Climbing stairs is not really my cup of tea especially if I need to take more than 500 steps in one day. But the pictures and stories about Nokogiriyama or the Saw-Tooth Mountain intrigued me quite well. So after a day of rest from Nippara Caves, my husband and I headed to Nokogiriyama in Chiba together with the same group of friends.
There are trains from Tokyo going to Hamakanaya Station (station nearest to Nokogiriyama) but we decided to take the Keikyu Line going to Kurihama then walked our way to Kurihama Port. From there we took the ferry which crossed the Boso Peninsula and ended up in Kanaya Port in Chiba. The cruise was around 40 minutes.
When we reached the other side, we walked our way to the Ropeway Station going to Nihonji Temple. Since it was golden week, the queue was quite long but still moving quite fast. The ropeway ride was enjoyable because it gave us a different perspective of the bay and the mountain range in the area.
We started our hike from the top going down to the Great Big Buddha. On our way, we passed by several highlights of the place like the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy carved into the rock; the famous View from Hell; and the 1500-Arhat or sculpture statues of Buddhists devotees and deities.
And to end a tiring yet fantastic hiking day, we made a quick stop in a local pizza restaurant to enjoy stone oven-baked pizzas and ice-cold beers.
