!5th October, 2015, at 3 in the afternoon, I started my walk down Mount Daisen.
I planned to get as far down as I could before sunset as I would be sleeping out and every meter lower I could get would be that little bit warmer.
The road I took headed roughly north down towards the Sea of Japan. In another 6 weeks, the road closes until March.
I looked down on Yonago and the long, curving spit of land that runs up to Sakaiminato. In the Kunibiki myth, this piece of land was a "rope" that attached the Shimane Peninsula to Mount Daisen. At the opposite end of the peninsula, it is held in place by a "rope" that is the long, curved beach that runs from Inasa Beach and connects to Mount Sanbe.
The road passes by several ski slopes....
Never ever been skiing myself, so have no idea if these slopes are any good.
At this elevation, it seems Autumn is about a month earlier than down where I live...
Not sure who this statue is. I suspect it may well be Sanbon Kojin, who had
a shrine behind the Amida Hall at Daisenji. His hair stands straight up, but he usually has six arms. It also suggests this section of the road was one of the early pilgrimage trails radiating out in all directions from Daisenji.
The road has quite a few switchbacks so the view changes quite often...
After all these years living in Japan, I am still intrigued by the concrete "nets" that cover the mountainsides...
I find a good place to sleep beside the Amida River. I only managed to descend about 200 meters from 830m elevation to 630m elevation, but that translates to a much warmer night. There is some colour in the sky as the sun sets...
The previous post was on Daisenji Temple, the reason for my climb up the mountain.
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