軽井沢と浅間山

ROUTE 13. KARUIZAWA AND ASAMA-YAMA.

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1.—KARUIZAWA AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. Karuizawa is reached from Tōkyō by the Tōkyō Takasaki-Yokokawa Railway, 4½ hrs. to the present terminus, Yokokawa. A new section, carrying the line over the Usui Pass, is now in course of construction. From Yokokawa onwards there is a choice of roads, namely:— I. The carriage road, also used for jinrikishas and for the horse tramway. This road does not pass the old vill. of Karuizawa, but crosses further south to Shin-Karuizawa (New Karuizawa).

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The cars, small and uncomfortable, but nevertheless the best means of conveyance, take 2½ hrs. to make the journey, which, owing to the narrowness of the gauge, the serpentine windings of the road, the precipitous slopes skirted on one side and the jagged rocks on the other, is of a somewhat exciting character. The distance traversed by car is 11½ miles. Shin-Karuizawa (Inn, Abura-ya) is ¼ hr. by jinrikisha from the old vill. (Kyū-Karuizawa). II. The pedestrian road, leading over the summit of the pass, and only just practicable for jinrikishas. It is, however, excellent for walking, the soil being a combination of volcanic matter, clay, and sand, which is very porous and binds well.

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This road is a favourite one with the summer visitors to Karuizawa. The pass is thickly wooded; but views of the extensive plain below, with

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the rocky peaks of Myōgi-san on the r. and the bolder mountains of Kōtsuke on the l. (looking back), are obtained at several points during the ascent. From the half-way tea-houses, the road winds gradually up to the summit, 6 m. from Yokokawa, and commands a fine prospect of the extinct volcanoes of Haruna and Akagi, Tsukuba-san, and the precipitous rocks on the S. of the pass which form the boundary between Kōtsuke and Shinshū. On the summit of the pass (4,050 ft.), there are a few houses and a small temple. The view from the steps of the shrine, although extensive, is so often obscured by clouds of mist sweeping over the summit, that the traveller has but a rare chance of enjoying a clear prospect.

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In this spot is localised the following legend, which is preserved in the Kojiki:— When Yamato-take was crossing from Sagami to Kazusa in the course of his expedition against the barbarous tribes who then inhabited that region, he ridiculed the name of Hashiri-mizu (Running water) given to the strait, and exclaimed that it was no more than an easy jump across. The Sea-God, offended at this insult, so disturbed the waters that Yamato-take's ship was unable to advance. Upon this, his consort Oto-Tachibana-Hime said to him, “I will drown myself in your stead”—and as she plunged into the sea, the waves became still. Seven days afterwards her comb floated ashore.

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The prince built a tomb, and deposited the comb therein. In returning to the capital after subduing the tribes, he stopped to rest at the top of the Usui Pass, and gazing over the plain, said thrice in a melancholy voice: “Azuma wa ya” (“Alas! my wife”), whence the name of Azuma by which Eastern Japan is still known. Kyū-Karuizawa (Inn, Bansho-kwan) lies in the upper corner of a grassy moor, 780 ft. below the summit of the pass. During the descent, Asama-yama, the Kōshū Shirane-san and Koma-ga-take, Yatsu-ga-take, and Tateshina-yama come into view.

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The vill. was in former times principally dependent upon travellers over the ancient highway, and appears to have just escaped ruin, after the construction of the railway, by a number of the foreign residents of Tōkyō making it a retreat from the unhealthy heat of the city during the summer months. The old inns have been hired, and a few new villas built on the mountain slopes. Its lofty situation (3,270 ft.) gives it a temperature seldom excessive during the day, and invariably cool at night. The rainfall, although heavy, bears favourable comparison with Nikkō and other mountain resorts, and owing to the porous nature of the soil in the vicinity, leaves fewer traces behind.

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The place is nevertheless not free from mosquitoes, and the small sand-fly called buyu abounds,—an insect which inflicts a bite, painless at first, but afterwards extremely irritable and liable to swell during several succeeding days. Bread, milk, and occasionally beef and fish are obtainable. An uncultivated moor, covered with wildflowers in July and August, extends for miles in a southerly direction, while on the E. it terminates in a range of grassy hills. The chief excursion from Karuizawa is the ascent of Asama-yama (see p. 144). There is also a variety of shorter walks, viz. 1. Atago-yama.

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This isolated hill, 20 min. walk from the vill., is ascended by two flights of stone steps, and has some curious perpendicular rocks half-way up. 2. Hanare-yama, about 1 m. off. On its E. side, near the summit, is a large cave inhabited by bats. It may be reached in about an hour by a very rough climb up a precipitous landslip. The view from the narrow ledge at the mouth of the cave is extensive. 3. Iriyama-tōge, 1 hr. by the base of the hills skirting the moor, and past the curious rock called Kamado-iwa by the Japanese, and “Pulpit Rock” by foreigners. The summit commands probably the finest view obtainable of the valley leading to the base of Myōgi-san, and, looking backwards, of the wide

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stretch of moorland and Asama-yama. 4. Wami-tōge. From the foot of the Iriyama-tōge, the path keeps to the r., and in 40 min. more the road from Oiwake over the Wami-tōge is reached. The ascent is easy. After a short but steep descent on the opposite side, a path l. leads to the hamlet of Ongawa situated at the base of the Rōsoku-iwa, aptly re-named by foreigners the “Cathedral Rocks,” and remarkable for the petrified wood found in the neighbourhood. It is possible to return direct over the mountains to the Karuizawa plain, but the path is difficult to find. This excursion occupies the greater part of a day. 5. Yunosawa, ½ hr., by a path leading from the centre of the vill. towards Asama-yama.

