Making it Up As I Go

Towards the end of November we hiked up Mt. Takao to see the changing leaves. The pictures in this post are backwards, so they start at the top of the mountain and go back through our adventure.

A manhole cover.This (the red one with three v shapes) is the kanji for calamity- Zoe’s middle name. (No, really, it is her middle name.) (That kanji is actually only part of the kanji for calamity- this by itself is “woe”. But shhh!) Mt. Takao is considered a spiritual mountain. There’s a temple on the mountain (Takaosan Yakuoin Temple) in which a Buddhist god, Izuma Daigongen, is said to be enshrined. He has a beak with wings. Tengu (creatures with red faces and long noses or a beak) are said to protect the temple. The long nosed tengu is called daitengu, and the beaked tengu is called shoutengu.

Daitengu

Izuma Daigongen
Daitengu and Shoutengu and a flying squirrel. And a horse. Izuma DaigongenDaitenguZoetengu Shoutengu, Izuma Daigongen, Daitengu

BuddhaKannon You can hike all the way up the mountain from the bottom, or you can take a cable car or a chair lift up to half way. We took the chair lift.
We reminded each other the entire way up to “don’t shaking”.A kid gave tiny a balloon sword. It popped part way through our adventure. Tengu

The train station where it all started.