Hiking in Ibaraki conjures up Tsukuba-san, but like its counterpart Takao-san on the other side of the Kanto-plain, is a victim of its own popularity meaning buses, trails and onsens are well over capacity. Looking for a more secluded hike not too far from town, I headed with two fellow hikers out to Tomobe station on the Jōban line, changing to the local Mito line bound for Oyama and alighting at Fukuhara, just beyond the famous pottery town of Kasama.
Today’s hike was along the Wagakuni -Atago hiking course, which runs from Fukuhara to Iwama station, along a small cluster of mountains standing around 600m that sit to the north-west of Mt. Tsukuba. From Fukuhara station we crossed over the tracks and followed the signs through the villages and fields to the foot of Mt. Wagakuni. The road is not especially well signposted but there are signs if one looks carefully.
Eventually we draw closer to Mt. Wagakuni, from where the trail ascends through planted cedar forests that give way to beautiful native birch, before arriving at Tagami shrine. This mountaintop shrine offers fantastic views of the Ibaraki countryside with the peaks of Tochigi towering on the horizon.
After a quick break, we continue along the hiking course, which undulates pleasantly before ascending once again to Nandai-san (553m.) This is a great spot to have lunch with ample room to sit down and take in a less-seen view of Mt. Tsukuba and the adjoining mountains. There are only a few hikers on this trail, in stark contrast to Tsukuba-san and despite yesterday’s rain the trail is not a muddy bog.
After Nandai-san the course continues onwards towards Mt. Atago which is looming ahead in the distance, taking us along a pleasant route interspersed with beautiful trees and strange stones such as the enormous “Byōbu Rock “ and the “Shishiga-hana”. The latter is composed of granite that was formed about 60 million years ago when magma solidified underground. Catching our breath from the ups and downs, we remark on how tranquil it feels up here, and there are no sounds except for the intermittent birdsong and very occasionally another hiker.
We grab one last breather at the top of Atago-san and then start the descent. The mountain road is long but eventually brings us out into a small hamlet called Izumi, surrounded by fruit farms and rice fields. It’s time to refer to our smartphone maps to walk the 20 or so minutes to today’s onsen, “Ishioka Kenko Center: “. It’s certainly not your average hot spring in Japan, and in addition to several types of bath, hinoki sauna and restaurant, it also boasts a traditional “taishu engeki” theater which draws in fans from all over Japan due to showing a kind of drama performance with elements of Kabuki, said to be very rare today. And if that’s not enough, there’s even a mini pachinko parlor near the entrance!
After a nice hot soak we order a taxi to Iwama station, and jump back on the Jōban line bound for Ueno. To reward our efforts, we stop at the excellent IBARAKI SATO SAKETEN inside Tsuchiura Station. This ”kaku-uchi” hybrid bar and saké store offers shochu, saké and snacks, as well as five types of Hitachino Nest beer on draft, including the refreshing “Daidai Ale” brewed using locally produced Fukure mikan. Alternatively, you could stay on the train to Ueno and hit up any number of beer bars there.
We’ve clocked up over 20 km today and the combination of the exercise, hot bath and tasty beer certainly feels great. After a long summer, what a relief that autumn is here which means 6 months of prime hiking season in Japan.
Time to start planning our next holy trinity of hike, onsen and beer.
