Sakura Blooms and Other Poetic Things: The Fires of Mount Hiei

Okay, so Mount Hiei has no fires—but let me tell you, as I walked up it, I felt fire in every single muscle in my body plus my lungs! Yes, that’s right, I climbed a mountain today. It took around three hours to get to the top (due to a couple of friends and I trying to make sure the stragglers didn’t get completely lost) and it was steep, steep, steep!

There were forty of us climbing the mountain

STEEP!

Originally, it was said to be pretty easy, but due to the flow of various people (mostly monks who lived at the temple at the top) basically wore the paths down to this:

The way they helped stop erosion in the paths was pretty interesting, a use of what I’ve seen for hills near roads with the addition of wire and staples, if you can believe it. I can’t wait to get back to the US and check out how paths are saved from erosion there—I wonder if there’s any difference…

So yes, I have been bitten by the hiking bug. Despite my wheezing attempts and running out of water (thanks Sharon for sharing!) along with the beautiful weather of what felt to be 80 degrees Fahrenheit and the blazing sun—I was told that I resembled a “cute tomato”—I had just about the time of my life. The higher we went up the mountain, the more impressive trees and greenery we saw.

The view from the first cable car landing

I learned to love roots and rocks with all my life. I would have been dead without them! The way up was pretty well worn, but I got some interesting pictures of root systems and moss.

When we stopped for lunch, it was at a wonderful outcropping that showcased the valleys and the nearby Lake Biwa. Not as big as the Great Lakes, Lake Biwa is one of Japan’s big lakes.

Right off in the distance was Lake Biwa--it looked like a piece of the sky!

Then we headed to Enryakuji Temple—the temple of the warrior monks! Located right in between the prefectures of Kyoto and Shiba, this is where the warrior monks (who terrorized towns until Oda Nobunaga razed the entire temple + surrounding foliage to the ground around the 1500s) worked and lived. It was very pretty, if also with some steep architecture.

The main temple was so gorgeous, I couldn’t take pictures. Nothing would have done it justice, plus the monks asked all visitors not to. The hardwood floors were as smooth as silk by the countless feet that had traversed them before me (we had to take off our shoes, you see). Along the outdoor corridors to the main temple, various school children’s calligraphy was displayed—it was beautiful~! Inside the temple, monks were chanting and the scent of incense filled the air. Sitting seiza, I was seized by the urge to leave the darkened inside and revel in the weather and the beauty of the outside temple.

Super steep steps I sprinted up

Lake Biwa again

From the cable car landing

And then I decided that I should walk down the mountain as well. I had cooled off by then and, though tired, thought to make the two hour walk with the teacher. And we started off. We passed a temple where the “marathon monks” train. In fact, they were training as we visited!

This training is extremely brutal, including walking the equivalent of two marathons along really bad mountain paths per day while fasting, not drinking, and not sleeping for nine days. This also includes drawing water from a well and bringing it up a dangerous set of stairs (where one of our number fell and twisted her ankle and had to be brought to the cable car at the top of the mountain) to offer it to the Buddha. If these tasks cannot be completed, the monk will kill himself. This is pretty dangerous—just last year a monk got killed by a wild boar while walking along the path.

The steps they walk up while fasting for the nine days

With this information conveyed, our teacher led us down a treacherous path. It was really narrow and really beautiful. To keep my balance, I mostly kept my camera in my backpack, but I took a few pictures. Unfortunately, the scenery was much of the type that you had to be there to appreciate it, because a camera lens cannot give it its due glory.