On our first full day in the Iya Valley region, we headed to the top of Mount Tsurugi. The other two families had booked in for white water rafting, and seeing it was a beautiful clear day we decided to head to Mount Tsurigi.
Mount Tsurigi (剣山 Tsurugi-san) – meaning sword – is a 1,955 metre high peak at the eastern end of the Iya Valley, the second highest mountain on Shikoku and one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains. Only 99 more to summit!
What looked like a short 31km drive on the map proved longer than expected, with the steep, narrow and winding road taking over one hour 40 minutes. A relaxing chairlift took us most of the way up the mountain, where we then walk the final stretch to the summit – a steady but steep 30 minutes to the peak. At the summit there is a shrine and some mountain huts, with wooden boardwalks leading to a number of viewing points.
We reached the summit just after 12pm, with it being calm and clear with the mist starting to roll in on the horizon. We were just beaten to the summit by a group of 120 first year local government workers, who were touring major provincial attractions as part of their induction program. We chatted to one of the group’s guides – an American we has been living in the area.
The view as spectacular from the top. Though Mount Tsurigi is not as high as Mount Kosciuszko at 2,228m, the dramatic height difference between the valley and the peak of Mount Tsurigi along with the dense forests in all directions make it very different experience.
On our return to the campsite, we stopped to visit Nagoro, known as Nagoro Scarecrow Village. It formerly had about 300 inhabitants, but the decline in Japan’s population has caused that to fall to 30 by 2016. Tsukimi Ayano, whose family left the area when she was a child, moved back to Nagoro in the early 2000s to look after her father, and made a scarecrow in his likeness that she placed in a field. She has since made more than 400 with about 350 placed throughout the village. Many are also likenesses of residents or former residents, while others are invented people. The village school, which closed in 2012, includes a large number in one classroom. We even spotted a celebrity or two.
The return drive follows the same windy narrow road back to camp. However a wrong turn at one points adds a scenic detour to the trip, as we wind up an increasingly narrow track to another summit. With no barriers along most of the road, Tryphena can’t watch anymore, whereas I feel like I’m getting the hang of things. And feel this is the perfect training for rally racing! On reaching the summit, we conclude we have taken a wrong turn and revert to Google maps to lead us back down and back to camp. We had time for a quick photo, but notice the bear warning signs again, so don’t stay long.
On return back to the camp we had an easy dinner of cup noodles before enjoying a hot shower and heading to bed.
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