The 48 Waterfalls of Akame

Posted on November 21, 2015 by samokan

Akame 48 waterfalls is located in Nabari City Mie Prefecture and considered to be the birthplace of Ninja and home to giant Salamander.

After several failed attempts since last year, together with C, I finally made it there at the end of summer.

It’s about an hour train ride from Osaka by Kintetsu Line and another 10-15 minuted ride from the train station to the base of the waterfall.

C found a cheaper ticket by Kintetsu , which includes an round trip ticket from either Namba, Uehonmachi or Tsuruhashi station to Akameguchi Station. A round trip bus ticket to from Akameguchi Station to Akametaki. An entrance ticket to the waterfalls area and the Salamander Museum. You can also get some discounts from the omiyage shops around the area.

To know more information about the place check out the website.

My Photo Collection is here.

Hiking to Somewhere : The Continuation

Posted on August 29, 2014 by samokan

The Saga continues … ( sounds dramatic eh 🙂 )

Anyways, after we left Iwafune Jinja , we noticed that we are no longer within Osaka Prefecture but within Nara Prefecture, specifically Ikoma City.

Here is the proof. The sign says it all.

Since this is the first time I joined a hike organized by Mr. R, I was surprised that when we slowly enter into the mountain there were no visible trail. It feels like we are entering into this jungle where you can barely see where you are walking. It was either we turn back or we can trust Mr. R to lead us, but nobody complained and I think we are all excited.

As we were walking we noticed this little ponds and it looks so freshly green :).

I got captivated by one these ponds that I was not looking in front of me and had a big bump on a piece of fallen tree blocking the way. Thankfully my head is thick enough, no damage felt so far (as of this writing).

We got to a higher ground and saw this

Everybody was blocking my view :p

After a few hours of walking, we finally reach Kurondo Pond

It looks really green and peaceful.

A warning for people like me 😀

Enjoying a moment of peace away from the lady folk ? ;p

We took a long relaxing break here.

These two decided to check out the mini boats.

Some of us were a bit tired already so we decided to call it a day and head home.

But not before we pass this interesting waterfall.

Noticed that little Buddha statue on the side. We had a theory that this might be one of the meditation spots for monks.

If you can read it, it’s a description and name of the mini-waterfalls.

Say hi to this awesome hikers 😀

It was definitely a lovely day with equally amazing group. A great hike , another great adventure for me 🙂

Mt. Tomi(鳥見山) to Lake Murou(室生湖)

Posted on June 13, 2014 by samokan

Long time no hear/read. Been busy with my so called Life 🙂

Anyways, I join this hike on my last day of Golden Week Vacation here in Osaka. A lot of first and I saw another side of Nara that I really like. A bit far from where I am currently located but definitely worth the trip.

Our group met in Hasedara Station, which is about 1.5 hours train ride for me.

The tall stone saying Hasedera Temple , just outside Hasedera Station.

I have never heard of Hasedera Temple before so I was really happy to find this place.
The group arrived on time and so our hike began. We are supposed to follow one of the Tokai Nature Trail in Nara Prefecture.

We had a short stop at the　Yoki Tenma Jinja, since our organizer have this fascination with it.

A small shrine near stairs with small cute foxes(Inari) inside.

Let’s start the walk up to the Shrine.

The moss covered stairs going up. On our way up, we met some university students busily sketching the scenery. I envy them since I can’t draw a thing.

The Cow. If you ever been to Tenmangu Shrine, you will notice that there is always a Cow sculpture/statue inside which is a familiar god in Tenmangu Shrines.

After our short visit, we proceed with our hike. There was not much around Hasedera Station but as we were approaching the main Temple, there peony beautiful blooming at the side of the street, vendors giving us free taste of their products. I have never heard of Hasedera so I have never visited this place. A few weeks after this hike, I was reading the book called “The Pillow Book” that I realized the historical importance of this place. Of course entering the Temple is not free and unfortunately, we still have a long way to go so I will have to go back there soon.

The Front Gate of Hasedera.

After we left Hasedera, we were following the highway and a few minutes later we found our marker.

Our next stop is Hase Dam.

