伊吹山
Ibukiyama
1.377 m
29. Oct 2011
When we departed in Takasaki early in the morning, daylight just started – clear weather, blue sky. The night was short – almost sleepless. After 2 hours’ drive we stopped for breakfast at Kisokomagatake parking area with a beautiful view on this mountain. This hike I will have do another day …
After we passed Inuyama, we lost one hour in a traffic jam. Finally, before noon, we arrived at the bottom of Ibukiyama. Temperature was around 26 degree – good weather for hiking, I started the tour.
After walking through forest, the trail went up the skiing area. Several paragliders enjoyed their flight above us. I met many people on the trail, and there was lots of time to think about “why to hike mountains” and “the happiness of the heart”.
No. 1) “Why to hike mountains” – I still cannot answer fully. Maybe because we can think about a lot of things while hiking and have time for ourselves and own feelings
No. 2) “The happiness of the heart”. This day I understood, that if we search for it, most likely we will not find it. At least not, as long as we do not open our hearts for it. It is nothing what can be found by logical way with compass or other technical equipment. So, if we cannot find it, where is it? Maybe it is always around us. And in some moments, when we allow or can accept it, we feel it in our hearts.
This mountain hike was too short to get a deeper understanding about it, I will have to continue to hike and think about these topics.
When I reached the top, I was surprised about the shape of the mountain. It looks like a thick mountain on which you can walk around easily but it is more like a mountain ridge. From one side (towards lake Biwako) you can hike in about 3 hours, from the other side you can drive by car almost to the top and then walk for about 30-60 min., depending on which trail you choose.
On the top, there was a shrine and several souvenir shops. On many mountains in Japan there are shrines. They are build there to pray and honor the natural scenery or things, for example trees, rocks, spring … as in Shinto these are all spiritual places.
Hikone-castle and garden is about 30 min drive from Ibukiyama and definitely worth visiting. Its one of the most beautiful castles in Japan.
Hiking-Keydata:
伊吹山 Ibukiyama 29.Oct. 2011
Start 伊吹山登山口 Ibukiyamatosanguchi 12:00 pm 200 m
Trail up 三合目 Sangoume 1:15 pm 770 m
Top 伊吹山 Ibukiyama 2:20 pm 1.377 m
Finish 伊吹山ドライフウェイ山頂駐車場
Ibukiyama-drive-parkingarea 3:45 pm 1.240 m
Duration: 3 h 45 min Distance: 7 km Height: 1.328 m
