How Did I Get Here Episode 27: Mt Kurokami (Saga) | 黒髪山(佐賀県)

How Did I Get Here Episode 27: Mt Kurokami (Saga) | 黒髪山(佐賀県)

Hi everyone and welcome to How Did I Get Here. Today I join you from Mount Kurokami.    Mount Kurokami is a 518 meter high mountain in the town of Arita in western Saga Prefecture. It’s a thrilling climb through amazing rock formations, a bit of fixed chains and ladders, before the exposed rocky summit and fantastic panoramic views all around. How did I get here? It’s time to find out. From Kami Arita Station, go out the station, turn right and walk down the hill. At the bottom of the hill turn right and go through the tunnel under the train tracks. Through the tunnel just head straight. The road will curve a little bit left, but just head toward the mountains in front of you. At the next intersection turn right on a road with a split guard rail and walk toward that peak towering right in front of you That’s our first peak of the day Mount Hanabusa. Take the road just to the left of the Yamazaki convenience store and head up the hill. Walk a few minutes, and then turn left. You’ll see a really old wooden Torii gate and some signs. Basically turn left on this narrow road where there’s a huge giant ginkgo tree. On your way, you’ll walk past these 
really old stone walls. These are called tombai walls and they’re made from  ceramic bricks used to make kilns. Just past the giant gingko tree, take 
a left on the small stone road following the tombai walls. Head straight on the road that follows this small stream on your right. Walk past the blue house up the road. It will turn into a forest road Continue straight for just a couple of minutes. The road will take a sharp hairpin turn to the right but you’ll stay straight on that path right in front of you. Follow the remnants of this really old forest road as it climbs up past some concrete dams. You’ll soon see a big staircase on your left and a small sign here that says Hanabusayama to your right so take this trail to the right as it climbs up. Start climbing up through a cedar forest on these really old stone steps. At the top of the stairs the trail gets a bit overgrown— just follow the tape marks. You’ll soon reach an area of downed trees. Just cross through them and head on the other side where you’ll see pink tape. The trail becomes a bit unclear just follow that steep gully that goes right in front of you. You will find some tape marks along the way but basically you want to follow this gully up as it leads to the ridge. After about 10 or 15 minutes of tough climbing you’ll reach the ridge. There’ll be a sign marked 94 and a really old corroded signpost here. Turn right for the climb to Hanabusa. Meander your way through the beautiful forest. You’ll soon traverse over a small rock formation. Follow the paint marks on the 
rocks and be careful of the drops on your left. After that just keep straight. Head left at this sign that says Mae Kurokami Ridge. As you get higher it will start to steepen with fixed chains. Just follow the fixed ropes. The views will start to open up when you reach the top. Despite the exposure, the fixed ropes and the good grip on the rocks make for a pleasant ascent. I would not want to come down this route however. After the rock formation it’ll just start switching back steeply up toward the first peak Hanabusa. You will find rescue points along the way: this is number 95. Then you’ll reach a a rope 
tangled in these gnarly roots. Work your way up. You’ll soon drop down a small rock formation and work your way around on the left side. Just a little bit more to go up these final switchbacks. Just before the ridge there’s a final section of fixed ropes. Work your way up. Just before the ridge you’ll reach this rock formation with a nice view down in the valley. So just below the ridge you’ll see rescue point 96 and a sign to the right here that says Hanabusa Iwa. So this is a side trip. You can drop down in about 15 minutes to this rock formation. Be careful on the final traverse. There is a huge cliff on your right. Go look at the views. You get a really nice view of Kami Arita from Hanabusa Iwa. So it really is worth the effort making the short trip down to here. Once back at the junction, just head straight on the ridge in front of you. You’ll see a sign for Mae Kurokami and a rescue point 96. Walk along the easy to follow ridge. Just on your left there’s a rock called Tembōiwa. At the top of the spur on the right side you can see the summit signpost: 440 meters. Work your way along the ridge following the tape marks. It should take about 20 minutes to reach the next peak Mae Kurokami. And here we are in the summit of Mae Kurokami. Feel free to take a break here if you need it. There’s no view and if you push on another 20 minutes you’ll reach the saddle just below Kurokami. You’ll see a lot of mountains in Japan with this Mae kanji which  means before. This literally means the peak before Kurokami. You’ll drop to a broader trail with a rest bench on your right and a signpost with a huge network of trails. You will find plenty of steps in places and an easier to navigate path. And you’ll soon reach another viewpoint. Really nice views down to the valley and the peaks beyond. Start dropping down the wooden steps on the far side with nice views in front of you. Hike over and down a large rock formation with incredible views. Continue along the undulating and rocky ridge. There are plenty of these hard to understand maps along the way. Drop down another set of long stairs. At the next junction keep straight and climb up the stairs to another rock formation. As you climb you can look back on the two peaks you just climbed Hanabusa and Mae Kurokami. On the other side of the rock formation keep climbing up the wooden steps. At yet another junction keep straight. There are no shortage of trails up here. Climb over yet more rock formations. Work your way along the trail following the tape. Ease your way through the cedar 
