山ガール

山ガール　'Mountain Girl'

I was ready for climbing Annupuri. I had my brown knitted jumper, black trousers, thick socks (two layers, clearly), fleece and scarf.

'Yama Girl!' said Mr T. Uh, what? 'You're a Yama girl.' Uh, sorry, come again?

It turns out that Yama girl is an expression for hiking-loving girls. It's very fashionable in Japan for girls to be into their mountains. Above is a sample of the fashion expected of a bonafide Yama Girl - the central ensemble is especially popular. It consists of brightly coloured socks with variously patterned leggings and skirts/shorts. Possible not what I would think of as the number one appropriate kit for hiking, but, for the Japanese lady, indispensable. Also, note the sticks. No point trying to go up a mountain without sticks.

we managed without the leggings

As we walked up the 1083 metres of Annupuri-San, we met many a Mountain Girl. Another popular past-time seems to be mountain running. There's nothing more disheartening then being overtaken by a mountain runner, only to have them overtake you on the way back down fifteen minutes later.

she'll be coming round the mountain....

The walk itself was perfect: a steep steady climb through reddish tree-groves and thick ferns. The path was very rocky, and I fell over on several occasions, but that's part of the course. The only negative was the weather - at the top of Annupuri, we entered a cloud, and the view was entirely concealed. However, now and again the sun would break through or the wind would blow away the mist and a glimpse of beautiful green hills and white sulphurous peaks would momentarily be revealed.

Hana stopping for a drink

Poor Hannah. No one told her about the plan to go up Annupuri. She was full-steam ahead at first, but come the 1500 meter mark she started to look yearningly at the path behind her. "You can't turn back now, Hana," warned Mr T. But it didn't stop her from pulling at her line, desperate for the warmth and safety of the car.

near the start. still full of energy.

I learnt some useful Japanese onomatopeias on my climb. For instance, in moments of poor balance, you don't say 'oops' or even 'uh-oh', you say 'ototototo', with your arms held out wide. When the stones slip or dislodge under your step, you say the stones are 'zurizuri' -ing. When your knees hurt, you don't say they're sore, you say they're 'laughing'. When you sit in the sauna and let your muscles recover after a long walk, your body is 'jiwajiwa' -ing...  

made it!!!

Afterwards, we went straight to the onsen and recovered in the hot spring water which smelt faintly of gone-off eggs. Phew. We sat in the communal tatami-rooms, which are usual in the Japanese baths, and had a picnic of onigiri and corn on the cob. Mr T fell asleep immediately, snoring, and embarrassing Mrs T so that she had to apologise to the other people in the room. 

homemade onigiri