Family Pfoto: Tenen Hiking Trail

We had planned a trip to the base of Fuji, but things didn't work out during out trip. It turned out to be a considerable distance away and navigating our way there would have proved quite challenging. The mountain is closed during the summer because it is covered in snow. We still wanted to see Japan's legendary mountain so we looked into some hikes closer by. We settled on hiking the Tenen Trail just north of Kamakura. It two short train rides away and provided breathtaking views of the Kanagawa Prefecture including Yokohoma, Tokyo and what we really wanted to see, Fuji.

Fuji was every bit as breathtaking as we imagined. Even from over 50 miles away it dominated the skyline. Mount Fujisan, as it is called there, is over 3700 meters high (>12,000 feet); the surrounding hills are maybe a third of that. We first glimpsed Fuji from the top of the Kenchoji Temple Trail. As we surveyed the skyline we saw only clouds, but Fuji's snow-capped top stuck out above these clouds. Anything I think to type seems to minimize how magnificent it appeared.

As mentioned, we walked through a Kenchoji Temple to reach the Tenen Trail. At the other end of the trail was the Zuisenji Temple. The hike between temples was around 5 miles, but we had to hike a 1/2 mile from the Kita-Kamakura train station to Kenchoji and then another 1.5 miles from Zuisenji to the Kamakura train station. I would absolutely do it again and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

Along the trail were many yagura, or Samuri graves. Many have been looted over 100 years ago, but some preserved. Often times families have gone back and reclaimed or taken over the empty tombs to use. Here are some pictures from both temples and the trail.