Front View of Hase Dam.

As we were heading back to the main road. We noticed this very interesting sign.

Looks like Guns are not allowed.

It was beautiful. The peacefulness of it all.

View from the top of the Dam.

Forward march. Yup we are crossing this bridge.

More walking along the highway and we found another marker leading to the mountains.

Watch out for your head.

It was a steep climb and we are supposed to find Takatsuka Castle on top but unfortunately this is what was left of the castle.

Suffice it to say, we did not get to see a castle or any of its ruins.

We also found some interesting plants along the way.

The red mushroom. Any idea the name of this mushroom?

It looks like a pitcher plant.

Wee!! another sign that we are almost to the top of the mountain.

We took a short, 1 hour break , for lunch and chatted a good while. Then we checked out the view. It was amazing.

I’m not sure if this is Nara Prefecture or Mie Prefecture already. But it looks really nice.

A Panoramic Shot.

The Azaleas were also blooming so it was really beautiful up there.

I like this shot of the Photographer seriously taking some pictures surrounded by this beautiful foliage.

And another one.

A close up with the Azaleas.

A few minutes walk we found another place where we can see more of the view.

one more 🙂

And one more.

We wanted to stay there and just enjoy the view, but we still have a very long way to go till we reach our final destination.

We found several interesting areas including this very small waterfall.

Rice fields that looks like a small version of the Banaue Rice Terraces

It looks like that the farmers just started planting rice in this area.

Farmers busy planting. I hope you have a great harvest soon.

I love this view.

Our next goal was to look for the Grave site of Yamabe Akihito a poet during Nara Period and a few hours later we found it.

The lone grave of Yamabe Akahito(山辺赤人)

Our next goal was to reach Murou Dam which according to the map was not that far, but next marker we found said that Lake Murou is 8KM away and the Dam is still a few km away from that.

We thought that there was a mistake with the marker but we thought wrong.

When we got out of the mountain and was going to the lake it was already after 4pm, the sun was already starting to set.

Part of the Lake closer to the highway. We are just entering the Lake.

It was really beautiful.

So peaceful.

Akahito’s Bridge.

We decided to check gps how far is the Dam, and it looks like it was still a good 5-6 KM away and unfortunately nobody was carrying flashlight or what not. All of us still have classes and work to do the next day. So we all decided to take the shortest route to the next station following the side of the Lake.

We found some wild deer which scampered away as soon as they caught our smell. All we could see where the white spots near the butt :).

It was a nice walk beside the lake, dirt road, smell of summer breeze , earth and forest all together. When we finally got out and back to the main road , this is what greeted us.

We still have a 2 Km to walk till we get to the train station but we got there safely and catch our train. We were all tired, but I was very satisfied to join see this amazing places.

till the next adventure:)

Hiking Mount Higashi Otafuku

Posted on November 22, 2013 by samokan

After the destructive power of Tyhoon Yolanda, I decided to push through with my plan to join a hiking event to Mt. Higashi Otafuku in Hyogo Prefecture Japan.

Nature might have the power of destruction but it is also beauty and life itself. I’m glad I did and I was able to admire more of Nature .

A few minutes of navigating the trail, getting lost a few times, we found ourselves with this view.

Most trail here in Japan are converted into concrete stairs so we were really happy about the trail we took. A little bit more rugged. 🙂

This is the mountain that we are supposed to go to.

I guess we have reached the “stone trail”. Good luck to us.

And so it begun.

I could not believe I just climb this one.

But we are not yet done. We have to get into that little space in between the rocks to get to the top.

The view that was waiting for us.

You thought we are done? Of course not. We still have a long way to go. We walked for more than 30 minutes till we were at a small clearing where all the hikers where taking a break and having lunch.

After a short lunch we move on but along the way we decided to change our course and instead of going all the way to the bus stop on the other side of the mountain and take the bus going back to the city, we opted to walk back. But first we have to find one more location called “Somewhere” 🙂

We found “Somewhere”.

Another Panoramic View of “Somewhere”. It was a beautiful place. The trees have just started changing colors so I’m sure this place would be beautiful by now.