Day 27 - Walking Up And Down The Hakone Mountain Pass To Hatajuku, And On To Hakone Yumoto, Walking The Tokaido Road In Japan
Day 27 - Walking Up And Down The Hakone Mountain Pass To Hatajuku, And On To Hakone Yumoto, Walking The Tokaido Road In Japan
After sleeping for fourteen hours yesterday, I woke up very early this morning, feeling well enough to walk.
I knew that today would be a strenuous walking day and I was eager to get an early start.
Yesterday evening, I told Wendy that we would start late today, at 10:00 am, because I thought that I would need to sleep late, but I was up at 5:00 am, feeling energetic.
In the past few days, I was feeling energetic during the early part of the day, and then started coughing and feeling bad in the afternoon.
I also felt that because of my need for healing, it would be best if I walked alone and at my own pace, because slowing down to wait for everyone to catch up meant that I would be standing longer on my feet, instead of finishing the day earlier and getting much needed rest.
I was also aware that today’s path would be very steep and on uneven cobblestones, and that I cannot spend my energy worrying about how everyone was doing, whether or not they would slip or if they were feeling safe and balanced.
Jules is not very comfortable hiking on cobblestones for very long and on very steep, slippery paths in general.
I always worry about him slipping and in many of our early pilgrimages, I seriously and unequivocally instructed him NOT to allow himself to trip or fall, because we cannot be intrepid adventurers and allow ourselves to be in situations where we have to call for medical assistance, or a helicopter evacuation because he broke a leg.
We are either going to be self-reliant, strong and capable pilgrims roaming on foot throughout the remote places of the world, or weak softies who need help and support and someone to hold their hands.
I would rather not walk pilgrimages if I have to purchase health insurance and emergency evacuation insurance.
And even though nobody ever falls deliberately, Jules took my threat seriously and has become a strong and capable walker.
I still remember how we got caught up in a major storm on a remote mountain in northern India.
We were alone on the mountain and the sky had opened up and torrential rain was falling.
We were walking on a cobblestone path through the forest, and the stones were covered in moss and were very slippery.
The rain was so thick that I couldn’t even see Jules, who was walking behind me.
I turned around and yelled into the void behind me, instructing Myself and Jules NOT TO FALL!
Whatever we do, just don’t slip snd slide! Stay sturdy on your feet and walk calmly!
Maybe I was granted a miracle that day, but we walked safely for hours down that cobblestone path and into a tiny village, where we took shelter in a small cafe and later got a ride back to our hotel.
We ate a delicious breakfast in our hotel, seated at a table covered by a white tablecloth, which included a salad buffet and a yummy vegan main course.
I sent a message to Wendy and Joseph explaining why I would rather walk alone today, and we checked out and started walking with our backpacks by 8:20 in the morning.
I knew Wendy would not be happy, but I also knew that she would not be ready to leave early.
Whenever we stay in hot springs hotels, she usually goes to take an additional soak in the mornings, and comes to breakfast late, still wearing her yukata, although she usually doesn’t make us wait past our agreed upon departure time.
We walked out from our Hakone hotel, following the Tokaido to the Hakone checkpoint.
During the Edo Period, Hakone was widely known for its “Sekisho,” a barrier checkpoint that straddled the Tokaido and regulated passage.
Directly controlled by the Shogun, it was a place to be feared on pain of death by anyone who was lacking the appropriate documentation, travel permits or was concealing contraband.
The Sekisho checkpoint in Hakone has been reconstructed, but the torture devices that were once used were recently removed in order to hide the cruelty of the shogunate governments of that time, and to pretend that Japan was a more civilized and kind place than it actually was.
In February of 1702, a young girl was captured by authorities in the mountainous area behind the Hakone Check Point (barrier station).
She didn’t have legal permission to pass through the gate and so she tried to secretly cut across the mountain.
After being detained in prison for about two months, she was executed, and her head was put on display for the public to see.
The poor girl’s name was Otama. She had wanted to go back to her parents’ home in Izu, leaving her place of employment in Edo without permission.
If she had finished her apprenticeship, she could have gotten a legal pass.
But she hated working there, perhaps because she was treated poorly or was abused, so she ran away.
She was accused of breaking through the barrier, which was a very serious felony at that time. Locals, who felt sorry for her, began to call the pond (ike) near the barrier, “Otama-no-ike” (Otama’s pond)
Then we walked through a colonnade of Namiki cedar trees.
