After finding out that the walk I wanted to do was out of the question I asked for a recommendation and was told that the “rock garden” would be a possibility but that some places were a bit steep and maybe a little bit hard.

The walk starts off on the cedar forests and drops down to the side of a stream that winds its way through the forest. The beginning of the walk descends very quickly through the forest and I did pass some great windblown ice on trees.




After a little walking I came across the stream at the bottom of the valley and while I’m sure that it is very pretty during autumn when all of the leaves will have turned great autumnal colours it was pretty spectacular covered in snow. On more than one occasion I thought that I should have brought my cross country skis with me.




One of the things I wanted to do when I came to Japan was to catch a Japanese trout, or a “Yamame”. While walking up the valley I glanced into one of the pools beside the track and managed to catch a glimpse of a Yamame (against that wall just above the stick in the water).


At the top of the valley is the Ayahironotaki waterfall. The water from this waterfall is used for lustration ceremonies (purification) at the Mitake shrine. I guess it must have been the ceremony that accompanies the water because I don’t feel much different. Maybe I should have used the other lustration liquid available on the mountain? It was on the way up from the waterfall that I had the only moment on my walk when about 10 meters above the ground I slipped down the ice and managed to grab a bush on my way back down into the valley.




Walking down from the bottom of the mountain I came across a Yamame farm. At least I know that if I get to the end of my time in Japan and don’t manage to catch a wild Yamame I can sell my sole and go to the farm and catch one here. How may lustration ceremonies would it take to make me feel clean if I did this?

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