Travelogue continued: a map misunderstanding leads to an unpleasant quarter of an hour in a snow-dusted sawa. We continue to question the Meizan status of Kuju-san ....November 20, 9.30am: The top of Kuju-san is bleak and cold. After passing over the central summit of Nakadake, I’m just looking for the fastest way outta here. A dotted green line on the map appears to offer that.
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Beware of green dotted lines. The path heads downhill, through clutching thickets of azalea bushes, just far enough to make turning back too much of a chore. Then it fades into a landslip, a cliff of rocks embedded, none too soundly, in a crumbling matrix of dark-brown ash. I avoid this hazard by taking to the stream-bed, clambering over rounded boulders. My boots skid off patches of frozen snow.
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Just at the wrong moment, the sun comes out, loosing stones from the cliff. One splashes down into a nearby rockpool. I scurry across the danger zone, hoping that nothing big enough comes down to spoil my day. Much later I emerge onto the regular hiking trail. A sign points back the way I came, warning that the gully route has “dangerous places”. Or maybe just one dangerous place; you never can tell in the Japanese language.
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I’m still wondering why
Fukada Kyuya designated Kuju-san as one of the Hundred Most Famous Mountains in Japan ….
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