forest shimmering in the morning light. Climb your way through some ferns until reaching a gigantic signpost at the saddle. There’s a network of trails here. However you should follow the one that says Kurokami 500 meters, Tendōiwa (天童岩). To the right here if you drop down 150 meters there’s a parking lot and there’s Saiko Mitsu dera (西光密寺) as well so if you need a toilet you can go down there. You’ll climb up to the summit and loop back to this junction. So start the final ascent up steeply toward the summit. It is very steep so take it slow and easy. You’ll soon reach a very big shrine complex. This is a good place to take a break if you need it. It’s here that you’ll probably come across your first hikers of the day. So climb the trail on the far side of the shrine. Just behind the shrine you can see our rock formation up there that’s Tendōiwa where we’re headed. You’ll soon reach another junction. Just continue straight and to the left. So climb up to the left to another 
shrine. This is Kurokami Jinja. It looks a lot newer. So just to the right of the shrine—not 
up at the sanctuary but just down a flight of steps you can see the trail continuing on your right. Stay straight just to the right of the big   rock formation. You’ll climb kind of down and around. Traverse below the big rock formation.   Follow these fixed yellow ropes up toward the base of the climb. Continue traversing along  the underside of the rock to a huge chain section. Careful on the short drop here as it is wet. Climb up the chains to your left up the rock formation. Take it slow and use the handholds and the footholds bolted into the rocks and be careful of people coming down. And then traverse up some fixed ladders. Once you pass through the 
chains and ladders you’ll reach a  junction. Turn left for the final climb up to Tendōiwa.   Make your way along the exposed ridge up to the final summit. One final set of chains… And here is the summit. From here we’re going to drop 
down and loop back over to Arita Dam   and walk back to the station that way. From the rock retrace your steps down to the junction. From this junction just continue straight.   Don’t turn right down the way you came. You’ll see a sign that says Arita Dam 2.9 km. Follow along the ridge. So stay on the broad ridge for a little bit. 
You’ll start to drop on the far side of the   ridge past rescue point number #69. At the junction you’ll see a rescue point number 68. Turn left here for the trail to the dam. You’ll see a sign in 
Japanese here. Just follow the sign to Arita Dam   And start dropping back down to that junction below Kurokami where we started. You’ll see some  really thin fixed ropes on your left but just follow the tape marks and the ropes. Switchback your way through the forest. You will see signs in Japanese pointing to Saikomitsudera but work your   way back down to the junction. You’ll basically be traversing below the summit rock formation through   a beautiful forest full of lovely greenery. We’re back at the loop where we started just below the summit climb. At this junction turn right. Follow the narrow trail as it starts switch backing down toward the dam. At an unmarked junction stay right and continue descending. You’ll come across some rescue points and some signposts on your way down.  You’ll eventually see a sign that says Shirakawa CampGround or Shirakawa Kyampujō.   Keep dropping down toward the dam. You’ll drop underneath a large boulder and start following a stream. Ignore a set of stone steps on your right and continue climbing down, following the signs to Arita 
Dam. Enjoy the sounds of the birds as you drop down. You’ll soon reach a river crossing. You’ll see a sign across that says Kurokamiyama. Cross the stream here go up to that sign and turn right. You’ll reach the remnants of an old forest road. Follow this forest road down toward the dam.   it might be easier to follow this concrete 
retaining wall rather than walking in the   washed out road. Stay on the asphalt all the way down. Go around a hairpin turn on the road and continue past some old rest shelters. At the trail head parking lot stay on the paved road that goes to the right here. At the first road junction turn left and cross the bridge. When you cross the bridge you can see the whole ridge that we walked today. Past Arita Dam  you’ll enter the small enclave of Shirakawa. Follow this main road back to Kami Arita station in about 25-30 min. From the station to the summit if you’re coming through Hanabusa and Hanabusa Iwa it’ll probably take you about 2 hours, 2-1/2 hours to reach the summit, depending on how many breaks you take.  
Be careful on the final climb up to the summit   through the fixed chains especially if it’s 
wet. To do the full loop it’ll probably take   about five or 6 hours so it is a full day hike 
make sure you start early and if you’ve come   by train make sure you check the train times 
because there are not so many trains between   Sasibo and Saga. This hike can be done year round however I would not come up here in the rain or in the snow. Well that’s it for another edition of How Did I Get Here in the Mountains of Saga Prefecture in Kyushu. As usual when you’re in the mountains of Japan be kind be safe and be smart. Thanks for watching.

Mt Kurokami, or the ‘Black Hair Peak’, is a little gem tucked away in a hidden corner of Saga Prefecture. Follow along as we navigate the rocky outcrops and avoid the pollen.

For more information on this hike, please see:
(coming soon)

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#kyushu

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
1:09 Station to Hanabusa
5:12 Side Trip: Hanabusa Iwa
5:50 Hanabusa to Mae-Kurokami
6:42 Mae-Kurokami to Kurokami
10:58 Kurokami to Station
13:54 Summary