Exploring Mt. Daisen in Tottori Prefecture

Hi, I am Sachiyo!

At the end of last month, on December the 27th, 2020, I guided two guests from the Philippines, who are currently living in Japan, around Mt. Daisen and its surroundings. With an elevation of 1709 meters, the mountain is the highest peak in the Chugoku Region, the southwestern part of the largest island of the Japanese archipelago.

As they are from a country that enjoys a tropical climate year-round, it was the first time for one of them to see snow, and second time for the other. So, they looked very delighted to see the winter scenery with snow everywhere at Daisen White Resort. Singing Christmas songs, we built a snow man. On the snow, I found some pinecones and needles that had fallen from Japanese pine trees and got an idea. I used them to create his face and hands. It’s so cute, isn’t it!? When we left there, we felt sorry for him to be left all alone… He looked lonely…Goodbye, snowman.;  😉

After we said goodbye to the snowman, we made a pilgrimage to Ogamiyama Shrine by walking along a trail in a pristine forest for about 15 minutes.

At the end the short hike, we finally reached the gate of the shrine compound. Over the steep stone stairs, which looked just like a slope covered with snow at the time, we saw a very beautiful and magnificent wood structure of more than 200 years old rise in front of us.

It looked hard for our guests, who were not used to walking in the snow, to go all the way, but they seemed to be enjoying the rare experience instead of getting tired.

Tradition has it that the current structure of the shrine was built in 1805. Mt. Daisen has been worshipped as a holy mountain where a very powerful god resides. The shrine enshrines the god of Mt. Daisen itself.

Our last destination of the day was Tottori Hanakairo, which is one of the largest flower parks in Japan. The shape of the Mt. Daisen changes from where you look at it, and from the flower park, it looks like Mt. Fuji.

In the center of the flower park, a huge dome-shaped greenhouse with a floor diameter of 50 meters is located. Inside, it is full of tropical flowers and plants. It’s where we can feel like we are in a tropical country all year round. Our guests seemed happy seeing flowers they were familiar with in their hometowns, saying “Long time no see, bougainvillea!”

I spent a great day and shared lots of fun experiences with them!