Bus tour to Mt. Ibuki (3) - View of Lake Biwa

A long time ago, Mt. Ibuki had several temples for mountain ascetic practices. Though they don’t exist anymore, there is Mirokudo on the summit, in which a statue of Meitreya is placed. It was a small place but looked somewhat mysterious.

We also went to see the statue of Yamato Takeru, a legendary prince in ancient Japan. One day he came to Mt. Ibuki to defeat the Deity of the mountain but was driven away by heavy rain caused by the Deity himself.

Before we climbed down the mountain, I bought kusamochi for me and my mother as it looked delicious. Kusamochi is a glutinous rice cake in which mugwort is mixed and is stuffed with adzuki bean paste. Though it is a common sweet and I have already mentioned about it a few times in this blog, I must say this one was elastic and very good! It was real kusamochi.

Near the shop, we found a tool to carry things on the back. I think this is a very old kind of tool used in mountains, but the cord wound around it seemed to be relatively new. In another shop, I saw tomatoes and cucumbers soaked in water and sold. Maybe they are refreshing to eat when you are tired after climbing the mountain on a hot day.

On our way back to the parking lot, we went to a spot with a nice view of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the lake, but the houses and rice fields were clearly seen.

When we came to the field of meadowsweet, there was a butterfly on a lily.

While I was busy taking pictures, the weather changed drastically. When I finished and looked back, a clear blue sky was spreading over the mountain.

It was harder to climb down than to climb up because I had to be careful not to slip and fall. Finally, we could see the parking lot.

My mother found a grasshopper.

After returning to the parking lot, we climbed up the observation terrace. We could see Lake Biwa clearly with an island in it. It was difficult to take pictures as the sun was in the same direction as the lake.

Then, we entered Sky Terrace Ibukiyama and had goheimochi, a flat cake of mashed rice skewered and grilled with miso sauce. Though goheimochi is a common food also in the mountainous areas in Shizuoka Prefecture, this one was a bit different. They used peanut butter in the sauce, which I thought was a good idea.