Hikes around Sakurae

Kawagoe to Shikaga via Dangyokei (18k)
November 5, 2004

A few days ago while driving home from Iwami-cho I took a little side road off the main highway and was amazed to discover a stunningly beautiful gorge resplendent in fall foliage, Dangyokei. I resolved to visit there soon before the colors faded, so that is the goal of todays hike. Crossing the bridge over the river into Kawagoe, the mountains are as usual shrouded in mist. There appears to be nothing of interest in the village to explore, so I pass through and head up the road that leads up the mountain to Hiwa. Afet half an hour of walking uphill, the road does a hairpin bend and switchbacks up the mountain, but I follow the spur on up the valley. After a little while there is a turn off to the right that leads to a waterfall. We tried to find it once, and the path is rarely used... when we did find it the waterfall was invisible behind the trees. The road Im following is paved, fairly recently, but it is so overgrown with weeds and tall grass that I cant walk down the middle of it without parting the overgrowth. And them suddenly, the road just ends. I backtrack a little to see if Ive missed a turning, but no, the road simply stops. The map in my hand assures me there is a 2.5 meter wide road.... and last night I checked a route-finder on the web... it assured me I could drive up this valley. I carry on up..... its all planted in Sugi, maybe 20 years old or so.... every now and then I find a stake, but there is no marked path....it gets steeper and steeper, and though its dark and cold in the forest I sweat.
I worry that I may not be able to find my way back, but still I press on... ahead of me I see sunlight starting to stream in through the trees and it looks as if I may be reaching the top and then suddenly I reach a wide gravel road. Im not exactly sure where I am on the map, so first I head left and follow the road. Everywher is sugi, and I note that the road appears to be newly made. In places I catch view out over the surrounding mountains, and they are speckled with color. and then... the road ends! I turn around and head back down, past the place where I emerged from the forest.... soon the road becomes older, and then as I turn a corner I see 2 small pick-up trucks and a couple of old guys. They are surprised to see me, and surprised to learn that I had come up from Kawagoe. Using the map I ask them where we are and they point to the road that I had hoped I was one. By the side of the road are a couple of stone-walled terraces, now planted in sugi, that were once rice paddies. There used to be a settlement here, in fact one of my students ancestors lived here before they moved down into Kawagoe.
I head off down the road with a spring to my step.... the sun is shining, the road is flat, and I know I'm going the right way. A little while later the 2 old guys pass me in their trucks and ask if I want a ride, but I politely refuse. After a while I come to the first abandoned home and barn, and from here there is a n overhead powerline which means people must haved lived here fairly recently. Another K and the forest opens up to reveal another abandoned settlement,... overgrown paddies, a large store house, and a couple of farmhouses which are in reasonably good condition. Here there is a stone torii, and up the steps a shrine. The building itself has gone, but the altar and grounds have recently been swept and cleaned indicating that someone comes here to look after the shrine even though no-one lives here now. A little further and I come to the first inhabited house. Here there is a road that is marked as going down to the Gonokawa river, and my original idea was to take this way home. Now the road descends, steeply. Close to the bottom there is a lovely old steep-roofed farmhouse on a ledge overlooking the valley below....on almost every hike I take I discover such places.. idyllic locations!
Reaching the bottom I find a beautiful valley with rice paddies and farmhouses scattered around, and a swift wide river cutting through it. First I check to see if the footpath leading down the valley on my map is still there, and not surprisingly I find it ends at a farmhouse garden. Now I follow the road that climbs out of the valley up to the main road on top of the gorge. Near the top I find what I am looking for, a red torii that I saw when I drove by here recently. The path through the torii descend down the mountain and ends at a footbridge across the river. On the other side is a car park and vending machine. from here the path leads to another set of red torii following steps up the mountain. The vermillion torii indicate that the shrine will be one to the god Inari, originally the god of rice harvests, but now considered to be the god of business success. The numerous red torii are donations from businessmen hoping to buy favor from the god. The shrine itself is perched on a ledge overlooking some rapids where the bottom of the gorge is flat rock. Following a narrow trail that winds around the cliff I then wander out into the middle of the rock and eat my picnic lunch.
Ive decided that as my original planned route home involves 2 kilometres of very steep climbing, followed by finding a path tht may not exist, that I will instead head home via the main road. Climbing out of the valley I am unprepared for the noise of the traffic.... its a very busy road with huge trucks barrelling downhill. Like most Japanese roads there is no sidewalk. This new road is fairly straight and passes through numerous tunnels that cut straight through the mountains. The old road though follows the winding course of the river, so whenever I can I take it. It adds some distance to my walk, but the peace and quiet is well worth it. At one point I scare a family of monkeys feeding in the trees by the side of the road... the noise of the rushing water had masked my approach. Both the old road and the new end at Imbara on the Gonokawa river. From here I walk along the quiet road on the south bank, passing the road that theoretically leads to the footpath that I was originally going to follow. I get to Shikaga, only a couple of kilometeres upstream from my original atarting point in Kawagoe, and while there would be something pleasing in completing a complete circle, my knee is in such pain that I instead call my wife and ask her to come pick me up. I wait on the bridge over the river and watch ducks flying in formation.