A View of Mt. Fuji From West Tokyo, in June

Compare to the photo of Mt. Fuji I introduced previously, now the snow on the mountain has melted more and the soil part has increased more. It will be a couple more weeks until the beginning of the climbing season and since the climbing season is only about 2 months people are looking forward the beginning and will rash to climb during the season.

One of the most popular climbing styles among Japanese would be “Overnight Climbing”, people climb up to the top overnight or climb up to the hut near the top by the sunset to stay the night there. The purpose of the  “Overnight Climbing” is to see the sunrise from the top of the mountain. In Japanese culture, the view of the sunrise from the top of the Mt.Fuji is called “Goraikou(Sacred Light Coming-up)”, and it has been loved by people as a kind of worship since old times. 

However the rate of causing altitude sickness is increasing with Mt.Fuji climbers recently, because some people make too tight schedule to see “Goraikou” and climb up in haste without taking proper rest. It started to be called “Bullet Climbing”, and became a public concern.

Various Japanese Sake Drinking Wares for Different Temperature Conditions

Since Yamanashi Prefecture is a good product place for Japanese Sake, I’d like to talk  about "Japanese Sake” this time. I’m showing some typical Sake drinking wares in the photo below. As you can see various materials are used for the wares. The reason is not only for different occasions but also for drinking temperatures. Since old times Japanese have enjoyed Sake with varied temperatures.

Nowadays most restaurants and bars are ready to serve only two or three kinds of temperatures of Sake, such as “Atsu-kan(hot)”, “Reishu(cold)” and sometimes “Nuru-kan(warm)”. However, traditionally there had been much more variety for the temperatures to drink Sake. 

Apparently with different temperature the taste and the flavor of the same Sake would be slightly changed, thus people of old times named each temperature condition at almost every 5℃ and enjoyed those. 

According to the information from Sake breweries, each condition has some feature like below.

・Higher than 55℃( 131 ) : Tobikiri-Kan (Extra-Hot)  The flavor becomes stronger, the taste becomes dry.

・Around 50℃( 122F ) : Atsu-Kan(Hot)  The flavor becomes sharp.

・Around 45℃( 113F ) : Jou-Kan(Good Heat) The flavor and taste becomes crisp.

・Around 40℃( 104F ): Nuru-Kan(Warm) The flavor blooms.

・Around 35℃( 95F ) : Hitohada-Kan(Body Heat) Can enjoy good rice flavor, the taste becomes light.

・Around 30℃( 86F ) : Hinata-Kan(Sunshine Temp) The taste becomes smooth and the flavor becomes prominent.

・Around 20℃( 68F ) : Sitsuon(Room Temp) The flavor becomes mild and the taste becomes soft.

・Around 15℃( 59F ) : Suzu-Hie(Cool) The flavor becomes colorful and the taste becomes thick.

・Around 10℃( 50F ) : Hana-Bie(Flowery Cold) The flavor gets settlement and the taste becomes delicate.

・Around 5℃( 41F ): Yuki-Bie(Snowy Cold) The taste becomes dry and crisp, the flavor becomes light.

It is sad but there wouldn't be any restaurants or bars which can take those delicate orders even in Japan, so If you are interested in those please try at home!

Photos of Sanbuichi-Spring in Hokuto-City, Yamanashi Prefecture

The Yatsugatake area, which I introduced on June 1st, has good water sources. This place, “Sanbuichi Spring”, is one of the springs with excellent water quality and is designated as “100 Famed Mineral Waters” by the Ministry of the Environment.

The name “Sanbuichi” means “One third” because the source is split into three waterways right away as you can see in the photos below. Apparently, in old times people had been fighting over the right of this spring for agricultural water, then to solve the problem people built the structure which could divide the water to three villages equally. Since then this place have been maintained well by the people and became a symbol of ancestral wisdom. So the nature is well protected here as shown in the small photos at the lower right, and those who visit here can enjoy it in addition to the good water.

Generally speaking, a place of good water source would be a good place for producing good liquor. In fact there are several liquor companies in this Hokuto City including one of the two main factories of a world-famous whiskey company “Suntory”.

Photos of Yatsugatake-Mountains and Mt.Fuji, Taken from Hokuto-City, Yamanashi Prefecture

There is a group of mountains called “Yatsugatake” in Yamanashi prefecture and I’m showing it on the left hand photo . The name “Yatsugatake” means “Eight Mountains” because in fact it consists of eight mountains within a small area.

Yamanashi prefecture is famous for the location of Mt.Fuji. Thus Mt.Fuji can be seen beautifully from the “Yatsugatake” area as in the photo on the right. Actually there is an old tale about Yatsugatake and Mt.Fuji, which is…
     Long long ago, the eight mountains, which are now called “Yatsugatake”, was originally one huge mountain. The mountain was so proud of his height then he started to tell other mountains that he must be taller than the famed mountain, Mt.Fuji. Eventually the rumor what he was telling to other mountains reached Mt.Fuji, and it made Mt.Fuji so angry. Mt Fuji said “What a swelled-headed mountain he is!” and smashed the mountain. The blow was extremely strong so that the mountain was split into eight lower mountains, then other mountains started to call the eight “Yatsugatake”...

It sounds like Mt.Fuji had an irritable character back then. You may think it is unlike its beautiful appearance in the photo below, but since Mt.Fuji is a volcano she can be a capricious beauty. She? Yes, Mt.Fuji is generally worshiped as a goddess. With its graceful appearance I think it would have been natural to call it a goddess.