Planted in the earliest days of the Edo Period, these trees have been towering for centuries over all who passed through here, making a very beautiful tunnel and an impressive entrance to the site of the old post-town of Hakone and the beautiful Ashi-no-ko, a scenic caldera lake in Hakone.
A little further up the path is the cobblestone paved path known as the Ishidatami, (uneven stone path), leading to the top of the pass.
It was a steep climb up, but very beautiful and quiet.
It was a clear morning and we were fortunate to see one of Japan’s most beloved and classic natural panoramic views, of Mt. Fuji towering over the waters of Ashi Hakone lake.
The climb to the Hakone Pass was considered the most difficult section of the Tokaido to traverse. The artist Hiroshige’s woodblock print depicts precipitous terrain in Hakone Pass, one of his Fifty-Three Stages of the Tokaido series.
A traditional local folk song proclaims:
“The mountains of Hakone are the steepest in the world!
Very high mountains with bottomless ravines!”
We saw a couple of Western tourists walking along the path, and I asked them what they were doing, because they didn’t carry any backpacks or even a day pack with them.
They told us that they were staying in Hakone, and that they went for a morning hike to eat at the Amazake Chaya.
Soon we were over the pass and the cobblestone path started going down.
We arrived at the famous tea house.
Amazake Chaya is located in an isolated part of the Tokaido, not near a village.
It has a very atmospheric old world feeling about it, with its thatched roof and lots of seats cut from tree trunks.
This teahouse is still serving pilgrims, as it has since ancient times.
Pilgrims always stopped to rest here, while enjoying one of the Tokaido’s Meibutsu (scrumptious morsels of food), and drinking Amazake, a hot fermented rice drink that is naturally sweetened by the Koji short grain rice it is fermented with.
We sat outside in the garden, because the inside was full of smoke.
The Chaya still prepares most of their drinks and food using wood coals.
We ordered two hot Amazake drinks and a Chikara mochi (pounded rice cakes), and sat enjoying the beautiful atmosphere and the sun that was peeking through the clouds.
We saw many people coming by car or bus to this famous Chaya.
From this point on, we saw many people who were walking the Tokaido.
Some clearly were doing a day hike along this scenic part of the Tokaido, while others were walking the whole Tokaido.
We walked through Hata Juku post town, where a craft called “Yosegi Zaiku” originated.
It is a special type of woodwork with origins in the mountains of Hakone.
This craft, marquetry, has hundreds of years old and is designated as a special craft of the Japanese culture. This craft used different naturally multicolored pieces of wood, that are laid out in intricate geometric patterns to make complex and beautiful designs.
The history of marquetry goes back to the Edo period (1600-1868). About 1,000 years ago, craftsmen with various skills began to gather in Hakone to take advantage of the abundance of different hardwoods in the mountains.
In the beginning, round vessels such as bowls were mainly made here, but about 200 years ago, during the late Edo period, a craftsman named Jinbei Ishikawa developed a technique of combining different colors and grains of woods to make boards, and then cutting or shaving them into thin sheets, to use as decoration.
These thin boards were then glued onto small boxes to create marquetry.
Legend says that Jinbei Ishikawa came up with the idea after seeing the workers who were laying the cobblestone pavement along the Tokaido, and by the Edo Shogunate’s orders, were also instructed to maintain the Tokaido highway.
The inventor, Jinbei Ishikawa, lived in this mountain village of Hatajuku, an inn post town located right in the middle of the mountains, between Odawara and Lake Ashi-no-ko in Hakone.
Hatajuku today is a sleepy mountain village, frequented only by tourists and the occasional pilgrim.
It has a few small shops, and workshops where visitors can learn the art of Marquetry.
During the Edo period, Harajuku was crowded with people coming and going on the Tokaido highway, as they made their way between Tokyo and Kyoto.
The post town was where they gathered supplies and rested, before climbing up the feared and strenuous Hakone pass.
The marquetry boxes made here became a popular souvenir, and more advanced techniques were developed.
In the Meiji era (1868-1912), more complex geometric patterns of marquetry were created, and the techniques continue to evolve today.
Yosegi-zaiku is often used for accessory boxes, and the most intricate is the “secret box,” called Himitsu Bako.
