Oono Mountain - Part 1

Last week, I joined my monthly mountaineering group for a New Year hike in Kanagawa. Located south of Lake Tanzawa, we planned a mochi themed hike up Mount Oono. Mochi is pounded rice cakes and are traditionally eaten during the New Year holidays. The mountain is not a giant, rising only 723.1 meters high.

The meet up location was Yaga station on the JR Gotemba line. This line is unique in that you cannot access the train using an electronic Pasmo/ Suica card. Tickets must be bought beforehand!
Information on various electronic train cards in Japan is HERE. (via Japan Guide)

Yaga station sign:

Yaga station: 

From the mountain hut style station, we turned right, following the road to a suspension bridge. Here, we spotted the first trail marker:

The sign reads: Oono Mountain Hiking Course

Crossing the suspension bridge: 

From the end of the bridge, hikers should turn left. From that point onward, are many trail signs pointing the way. The hike should take approximately 1.5 hours up and 1 hour down.

Mount Oono is actually one mountain in a large hiking area. The nearest large town, Kitayama, provides free maps to hikers. Maps can be picked up at JR Kitayama station-- just ask.

Map below shows large hiking area and various trails:

This mountain is frequented by school children, as there is a working cattle farm near the summit. For that reason, the trail also had a lot of toilets along the route. This one below, was brand new. I love the chalet / hut style architecture.

Mountain toilet:

As mentioned earlier, there are many trails in the area. We constantly kept our eyes open for the wooden sign posts marked 「大野山」:

The entire trail up was wide with quite a few stairs. It was also covered with dead leaves, which made some parts slippery. 

Halfway up, our group came across a rest station with styrofoam coolers close by. Inside, a local resident was selling their homemade goods! Prices were $2 ~ 4 dollars.

In this box: juice, vegetables and dried peppers

Box #2 held homemade jams, pickles, spreads and vegetables:

Cultural point: 

In Japan, it's common to find road side fruit and veggie stands with no one there. Japanese are usually quite honest, so people pay for their items by dropping money into a coin box, located next to the food. The seller will collect the money at the end of the day. It's definitely unique!

Below the summit, the clouds cleared and we got a fantastic view of Mount Fuji!

My hiking friend took a photo of me. Another hiker said: "Oh! It's a perfect shot for a New Year greeting card!" In Japan, people exchange cards during the New Year holiday, much like sending out Christmas cards.

Cutenekko presents: Mount Fuji! Yay!

I will post more photos from the summit and of our mochi lunch next time. I hope you'll be back to visit soon. ^_^

~ Information ~ 

Mount Oono is located in western Kanagawa, close to Shizuoka. A map of the location is HERE. (via Google Maps) The nearest shinkansen station is Odawara. 

Access to the hiking area: 

Hikers usually start at either of two stations: 

-- Yaga or

-- Kitayama 

Both are on the JR Gotemba line. From Yokohama, expect to take 1.15 hours. Cost one way: approximately ¥1,000 ($10). A route map is below: 

Hiking tips:

-- There are many toilets, so no worries!

-- Follow signs marked [ 大野山 ] I didn't see any English sign posts, sorry.

-- Expect to take 2.5 hours from Yaga station, traveling up Mount Oono, and descending down, arriving at Kitayama station. 

For those who can read Japanese, there are excellent sites with hiking information and stats about Oono Mountain HERE and HERE.

Iiyama & Shiroyama

Despite my pre-graduate studies having begun, I did manage to slip out of my apartment yesterday to enjoy some fresh air in the mountains. Close to the more famous, Ooyama, lies two smaller mountains called: Iiyama and Shiroyama. Their respected kanji characters mean: rice mountain and white mountain.

In Japan, it's traditional to visit a shrine or temple after the New Year for prayers; I hadn't done so, so a friend and I hiked up the part of the mountain to visit Iiyama Temple to give prayers. It was here, I took photos using my cell phone, as I had forgotten to bring my camera.  Unfortunately, my cell phone camera's quality is quite poor, so the photos aren't high resolution. I'm very sorry, but hope you can get a sense of the temple grounds via the pictures. Enjoy!


The front gate of the temple, featuring a God guarding the way: 

After climbing some steep steeps, we entered the temple's main grounds. Featured up front was a caldron in which incense sticks were placed. People believe the smoke, when wafted over parts of the body, will cure a person of any aliments. I hadn't been sleeping well and am also worried about my upcoming studies, so I tossed the smoke over my head in hopes of peaceful studies and sleeping well during this year.

Stone lanterns line the way, with the caldron for incense in the middle:

I loved this single tree set up with discarded fortunes. If you receive a bad fortune at a temple, it's custom to tie it to a tree branch in hopes the bad luck will "blow away with the wind".

More tied paper fortunes: 

An interesting point about this temple: there are many hiking courses and trails. According to maps posted in the area, should you wish to complete the entire course, it runs 3.4 kilometers and takes approximately 2 hours to complete. There are many temples and shines along the route, so it's quite a nice hike. The trails are a little steep, but well marked, so it's easy for beginners. I'll be sure to come back and give it a go. ^_^

These signs below surprised me most: there are also trail running courses! Further down the road from the temple is an office, which provides lots of information, maps and guides for trail runners. I'm interested so I'll give this a shot when the weather warms up.

Trail running course signposts: 
Orange sign: Momiji course 
White sign: Sakura course
Blue sign: Ayame course

At the base of the temple stairs was this stone centerpiece: a pagoda and a Buddhist statue. 

Iiyama temple is very famous for its Sakura Festival, held in late March to mid April, due to the numerous cherry blossom trees in the area. There is also a children's park at the bottom of the temple grounds, which is perfect for kindergarten to elementary aged children.


~ Information ~ 

Iiyama and Shiroyama are located in central Kanagawa. The area also hosts a number of natural hot springs. 

Access: Odakyu Train Line to Hon Atsugi station. Change to a Kanachu bus getting off at Iiyama-Konnonmae-Nishi. Follow the stairs on your right,  through the large wooden gate, all the way up to temple. Price not known, just take a Pasmo (electronic pre-paid travel card). 

English info is HERE. 

A video showing this temple in great detail is below. (courtesy of James Kemlo via You Tube)