This is the tale of our winter hiking day-trip adventure to Shichimen-zan, a mountain temple nearby and affiliated with the Nichiren Temple at Minobu-san. We had been thinking of hiking up this mountain since we learned about it during our visit to Minobu-san. At 6503 ft. the mountain is considerably higher than its neighbor Minobu-san. As always, our access to good maps is limited; getting to a point of departure and determining if our plan is feasible often involves untold variables. The night before we planned to go, we decided to call our friends and neighbors Matt and Julie with whom we climbed Fuji-san. Luckily, they decided to go and offered to drive. In retrospect, I don’t think we could ever have made it without them because the trailhead was too far from the nearest train station.
On the way, my navigation skills managed to get us up the wrong canyon. Matt and Julie drive a “K-car.” A K-car is the small Japanese cars that are usually a bit smaller than a Honda Civic and run on 3 cylinders. The wrong turn I led us up was very steep with tight switchbacks. We were all very worried that the four of us were too much for the car to carry up such a grade. When we were about to park and start walking, I realized my error and informed the group. Everyone was surprisingly forgiving, and we proceeded to go back down the road and up the much better road to our intended destination.
After an inspection of the cartoon map at the trailhead, we began our ascent. It was a little cloudy, but otherwise a nice crisp early spring day. As we climbed, the intermittent patches of ice became more and more frequent until the whole trail became covered with snow. Close to the summit, we reached a large gateway and then climbed some snow-covered stairs that led up to a bell house.
We then made a short descent into what seemed like an old crater where we found the main temple complex sitting next to a large pond. It seemed as though we were the only people there. A large visitor’s center at the far end of the complex (where we had hoped to eat) was closed for the winter. As we came closer to the main temple building we noticed a small plume of smoke rising from an adjacent building. We later saw a monk quickly scurry by from that building to the main temple. It was strange to explore such a large and beautiful temple without the usual throngs of visitors. I suppose that was the reward for having trudged through the snow.
The summit was clearly visible and just a short distance, but we all opted to return to the vehicle and seek out some warm food.
On the way, my navigation skills managed to get us up the wrong canyon. Matt and Julie drive a “K-car.” A K-car is the small Japanese cars that are usually a bit smaller than a Honda Civic and run on 3 cylinders. The wrong turn I led us up was very steep with tight switchbacks. We were all very worried that the four of us were too much for the car to carry up such a grade. When we were about to park and start walking, I realized my error and informed the group. Everyone was surprisingly forgiving, and we proceeded to go back down the road and up the much better road to our intended destination.
After an inspection of the cartoon map at the trailhead, we began our ascent. It was a little cloudy, but otherwise a nice crisp early spring day. As we climbed, the intermittent patches of ice became more and more frequent until the whole trail became covered with snow. Close to the summit, we reached a large gateway and then climbed some snow-covered stairs that led up to a bell house.
We then made a short descent into what seemed like an old crater where we found the main temple complex sitting next to a large pond. It seemed as though we were the only people there. A large visitor’s center at the far end of the complex (where we had hoped to eat) was closed for the winter. As we came closer to the main temple building we noticed a small plume of smoke rising from an adjacent building. We later saw a monk quickly scurry by from that building to the main temple. It was strange to explore such a large and beautiful temple without the usual throngs of visitors. I suppose that was the reward for having trudged through the snow.The summit was clearly visible and just a short distance, but we all opted to return to the vehicle and seek out some warm food.
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