It is said that some of these secret boxes required more than 100 steps in order to open.
The origin of these secret boxes were the “box pillows”that were carried by travelers during the Edo period.
In order to prevent their precious things from being stolen while they slept, travelers slept with box-shaped pillows that could not be opened easily, and used them as pillows under their heads.
Travelers at that time carried money, travel documents, or medicine with them when they traveled.
Thus the secret box pillows were a great way to carry and protect their belongings.
The path was very enjoyable and beautiful, despite being challenging.
Steep steps led us through the forest where we walked on a carpet of soft fallen leaves.
It was a nice change from the cobblestone path where we had to walk slowly and carefully.
As we left the forest, we walked by the side of the road on a detour of the Tokaido, that was rerouted because of a mudslide.
I was looking for a bench or a place to sit down and eat our packed lunch.
I was doing very well up until now, despite feeling so sick yesterday, but now I was feeling weak, as if I were walking slower, at about half my usual speed.
Interestingly enough, when we had to walk down the cobblestone path, I did well.
Jules was walking faster than me, looking for a place for me to rest.
Finally Jules suggested that we stop at a bus stop that had a bench, where we ate our lunch of Onigiri rice balls and roasted sweet potatoes that we had bought yesterday in the market.
The sky became very dark by the time we arrived in Hakone-Yumoto.
It is a very popular hot spring resort town, with lots of different kinds of Onsen resorts.
We walked by some elegant resorts that charge $900 a night, and by some massive old resorts that looked like city hospitals as well.
Travellers on the old Tokaido road also stopped here to enjoy the hot springs and the beautiful mountain scenery.
Those coming from Edo, the feudal name of modern-day Tokyo, crossed the flat and expansive Kanto Plain to reach Yumoto.
They would arrive with a sense of excitement mixed with trepidation.
This small town is the first onsen hot springs found along the Tokaido, and here all would enjoy a therapeutic bath while preparing themselves for what lay ahead, the notorious Hakone Pass.
Everyone knew that beyond Yumoto lay 32 kilometres of strenuous mountainous terrain, including the towering Hakone Pass, to Mishima.
Even beyond the forest trails, the road was still beautiful.
We walked by a beautiful inari Shinto shrine and beautiful mountain temples.
Blossoming cherry trees adorned all the surrounding mountains.
Thunder and rain started just as we made it to our Onsen hotel.
It was a beautiful day of walking and we were happy that I was well enough to enjoy it.
We were very worried about Wendy and Joseph getting caught in the rain.
They had started their walk late.
They also took a detour to see the Hakone shrine, which is always packed with tourists and requires extra time.
The Tokaido is not all downhill from Hakone to Hakone Yumoto - there is lots of climbing, steep slopes and stairs, as well as the cobblestone path which is very slippery in the rain.
Nowadays, for those who try to walk this beautiful yet challenging part of the Tokaido road, help is at hand in the form of a regular local bus.
The Tokaido road intersects from time to time with the local mountain road, allowing those who are not able to make the climb by foot to get either to Hakone or to Hakone Yumoto on the other side.
This is what Joseph and Wendy did.
They walked up to the Amazake Chaya, then followed the car road until they got caught in the heavy rain.
Then they called me asking for help in arranging for a taxi to get them to our Onsen hotel.
The lady at the front desk was a bit difficult, saying that she cannot send a taxi up the road.
I suggested that she just call a taxi to come to the hotel, and that I would ride with the taxi to pick them up and bring them back to the hotel.
She agreed that it could be done, but that it would take some time.
I called Wendy back and she told me that they would take the bus that comes in 30 minutes and stops by our hotel.
Our room in the Onsen hotel for the night has two separate rooms, one room with western style beds, and a Japanese sitting room with Tatami mats.
Instead of sleeping on the beds, we setup futons in the tatami mat room, and then went to enjoy the healing baths.
The hotel is old, but I do love these traditional old Onsen hotels.
I also loved being surrounded by nature, with the mountains around me.
Dinner at the hotel was a buffet style and it had some nice choices for us.
We ate dinner wearing our yukatas, and I slept very well on the futons on the tatami mat-covered floor.
With love and healing,
Tali
Today’s Stats:
Steps - 19,514
km walked - 12 km
Total walked: 511 km
Old Post Towns Visited:
Hakone Juku #10
Hata Juku (not numbered)
