After a maybe 10 meters or so, the path got a little bit more wide and next to the path emerged many statues, some smaller, some bigger. I kept going onwards until I came to a crossing where I picked the road on the right side and kept climbing. The path there was easy to go, it wasn't really steep and even though all around there were signs that looked like those had been there forever, the road was in good condition. After maybe 100 meters I came to an open square which had onsen hotels on both sides. There I saw a faint map suggesting that in the forest I was able to see right in front of me, there would be a temple. I absolutely love the forests and the last time I had been in one was in Finland, I really didn't think twice.
But I got second thoughts when I saw the forest passage. It was rising up to the hill, but the stairs were cracked and partially were not even there. Then I saw two construction workers taking care of a small fountain close by and asked from them in Japanese if it was safe to enter. They just answered that of course, so I threw away my doubts and started to climb. So if the earlier road was well maintained and not steep, this was was super steep and it only got steeper when I kept going. And pictures will tell you how it wasn't maintained at all. ^^ On the right side after 30 meters there was a sign saying "wild life reserve".
The stairs kept swirling in the forest rising higher and higher. All the town noises were gone. There was only sound of my camera clicking with my bag and always after few minutes I would hear a distant bird singing. The weather had been cloudy all day and the ground was still moist from the night rain. The atmosphere was very mystical and if you could meet a fox spirit in Japan, that probably would have been the moment. It was really relaxing experience to spend time in a place like that after living 3 months in the heart of Tokyo.
Then I saw a big gate in front of me. It wasn't a Shinto gate (like I thought it would be by the one down by the road), but more Buddhist kind of a gate, made out from wood, but without the usual gold details. I was able to see the place where those golden letters maybe had been because in the wood there was a faint mark of a Kanji combination, but it wasn't carved, it was only like a shadow on the wood. I walked under it to see that the wood structures were written all over with black Kanji marks. I left a coin for a saint in front of the gate (she had a several coins in front of her feet) and then kept going.
After that the path basically lost the stair stones time by time and by looking the road I thought that it looked like no-one had tried to keep it in condition for ages. There were even tree branches, leafs and a lot of breaking points all over the path. Up to that point I had kept going already for close to 15 minutes and clock was already pointing close to 6pm. I decided that I would climb up this path to see what was up there where I couldn't yet see and then I would return because I knew that the sun would set soon. But up there were statues with red clothing and a sign pointing that there was only 5 minute hike to the temple. So my curiosity took over and I kept going.
After a maybe 300 meters there came also an asphalt road next to the old path. So that kind of explained why no-one bothered to maintain the old route anymore. (which is a pity, because that is so much prettier.) In this point, both roads started to rise really steep, almost directly up and after climbing with my not so good shoes I was afraid to slip, but in the end I got to the top of the hill without problem. There I saw a temple surrounded by a garden and dozens of statues and little altars. It was Amida-ji, rare Buddhist mountain temple. It is built in 1610 by priest Tansei. When I turned around I faced a view I didn't expect to see. I knew I had been climbing a long time but I really didn't expect to be this high. After taking a few pictures I had to give up with my curiosity to go check the temple closer because the dark was coming. I decided to go back the same forest path, because I didn't know where the asphalt road was ending. But while going down I made a decision that I would come back during summer to see the Ajisai flowers in full bloom.
