The drive up was rather perilous. Mountain roads are extremely narrow and curvy, meaning that you can't see much and cars/trucks/cyclists/people pop out from seemingly nowhere... The ride up the mountain was so curvy that my friend was car sick. I was fine, just a little nervous.
The hike was about 3 hours, it was more of a walk than a hike. The colours hadn't changed yet but it felt like winter on the mountain. There are a bunch of mountains in the area as well as a pond and lake. Apparently there are bears and deer. I saw signs warning to beware of bears and every hiker was wearing a bear bell. Not that it means much. Everyone seems to wear bear bells, regardless of bears existing or not. We saw physical evidence of deer but didn't see any real animals.
At the end of the hike, we went to Akagi Jinjya (shrine). To get to it, we crossed a remarkable red bridge (You can see it in the pictures). The city where this park is located is called "Maebashi" or 前橋, which means in front of bridge. Perhaps it is referring to this bridge. The shrine was on a peninsula in lake Onuma. Onuma lake is a crater lake and apparently in the spring, you can find skunk cabbage there! Ha ha. It's rare and special in Japan. It was really pretty and picturesque. Before entering the shrine, it is customary to cleanse yourself: First you wash your left hand, followed by your right hand, next you wash your mouth and finally you rinse the ladle. The decoration for the "cleansing water" was a cool dragon (you can also see that in the pictures). Outside of the shrine there was a place where people write their wishes on wood blocks, a lot of them were asking for cute babies. I don't believe this shrine is a fertility shrine. In Shintoism, it is believed that gods live in the mountains, so the shrines in the mountains are built for the gods of the mountain.
Here are some pictures from hike:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/100942110@N04/sets/72157636714546346/
At the end of the hike, we went to Akagi Jinjya (shrine). To get to it, we crossed a remarkable red bridge (You can see it in the pictures). The city where this park is located is called "Maebashi" or 前橋, which means in front of bridge. Perhaps it is referring to this bridge. The shrine was on a peninsula in lake Onuma. Onuma lake is a crater lake and apparently in the spring, you can find skunk cabbage there! Ha ha. It's rare and special in Japan. It was really pretty and picturesque. Before entering the shrine, it is customary to cleanse yourself: First you wash your left hand, followed by your right hand, next you wash your mouth and finally you rinse the ladle. The decoration for the "cleansing water" was a cool dragon (you can also see that in the pictures). Outside of the shrine there was a place where people write their wishes on wood blocks, a lot of them were asking for cute babies. I don't believe this shrine is a fertility shrine. In Shintoism, it is believed that gods live in the mountains, so the shrines in the mountains are built for the gods of the mountain.
Here are some pictures from hike:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/100942110@N04/sets/72157636714546346/
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