Sun-women and the non-fuzzy mountain

photo by Natsuko Okaniwa

A national holiday on a weekday in mid-September: rest is tempting but the sun is peaking out between clouds.  Exhaustion takes a rain-check; fall slips away too fast to miss it.

A friend and I throw together a last minute plan.  We want a nice view but not too long of a trek.  Just about an hour from Nagano city, Ke-nashi yama, it means “no fur mountain”.  From the trail head parking lot we’re above the treeline, thus revealing the mountain’s name; with no trees the mountain doesn’t look fuzzy like the rest.  Sunny, but windy, fog clouds begin to pass through, causing intermittent blindness in the scenery.  We snap photos between the clouds.

We step into Gunma prefecture for a moment.  Then, back to Nagano.

Our attention is caught by a zig-zag trail through a shimmering field.  It’s not Ke-nashi, but with such fussy weather, we agree it’s best to hit that peak, Hafudake, first; it’s only a 30 minute hike.

photo by Natsuko Okaniwa

As we climb the trail the sun comes out, casting a light on Gunma’s landscape like littlefoot’s great valley.  My friend says we are sun-women.  She explains to me the old Japanese superstition of the ame-onna, a woman whose presence seems to cause rain.  Conversely, we are hare-onna, bringing the sunshine with us, painting the mountain in gold as we climb.  I love the image.

photo by Natsuko Okaniwa

At the top of Hafu-dake, we get a glimpse of Nagano’s side of the valley before the fog envelops us again.  Peering over the cliff into opaque clouds has an ominous, but thrilling feel.

photo by Natsuko Okaniwa

After making our way down, we spot the trail to Ke-nashi yama, and start up the non-fuzzy mountain.  Half-way, we break for a humble lunch of calorie-mates and trail-mix.  Higher up than the sister peak, the wind is more intense and the fog limits us to a few-meter’s of vision at times.  The trail is not as clear from our rest point onward, and it’s nearly 3pm.  We decide to leave the peak of Ke-nashi for another day, as our sun-women powers seemed to diminish.

On the trail back, Several bright green patches of moss catch our eyes.  For the mountain without fur, they seem so fluffy and inviting.  I jump in.

photo by Natsuko Okaniwa

Another day above the clouds, Nagano just has so much left to explore.