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In the small house here a bath may be had, tepid mineral water being brought from the hill beyond. Continuing along the same path, which soon leads over more elevated ground and passes through beautiful stretches of forest, the baths of 6. Kose are reached in about an hour. Kose is a tiny hamlet in a hollow of the hills, but possesses a commodious inn and good baths. A very fair road has been built from Kose to Kutsukake on the Nakasendō, a walk of 45 min. Kutsukake is 3¾ m. from Karuizawa. 7. Kiritsumi (Inn, *Chōsai-kwan). The thermal springs of this place are reached after a 3 hrs. walk over the Usui Pass.

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Not far from the summit a narrow path turns l., leading up and down a succession of wooded mountain gorges, till the final descent is made into the vale in which Kiritsumi nestles at a height of 2,700 ft. The baths may be more conveniently reached by a jinrikisha road from Yokokawa, 2½ ri. The way is pretty, but the view is shut out on all sides. The water of Kiritsumi is slightly saline, with a temperature of 104° F. Higher up, in a neighbouring valley, is the old-fashioned watering-place of Irinoyu with accommodation only for peasant guests. The baths are sulphureous and have a high temperature.

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2.—ASAMA-YAMA. Asama-yama (8,280 ft.) is not only the largest active volcano in Japan, but also the most accessible. The excursion to the top and back may be made from Karuizawa in one day. The last great eruption occurred in the summer of 1783, when a vast stream of lava destroyed a primeval forest of considerable extent, together with several villages on the N. side. Subsequent eruptions have produced mere showers of ashes. At the foot of the steep cone the subterranean disturbances can be distinctly heard, and the sulphureous exhalations near the summit often make this part of the ascent very oppressive.

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The ascent from the Wakasare-no-Chaya, a hut on the road to Kusatsu, is the one now usually made, and is certainly the least fatiguing. The best plan is to hire a horse at Karuizawa, where foreign saddles may be procured, ride via Kutsukake (Inn, Tsuchi-ya) to Ko-Asama (2½ hrs.), the small excrescence on the mountain side, and walk up by the Wakasare-no-chaya path. The climb is steep, but the path a good solid one of cinders, marked at intervals by small cairns. The time taken to the edge of the crater is about 2 hrs.

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The crater is circular, about ¾ m. in circumference, with perpendicular honeycombed and burnt red sides, generally full of sulphureous steam welling up from the bottom and from the crevices in its sides. On the S. side of the mountain rise two precipitous rocky walls, separated by a considerable interval, the outer one being lower and nearly covered with vegetation. They seem to be the remains of two successive concentric craters, the existing cone being the third and most recent. The nearer is quite bare, and columnar in structure at the centre. The side of the cone is

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strewn with large rough fragments of loose lava, and unfathomable rifts extend for the greater part of the way down to its base. The view from the summit is very extensive:—to the N., the whole of the Kōtsuke mountains with the Haruna group and Akagi-san; the Nikkō range and the E. range dividing Shinshū from Kōtsuke; the sea far away in the distance; next the Kōshū mountains on the S., with Fuji peering over them; the conical Yatsu-ga-take and adjacent summits of Kōshū; and then on the W., the huge range that forms the boundary between Shinshū and Hida. The descent to the Wakasare-no-chaya takes about 1¼ hr.

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Another way up, occupying about 5½ hrs., is from Oiwake (Inn, Nakamura-ya), a vill. on the Nakasendō, 2 ri 14 chō from Karuizawa, and formerly a place of some note, but much deteriorated since railway enterprise diverted the traffic from the highway. On leaving Oiwake, the path ascends gently through sloping meadows covered with wildflowers; then the acclivity becomes greater, and gritty ash is reached. At an elevation of 1,145 ft. above Oiwake is a cascade hidden among the trees that skirt a deep gorge. The height of the fall is about 18 ft.; the red colour of the water and of the underlying rock—volcanic breccia covered with a red crust—give it a strange appearance.

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At a height of 3,225 ft. above Oiwake, all vegetation ceases. For 1,600 ft. more, the path proceeds up a steep ascent of loose ash to the edge of the outer ridge, which from the vill. below appears to be the summit, though in reality below it. The path then descends, and crosses over to the base of the present cone, which is more easily climbed. Dr. Rein recommends ascending from Komoro, a station on the Karuizawa-Naoetsu line, 13½ m. from Karuizawa. This ascent joins the path from Oiwake at the little cascade mentioned above.

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