Prelude to Mt. Fuji: 

As some of you know, one of my life goals is to climb to the summit of Mt. Fuji, Japan.  In order to prepare myself for that climb in July, four of my fellow climbers, Robin Britt, Karrissa Dennis, Rebekah, and I headed to Yoneyamma,the highest peak in our prefecture, and started trekking up it.  Yoneyamma has several paths up it and we happen to choose one of the roughest ones.  Laura drove us to the start of the Odara trail, wished us good luck, and said to call if something happened along the way. 

The four of us                              Guardian markers in the village of Odaira.

It was a short hike through the village of Odaira to the head of the trail.  It was

marked with this sign 

 and took us passed an old, abandoned, thatched farmhouse.

As we moved up the trail, I was surprised to find this solitary grave beside the path since most Japanese villages have graveyards for the community..

The Odaira trail had some beautiful vistas.  

We met this little fella along the way. 

The trail was not anywhere near easy!  The path was usually this wide (About 18-24 inches) and this was a two-way path. 

Some of the places had steps that were more like ladders and in some places, we had to use ropes to climb up it. 

We reached the half way point in about an hour and a half.  From there we could see the summit and its buildings.

At one of our rest stops, we found this jizo.  A jizo is a guardian spirit for a particular area.  This one was the protector for this part of the trail.  If you look in the second photo, you can see that someone left an offering of candy so the this jizo would take special notice of them and give them added protection along the way.

The trail was pretty clean but there were still signs that hikers had came this way.  This tree seems to have been a favorite place for people to crave messages into.

After leaving the jizo, we found that we were running out of water.  It was in the upper 80’s so we were drinking a lot of water to try and keep hydrated.  Rebekah solved the problem when she found a sign that said;

“ Water Place 30 seconds.”  Boo and I followed the trail and found a spring of cool water coming out of the side of the mountain.  We filled up the bottles and rejoined the others for the final push up Yoneyama.

There are three buildings on the summit; a temple,

a restroom and a meeting room.  After a quick trip to the facilities, we went to the meeting room for lunch and a game of euche before heading down.

As we were heading down Yoneyama, Laura called and said that she would pick us up.  Originally we were going to walk to a train station and ride back from there.  Laura pick us up and that old van of ours looked pretty good.

At the base of the trail, the sun was just starting to go down, so I snapped this shot.

On the way back, we decided to celebrate our successful climb with expresso shakes for the adults (We didn't have any Klingon Blood Wine.) and donuts for the kids.

What did I learn from this experience?  First, you can’t lie to a mountain.  You might think that you’re in shape, believe you know the trail, made all the need preparations and have everything under control, but the mountain knows what you really are and how well you’ve prepared for your hike up her.  Yoneyama is a cold hearted lady who will not hesitate to show you how out of shape and ill prepared you are.  These lessons are taught with sore muscles and dry throats.  I suspect that Fuji san is even more cold hearted.  Second, the mountain reduces you to your basic thoughts.  You don’t think about your classes or studies, or what you are going to do after you get down.  You think of only taking the next step.  After that, taking the next step until you rest, make it to the top or reach the bottom..  Taking the next step is where you focus all your energy and concentration.  Everything else becomes unneeded baggage.  I’m still working through all the feelings, insights, and impressions I have from climbing Yoneyama, and I can’t quite put them into words, but I believe, somehow, I am a better person for having done so.  I believe that Fuji will teach me similar, and perhaps, deeper lessons when we climb her on July 18th

Giant Kites and Octopus Balls.

