"Nenogongen" - May 2006     Home   PhotoBatch   Photo Index

Nishi-Agano Station Old wooden bench with new paint... - on the Seibu-Shinjuku Line Heading towards the mountains Nearby creek After hiking along this road for a bit... - walking past signs... - lumber... - more lumber... - and along this river... - for a bit... - the path took a turn away... - from the cars and trucks... - and into the foothills Ah... green... green... grreeeennnn.....! Flowers too More green... grrreeeeeeen! A road, but almost no traffic The cable to catch falling rocks? This area of the foothills... - has a number of... - houses, so I found myself looking... - around and wondering how it would... - feel to live there One of the last houses before... - passing this Torii gate and... - heading up into the mountains Stopping to - no, not smell the roses... - but to take a close look at vertical rock... - which is the same idea in spirit Away from the path of... - fire-breathing machinery... - I was expecting it to get nicer... - and... um... nicer, but... - there was a lack of... - undergrowth, and I lowered my brows... - a little wondering at the dry... - feeling in the air... - until the answer became... - apparent further up the trail Continuing along... - through green here and... - there, the answer came... The trees were growing in the... - aftermath of clear-cutting Near the top there is another road Along the path.... Past the formerly clear-cut area... - more normal full-of-life green... - reappeared Nenogongen area Nenogongen area Nenogongen area Nenogongen area Nenogongen area Nenogongen area At the top, I visited Tenryuji Temple Then, as I began the walk back down... - the mountain (on a different path)... - I again turned my attention to... - the details on the ground Ferns Green... grrreeeeeen More ferns A fallen sign Late afternoon sunlight illumination Signpost midway down the mountain Stairs for the steep parts Old bridge Nenogongen area Nenogongen area Nenogongen area An old house The extra section on top was for... - raising silkworms Old storage shed Same old house Nenogongen area Nenogongen area Back near the S-Shinjuku Line

The middle part of the walk portrayed above was my visit to the Tenryuji Temple, which I separated from these photos due to the combination of both being a bit too large for one page and feeling that they each deserved their own page in any event.      As all the houses indicate, this is not exactly a pristine wilderness, but it's still pretty nice, when you consider how near to Tokyo it is.  The trip made me want to spend more weekends exploring similar places, but I haven't actually done so since these pictures were taken in May - and here it is June already, with July just a week away....  - Copyright 2006 by Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon, Images Through Glass, Tokyo