Mt. Tsukuba

Wanting to see some autumn foliage and hearing about how Mt. Tsukuba was a very sacred and spiritual site, that it was a twin to Mt. Fuji prompted me to go on a trip to Chiba to hike this famous mountain. The mountain was also unique in that it had two peaks as well and I wanted to bag them both. The trip was supposed to be straightforward but I had a bit of hiccups along the way such as the bus not taking me all the way to the trailhead and that I had to wait a long time for the next bus that coincidentally got stuck in heavy traffic on the way up which delayed the hike even more which made me quite stressed as I was running out valuable time. As soon as I got off the bus, I made a beeline towards the shrine and asked for some directions for the correct trailhead. I started off rushing and trying to put in as much effort as I can to catch up on time which ended with me being out of breath ever too often but I still pushed forward nevertheless. The hike went on like this for a while until I realized that I was wasting it and I should just enjoy the moment and as I slowly moved up, through boulders and shrines, the trees also started to change in colors, coloring the forest with yellow, orange and red. The shrines along the way made it clear that the mountain housed a lot of kami.

Surprisingly, I made it up to the summit pretty quickly, but this was just the first summit for the day. I made a brief stop by a soba restaurant to replenish some energy and relax for a bit. I set off for the next summit expecting it to be a hard journey but I guess the maps online bloat the time a bit as I arrived pretty quickly to the other side but it provided a much more gorgeous view of the Kanto plain. This was also where the cable cars were but I ignored them and made my way to the nearby observatory and then up toward the actual summit where another shrine was. From there, I took an off the beaten path loop for nature researchers that finally took me away from the crowds and I was able to get some alone time which made this one of the best and most relaxing part of the hike for me. I went back down afterwards offering some 1 yen coins to some kami and at the base of the mountain, I once again approached the main shrine with a lucky 5 yen coin wishing for diving aid in helping me let go of some mental and emotional baggage which surprisingly worked and I was able to grow a lot as a person after Mt. Tsukuba. I was also blessed with a nice sunset on the way back to the bus stop, seeing the town's silhouette as it took us to the train station.Læs mere