In Japan, everything has a time and a place.  You can expect certain things to happen simply because it’s that time of the year.  Sunday was one of those times.  For 350 years in the village of Shirome there has been an annual kite fighting festival.  The origin of this event is essentially an Asian version of the Hatfields and McCoys feud set in Japan.  Shirome has a man-made river that runs through it.  The river bisects the town into the West and East Banks.  Each of the Banks were responsible for the upkeep of their side of the river and the levees that protected the rice fields from flooding.  In May, 1737, the local ruling family, the Mizoguchi Clan, celebrated the birth of a son and invited the head of East Shirone village, Kamiyama Chubei to the party.  In honor of the son, a giant kite, daiko, made of 30 paper panes was built.  At the end of the celebration, the kite was given to Kamiyama-san as a token of thanks for the work he and the East Bankers had done on the levees.  Kamiyama decided he had to rub the West Bankers’ nose in the fact that the East Bankers had been honored and they hadn’t and took the kite down to the river to fly it.  The kite got off the ground but crashed on the west side into the house of a farmer named Mataemon.  Mataemon had a long standing grudge against the East Bankers and he took this accident as a deliberate insult towards him and all West Bankers.  With the help of his friends and neighbors, Mataemon built another giant kite.  The West Bankers took the kite to the river, launched it and kamikazed Kamiyama’s house with it.  Lord Mizoguchi put the kibosh on the escalating kite war by declaring the two sides would hold a kite fighting festival. So, each year the two sides of Shirome gather on the banks of the Nakakuchigawa to see who gets splashed and who soars to victory.  

We started the day with a trip to Shirone's Kite Museum.

As you enter in, there is this wall hanging to your left. The kanju is the word tako or kite.   It's a symbol that most of the people in the kite fights have on their clothes.

How big  are these kites?  The woman in the middle of this photo is 5' 3".  Most of the fighting kites are 30 feet long by 12-15 feet wide.  The usual theme on a kite is either a samurai hero or one of the Shito gods.

However, not all of the kite at the museum were fighting kites.

These ones are for one_eared_batman and like_a_tiguh

An old fashion farm house.                 A dragon kite. 

A butterfly                                             Sailor Moon

I found these ladies hiding in a cubbie.

And this  chorus line above Laura in a small wing on the second floor.

and my favorites are these two.

A lion dog

and a carp.

We left the museum at about 5 and made it to the river in time to watch some of the o-dako get lanched  Each kite has a team of 30-40 men and woman running with the kite rope to try and get their kite up and flying. 

Once up and airborne, the kite's crew tries to either snap their rival's rope or force it down into the river.  First kite down loses.  The crew gets their instructions from their captain by a series of whistles, so the whole fight is one loud chaotic free for all.

While the kites foght, we had a quick supper of yaki soba (fried noodles with vegetables and pork), karage,(deep fried chicken), po-po yaki (a steamed bread), and tako yaki (octopus dough balls).  I like the tako yaki best.  It's good, but a bit like chewing rubber bands.

After the last fight the kites that were still intact were rolled up and moved to be stored.  Here are a few of the teams with their kites.

Yes, boys, a woman CAN  be a team leader.

This poor guy's hauling off part of his kite that got splashed in a fight.  Better luck next year, fella.

These kites will be taken apart and put into storege until next year or they might end up on display in the museum.

We headed home after the last kite passed both tired and excited.

Get Out There and Thump Somebody.

Santvi challenged all Xangans to follow Thumper's (Bambi’s rabbit bud) advice and say something nice about some of the Xangans that we read or comment about.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Made2singforJesus. 

Your site is an oasis after a day of tests, lectures and grading.  Talking to you is like talking to a neighbor over the fence

Seedsower

You have some of the best pictures that I ‘ve seen and you tell stories about you family, faith, and neighborhood with a warmth would make the worst grouch smile.

Simbathe2nd

You’re about the most mature blogger on Xanga bar none.  You write with conviction and stand by those convictions without being offensive or condescending.  Even those that don’t agree with tyou respect you  for that.

Levana

You have your dark side at times but you also write some stirring poems because of those issues.  You are a mover and a shaker and it brings a smile on my face to hear about your latest daredevil stunt or adventure.  

StephSays

You’re one of the newer people that I subscribe to but you strike me as one of the most down to earth and real folks that I’ve seen.  You don’t have problems telling about yourself and letting it stand at that.

ScatterFocus

You’re another person that I just started reading but ya got style, Kid.  You are very open about your feelings and yourself and you invite others to feel free to do the same.

Okay, people, get out there and go thump (in a nice way) some of the people out in the Xangasphere that make your day.