Kazekoshi-yama Pt. III: The Spirit of the Mountain

After leaving the point overlooking the valley, my companions and guides and I continued along the ridge towards the mountain's summit. We were well over halfway through our climb, but the last several hundred meters rose rather sharply and an easy hike actually involved some honest climbing. The trail became less of a straightforward path as it began to spiral around the mountaintop.

At this point, we began noticing an abundance of small stone statues, carved vaguely in the shape of humans, many of them with red cloths tied around their waists. Kubota-san explained they were there for spiritual purposes and served as guardians of the mountain spirit who was said to live near Kazekoshi-yama's peak. These tiny peacekeepers guided our way around the mountain, lining the paths and occupying makeshift staircases that had been hewn into the mountainside.

As we came around the bend, our path abruptly came to an end as we were faced with a tangle of tree roots that ran sharply upward interlaced like latticework. The roots provided many hand and footholds, making for an easy climb, but
there was also a few ropes that had been dangled across the roots in case you slipped. We all made it safely up the roots, even old Yamashida-san, who again defied his age with the ease with which he scaled the tree.

The trail once again flattened as we approached the summit, a well-wooded area dotted with patches of bamboo forest and strangely wreathed with a slight fog. It honestly had a bit of an air of mysticism that lended itself to the stories about the home of the mountain spirit. After a short walk, the path opened to a wide clearing, in the middle of which stood the demarkation for the mountaintop. We took our time snapping a few photos and refueling with some my host mother's hand-made onigiri.

Following our short respite, Kubota-san asked if we wanted to see the actual home of the mountain spirit. In our ignorance, we had thought the mountain spirit was more of a concept than a physical being, so we were surprised there was something to be seen. Kubota-san assured us it was just a short hike from the mountain's peak. Yamashida-san elected to continue relaxing while Joe, Kelly and I followed Kubota-san back into the bamboo.

Having started at the top, naturally our path, little more than a deer trail without any adornments or markings, descended. As the path seemed to come to an end and the forest group up thick in front of us, the path twisted back around the mountain, opposite of the spiral we had come up.  The home of the mountain spirit was nestled underneath the ledge we had just come down.

The spirit supposedly lived in a small cave, very shallow. However, chiseled into the walls around the cave and on the face of the surrounding rock were kanji, most of it in ancient Japanese, detailing the spirit's story. All three of us tried to read the story in vain, as it used grammar far beyond our ability. We did feel a bit better when even Kubota-san said he could read the language due to its use of outdated kanji. After exploring the area for a bit, we turned back to meet up with Yamashida-san and begin our trip back down the mountain.