{"id":1027,"date":"2014-08-17T20:42:58","date_gmt":"2014-08-17T11:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/?p=1027"},"modified":"2014-08-18T16:38:44","modified_gmt":"2014-08-18T07:38:44","slug":"yanbushi-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/17\/yanbushi-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Yanbushi Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"140816_tree_stump_500\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some folks stayed home, but all those who\u00a0were out on the mountain had a great day. Some scrambled up the river, frenetic with energy. Others were content to plod along. No problem. Everyone has his or her own pace.<\/p>\n

\"140816_spider_290\"<\/a>\u00a0\"140816_frog3_290\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And some of those who lived<\/em> on the mountain seemed pretty much satisfied to stay in the spot they called home. They seemed to understand what the mountain was all about right there were they were.<\/p>\n

\"140816_giant_fungus_500\"<\/a>\"140816_yellow_mushroom_b_290\"<\/a>\u00a0\"140816_mushroom6_290\"\u3000<\/a>\"140816_mushroom5_290\"<\/a>\u00a0\"140816_mushroom3_290\"<\/a>\"140816_mushroom1_290\"<\/a>\u00a0\"140816_mushroom4_290\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It seems that those who come for the day see something magical in all the loose rock . . . and that they can’t stop themselves from picking up a big rock or a little stone and stacking it on top of another big rock or stone.\u00a0\u00a0For sure, as you climb the path along the Nishi Hikage River, here and there you’ll see stacks of rocks and stones.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a>\"140816_stone_shrine2_290\"<\/a>\u00a0\"140816_stone_shrine_290\"<\/p>\n

You can\u00a0choose your own word for one of these stacks: church<\/em>, temple<\/em>, shrine<\/em>, cute stack of rocks<\/em>. I prefer\u00a0temple,\u00a0<\/em>more or less because I like the sound of the word. Temple<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And you will<\/em> add a rock to a rising temple. Because you’ll feel something very nice on the mountain—how could you not, what with the way that river keeps<\/em> rushing, and the trees keep <\/em>growing, and what with your eyes discovering things growing like you never knew things could<\/em> grow, in all sorts of nooks and crannies,\u00a0in\u00a0shapes and sizes and colors that awaken <\/em>you, that sometimes even make you feel like you’re scuba diving in the sky?—and you’ll want to express your gratitude to the mountain for giving you that feeling.<\/p>\n

\"140816_yellow_something_500\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course you will.<\/p>\n

You’ll understand that the others, the ones who built up the temple you’re adding to—ones you’ll never meet—felt something pretty much the same as you did and\u00a0wanted to express the same gratitude, and that your\u00a0expression of gratitude is going to add to theirs . . . and that the dear souls who come after, well, they’re going to want to express\u00a0their gratitude\u00a0all the more, because of what you<\/em> added.<\/p>\n

\"140816_broken_bowl_400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last Saturday, before we got to the “temple zone,” I found a\u00a0\u00a0shard from a broken bowl. Yes, yes, life is perfect nowhere. There are broken bowls everywhere. But here you are closer to the temples that are being built. Here, it’s a bit easier to see that you can<\/em> build a temple from a broken bowl.<\/p>\n

\"140816_stone_shrine_broken_bowl_350\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yesterday, our party climbed steadily but also stopped\u00a0a lot to take pictures (and fiddle with the camera). Trailhead (8:30 am) –> Oo-iwa, <\/em>“the big rock” (9:25 am) –> Yomogi<\/em> Toge, <\/em>the Yomogi Pass (10:15 am) –> Yanbushi summit (12:05 pm). You can find good trail-defining pictures with trail times\u00a0for a November climb here.<\/a><\/p>\n

The first half of the trail follows the river\u00a0up—and takes you across <\/em>the river numerous times. Keep that in mind if it’s rained a lot before you go.<\/p>\n

\"140816_river_290\"<\/a>\u00a0\"140816_waterfall_290\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You’ll see lots of big rocks along the way, but believe me, you’ll know when you get to the<\/em> big rock. It’s big<\/em>. And there’s a sign that says this is the big rock<\/em> (\u5927\u5ca9\uff09.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"140816_big_rock_400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You\u00a0continue\u00a0along the river all the way to the pass. (Honesty compels me to tell you that a “small” landslide has made the last stretch to the pass a bit treacherous. There’s a rope you can hold on to, but it may be more than some want to try.)<\/p>\n

But let’s assume you get to the pass. Then it’s just a\u00a0lot of huffing and puffing up to the top of Yanbushi. If you want to rest, search out this “sitting tree.” (Sure, sure, which way would you<\/em> grow?)<\/p>\n

\"140816_sitting_tree_400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just before you get to the top, the trail widens, and on both sides of you, there are fields of small bamboo.\u00a0\u00a0Yanagiran<\/em> also grow in the open areas, but we were a couple of weeks too late, at least this year. We saw only a few blossoms. Willow<\/em> herb<\/em> or fireweed<\/em> may be translations for yanagiran<\/em>, literally “willow lily.”<\/p>\n

\"140816_yanagiran2_500\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On a clear day, you can see Fuji-san from the top of Yanbushi, but this day wasn’t clear.<\/p>\n

\"140816_foggy_summit_400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But it was lovely just the same . . . and what did it matter, we’d help build\u00a0a beautiful temple.<\/p>\n

\"140816_yanbushi_summit_sign_350\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some folks stayed home, but all those who\u00a0were out on the mountain had a great day. Some scrambled up the river, frenetic with energy. Others were content to plod along. No problem. Everyone has his or her own pace. \u00a0 And some of those who lived on the mountain seemed pretty much satisfied to stay … Continue reading Yanbushi Mountain<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1027"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1066,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027\/revisions\/1066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}