Hagurosan 羽黒山 - A first attempt 👹🍣🎎 Wonderful Japan

Even if you think that you are actually traveling in quite familiar territory, it happens from time to time that you unexpectedly enter new territory. And it's these unexpected encounters that are the most fun and leave you with the best memories.

This is exactly what happened to us on our last trip to the Aizu region, when we finally decided to take a few days' vacation and a little break from our sometimes quite stressful everyday lives. Even though the weather had shown its extremely wet and rainy side this time, we still wanted to do something and get outside. Fortunately, we managed to do this quite well, even if we occasionally got a little wet. But maybe that was just part of the trip, which in retrospect was once again a success.

We were in Higashiyama, a suburb of the city of Aizu-Wakamatsu, which is already located in the mountains, and we first stayed there for one night in an onsen hotel. Onsen 温泉 are Japanese hot springs, of which there are many all over the country thanks to geothermal activity. And many hotels have integrated these hot spring baths into their buildings, offering their guests an extremely pleasant way to relax. I have also come to appreciate these amenities and now enjoy staying in onsen hotels myself, where you are usually served really good food as well. It's also much better to bathe after enjoying a nice meal.

After the first night, we wanted to take the opportunity to go for a little walk around Higashiyama. I had a few rough plans of where I wanted to go this time, and I had previously heard about a shrine that was located further up a mountain, with lots of steps leading up to it. And that was exactly the direction we were heading in.

At the hotel reception, however, they had advised us not to go up the mountain, as there might still be a few hungry bears out and about at this time of year. But at least we could see the famous gate, and now I was of course curious to find out what this was all about.

We didn't have to walk far to see it glowing red in front of us. Here in the middle of the village, through which we had already driven several times, there was actually a huge red toori with an oversized plaque in the middle, which revealed the name of the shrine behind it. Hagurosan 羽黒山 - that was also the name of the mountain that rises up behind it.

As I still had hopes of getting up to the top that day, I just got closer and we walked through the large toori towards the steps that rose up behind it. There are supposed to be 1225 steps in total, which sounds like a very appealing challenge to me.

The first steps are flanked by two small stone Komainu, two lion dogs, which are supposed to keep things in order and protect the shrine from mischief and danger. We were here with good intentions and were therefore allowed to pass.

Here we see a small fox statue, which indicates that this could possibly be an Inari-jinja, a shrine dedicated to the fox goddess Inari. There are a large number of these Inari shrines in Japan, and I have already been able to visit some of them on my excursions here in the land of the rising sun.

After the first steps, we had to cross a road behind which was this interesting building, which probably also had the function of a Toori gate and which you had to walk through to get further up the mountain.

Of course, I was still curious and so far I had managed to get the rest of my team involved. Even though not everyone shared my enthusiasm, of course.

The steps continued directly behind the gate, which looked so inviting to me, so I quickly dismissed the thought I could turn around here. Right here is where it gets really interesting.

But after the first few steps, there was this sign waiting for us, which made it clear to us that going further could be associated with a particular risk. The rest of my team quickly pointed out to me that they would like to turn back at this point and I also realized that climbing this mountain and exploring the shrine up there was not going to happen that day.

I walked a few more meters and then around the next corner until I stopped in front of the next Toori, which was a little smaller this time. Up to here and no further, sometimes it's better to be wise and listen to the advice of others.

And so we went back in the direction we had come from. We needed to go through the big red gate again and then we were back in the middle of the settlement. I'll save the ascent of Hagurosan for next time, because I'm pretty sure we'll come back here again.

At the end, I turned around a few more times and took a look at the toori behind me. It made a really striking impression, and yet it was so hidden that many visitors who come to Higashiyama are likely to miss it. However, we now know exactly where to find it and on our next visit here, when the weather is hopefully a little better, we might make it all the way to the top.

My curiosity is piqued and it's always good to have a few appealing destinations to look forward to on future visits. And that's why I wasn't at all disappointed, but rather wanted to enjoy the day that still lay ahead of us...

[//]:# (!worldmappin 37.47954 lat 139.96185 long Hagurosan 羽黒山 - A first attempt 👹🍣🎎 Wonderful Japan d3scr)