Mountain: Mt. Nantai (男体山) 2,486m
Nearest Station: Nikko
Bus Stop: Nikko Futarasan Shrine
It was spring in 2020, and I had just gone through several stressful events, and just needed to get away. One mountain that always captivated my interest was the legendary Mount Nantai, which translates to (Manly body mountain). It is part of the "Nikko Family" mountains, with the wife Mount Nyoho, and the two children, Komanago (little child) & Omagango (big child). Mount Nantai is a holy mountain, and you must pay an entrance fee to the shrine at the base for admittance (roughly 10$). They do a good job keeping the trail in good shape, so I think its worth it. Another unique characteristic of this mountain is that it is very similar in shape to Mount Fuji, but on a slightly smaller scale. There is also a large "Divine katana blade" at the summit, and it is rumoured to be where the sacred Nikko monkeys are still known to roam.
It takes several hours by train and bus to get to the base of the mountain if you don't have a car. It rained on the way there, and I couldn't see the top of the mountain, as it was shrouded in a dark cloud, but all weather channels were calling for clear skies the next morning. I stayed at a hotel which had cheap dormitory/capsule style rooms. The next morning, I went to the base of the mountain at 5:30am, but realized that the Futarasan Shrine doesn't open the trail until 6:00am, so I had to wait to enter.
Like Mount Fuji, the mountain has 9 stations/checkpoints, which can let hikers know how far they are. The first station passes up through a grassy forest stairway and eventually turns into a winding paved road. The real hike doesn't begin until the fourth station, and from here the mountain gets fairly steep. The course layout seems to change between stations, which certainly kept the trail from getting dull. Although Mount Nantai is much smaller than Mount Fuji, the elevation gain is 1212m, which is only about 150m shorter than the Fujinomiya hike, so it is quite a steep elevation gain for a day hike. From about the 5th to 8th station, the trail becomes very rocky and steep. Not to the point where you are actually rock/wall climbing, but it will definitely make you sweat. (And good to watch your footing on the way down) I was much more winded then I had expected from this simple "day hike". The good news was after the 8th station, it becomes a bit easier, although still quite steep.
The 9th station was a dirt path held up by various sand bags, and in the final push the mountain path opens up from the forest and transforms to an exposed volcanic trail, much similar to the summit of Mount Fuji. As I finally reached the top shrine of Mt Nantai, I had an amazing view of all of Nikko below me, and could see lake Chuzenji below as well as Sengoku Flatlands, and Mount Nikko-Shirane. From the other side was a stunning view of the Nikko family mountains.
At the summit was the famous Divine Sword of Mount Nantai. I climbed up the rock and stood by the sword, and while I was there another hiker below waved and took a photo of me. Moments later, my hiking teacher suddenly sent me that photo. I then realized the other hikers at the summit were acquaintances of Naoyasu Sensei, and recognized me from our previous outing. We briefly chatted and they soon went off on their own adventure. It was now time for my descent.
I seemed to be on my own for almost the entire way down. Part of the reason being, I was a bit slower than usual going up those rocky trails that earlier day due to my heavy backpack, so it was a bit later in the day - a common problem I ran into a few times that year. Actually, I had stuffed the heavy backpack behind a tree at the 8th station and picked it up on the way down.
Two long hours later, I had quickly made my way down to the 2nd station. Since I was still trying to catch the 4pm bus to Nikko station and take the many local lines home that day, I didn't give myself much time to rest, but exhaustion caught up to me and I finally stopped for a moment, took off the heavy bag and stretched. At that moment I saw a figure move by in the corner of my eye. As I took a closer look, I realized it was a wild monkey. Then, I noticed that further into the forest, was a whole family - about 20 monkeys, all hiking up Mt Nantai together. They were aware of me, but didn't seem to be so interested. After a moment of awe, we all continued on our separate journeys on the mountain trail.
After exiting the mountain trail and making my way back to Nikko station, I went to a familiar hot spring which was part of a hotel. Due to the coronavirus, they were limiting the hot spring to hotel guests only. I checked the train schedule, and realizing that I wouldn't be home to very late, I decided to splurge and treat myself. The hotel was half price because it was a Tuesday, and I seemed to be the only guest that night. I enjoyed a lovely outdoor hot spring in solitude, a quiet sleep, and the next morning I was the only one in the breakfast lobby, and enjoyed what felt like a royal feast while overlooking the shadows of the two Nikko mountains. It was a great way to end a very surreal solo odyssey.
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