Tamami and I had been crazily busy, but we decided to take July 2, a Saturday, and drive up into Yamanashi Prefecture to the Nishizawa Gorge. From Shizuoka City it was a bit over two hours in the car.
The round-trip up the river and back through the woods was a bit over three hours. You can just walk up and down the river if you like, or you can return on a trail up above the river, from which you get a nice view of the surrounding mountains.
The waterfalls and pools are aplenty. Endless, it seems.
And if there is anything to learn, as you walk along, it is that WATER FALLS.
See. Waterfalls. Water-falls. Water falls.
Still falling.
From WHEN A SISSY CLIMBS A MOUNTAIN IN MAY
I got all confused abut something called “effortless action.” How could an action be effortless? If you were sitting down and wanted to stand, you had to make an effort, didn’t you? But there were passages about the nature of water, and after I’d read them a few times, I could kind of grasp the idea. . . . A drop of water might bead up on a level surface (surface tension?), but you can’t make a big mound of water. It runs downhill. It falls. Water. A waterfall. A water-fall. Water falls.
Still falling.
And falling.
Still.
Water is not contentious. If a raging, flooded river knocks over your log cabin, you might think water is a contentious bastard . . . but you’d be wrong. It. Just. Falls. Falling is its inner nature. Everything has an inner nature. Every PERSON has his or her own nature. So if you’re going to do the DO UNTO OTHERS thing and do it well, you’re going to have to learn to recognize different folks’ inner natures. I’m afraid, that includes, at least, folks all over the planet. Might include some beyond.
The name of one waterfall brought a smile to my face: “LOVE THREAD WATERFALL.”
Still falling.
Frog Rock.
The river takes a sharp turn, as you can see, but the water still falls. Actually, this is the last series of falls on the hike. Damage along the trail prevented us from getting the best view, but maybe they’ll get that worked out before you go!