My first Mt. Fuji: 山之上富士 (yama-no-ue-fuji)

The Japanese love Mt. Fuji to the extent that they have named many other mountains after it. There is a list of 321 mountains (mostly in Japan but surprisingly also in other countries such as Taiwan) whose name is composed of the word Fuji, prefixed with some local name to distinguish it from the rest. This list is known as 郷土富士 (kyoudo-fuji) or ふるさとの富士山 (furusato-no-fuji).


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The first Mt. Fuji I climbed is called 山之上富士 (yama-no-ue-fuji), and it is located in Gifu prefecture. Public transportation is not very good, but you can go to Nakakawabe station by train and then walk (or ride your foldable bicycle) until the entrance to the hiking course.

It is a very easy hike (the mountain is 357.2m tall) but nice for a relaxing day. For detailed information and pictures about this mountain, please refer to these sites: this, this and this.

The starting point is a bridge called 富士見橋 (fujimi-hashi) which has colorful monkey figures embedded.

The path to the top is easy to follow. On the top there is a small shrine with some interesting statues.

Although the day I went there was raining, and I was using my phone's low-quality camera, you can appreciate that the views are not bad at all for such a small mountain.

After the hike, you can enjoy a beautiful park near the bridge where you started. In this region, there are a lot of fireflies (ほたる hotaru in Japanese).

You can also give food to the fishes in a small pond. As you see, you have to put the money on a small bin and maybe once a week somebody will pass by to collect the money.

After a rainy day, nothing like a good spa. I went to yu-no-hana spa which is one of the best I have ever been to in Japan. For 1700 yen, you can stay the whole day there. They have many things to enjoy and relax (a manga library, comfortable seats and beds, TV, computers, saunas, jacuzzy, restaurant, etc.) while you contemplate a beautiful landscape with mountains and rivers.