2016, I made my way to the bus ticket counter; when you come out of Immigration at Haneda airport, it's on the left side of the Arrivals hall. From here, you can get buses to basically anywhere you might want to go in the greater Tokyo area. Kimitsu is almost directly opposite Haneda airport, across the bay. A ticket on the bus, which will cross the bay's bridge/tunnel will cost ¥1350 and takes about 1 hour to get there. This was only the second time I'd gone by bus - previously, I always arrived to Narita and caught the train. That costs about the same (maybe ¥100 more), but it wakes twice as long, plus you have to transfer at Chiba, which is not much fun with a heavy suitcase!

Nokogiriyama, as seen from Hama-Kanaya Station.

Arriving to Kimitsu and checking in at my hotel, Grand Park Hotel-EX, I attended a meeting with my customer in the afternoon, and that was about it for the day. The following Monday was a public holiday in Japan - Marine Day, I believe, so that's why I needed some stuff to do with my spare time. On the Saturday, I jumped on a train and headed south down the coast, disembarking at Hama-Kanaya station. From here, you can see the mountain to your left as you exit, and it's less than 1km walk along the main road.

A small shrine at the corner of the road to the Ropeway.

Veering to the left, passed a small shrine, I came to the Ropeway entrance. A return ticket is ¥930, while one-way is ¥500. I grabbed the return ticket and hopped into the car. As you get in, the official photographer will snap a photo of you that you will be offered for sale on the way back down, but it's ¥1100! They might be less expensive if they didn't process and print them all before people buy them, but who am I to judge! Up the ropes we went, parking at the top around five minutes later. From here, you can head up to the roof of the building and get a nice view up and down the coastline. But the real fun starts as you begin your walk down the mountain track.

Looking up the Ropeway to our destination.

A hazy view along the coast from the top of the Ropeway.

The path that leads to the mountain track, Nihon-Ji and Daibutsu.

Make sure you have a good pair of shoes on, because some of the tracks are a little more rustic than others! It's a short walk down from the top of the Ropeway to get to the entrance of the park. It will cost ¥600 to get in, but it's a beautiful walk so very much worth it.

One of the more "rustic" pathways.

Just after the entrance, the path splits in three directions; to the left is the Jusshu Ichiran observatory (I went there at the end, so I'll come back to that) and to the right goes down the mountain. I followed the main track straight ahead, veering off to the right to check out the Hundred-Shaku (100-feet) Kannon. This was carved as a memorial to victims who died in the Second World War.

The path to the Hundred-Shaku Kannon.

The Hundred-Shaku Kannon.

Doubling back and continuing up the path, I reached the Rurikō Observatory. This is the "top" of the mountain in that, from here, the only way is down. There's an iconic outcrop here, on which you can climb out to the edge and get a completely unimpeded view over the valley.

The Rurikō Observatory, for those who dare.

Life is all about making sure you focus on the right things. ;-)

The sheer cliffs of the Rurikō Observatory.

A clear view over the whole valley.

From here, it's basically all downhill. You can choose a direct path to go to Daibutsu, but I chose instead to weave my way down the mountain through the many alcoves filled with statues of "Arhats"; enlightened peoples from the history of Buddhism. Some statues are in a state of disrepair due to various uprisings against Buddhism, while others are still in great condition. All up, there is reportedly around 1500 statues on display throughout the mountain grottoes.

It's a long way to the top if you wanna reach Nirvana.

Watch your step!

About halfway down the mountain, you will reach the coastal end (west) of the Daibutsu Approach; the road leading directly to Daibutsu. Along this way, the road is lined with shady trees and many beautiful Hydrangea blooms (if the time of year is right). 

Hydrangeas; known in Japan as Ajisai.

And then, of course, we come to the awesomeness that is Daibutsu. Carved in the late 1700s, Daibutsu stands (metaphorically) at a little over 30 metres high and is quite the sight to behold.

Daibutsu: the Big Buddha.

A selfie, just to prove I was actually there!

From the Daibutsu clearing, you can continue down the winding path towards the bottom entrance to the park. Here, you will pass a couple of small buildings and, eventually, Nihon-ji, the main Temple. However, when I visited, the Temple was under renovation and so I couldn't go up the steps to check it out. I caught a quick glimpse over a wall later, but there wasn't much to see.

I'm not sure what purpose this building serves, but it is quintessentially Japanese.

At first, I thought this was Nihon-ji, but later worked out it wasn't. Still pretty impressive, though!

A very Japanese-style pond next to the lower entrance to the park.

From the lower entrance, I was going to go out and figured I would walk back around via the road (hint: I don't think you actually can!). But I quickly remembered I had actually bought a return ticket for the Ropeway. And that meant climbing back up the mountain to the top!

Another cool little building whose purpose was not obvious.

The start of the stairs back to the top. Certainly got my exercise that day!

But hey, all of that climbing and sweating and panting was not for nothing. Upon reaching the entry point where I first came in, I continued up to the first Observatory which I had skipped on my way in. Be warned - it's a deceptively long way up to this one! But once I made it, the haze had cleared up and the view was pretty spectacular.

The view from Jusshu Ichiran Observatory.

Jusshu Ichiran Observatory.

Thoroughly exhausted from about 3 hours of walking and climbing, but at the same time, very relaxed from the peaceful experience, I headed back to the Ropeway to make my way back down. From there, I retraced my steps towards the train station, stopping at a small Ramen shop along the main road for a feed before heading back to Kimitsu.

Ropeway back down the mountain.

Ramen and Soba shop where I stopped for lunch.

A delicious soy-sauce ramen to refuel after a long morning of walking.