MOUNT MOIWA: the most beautiful view of Sapporo

The view from Mount Moiwa, or Moiwayama, is one of the most beautiful night views of Japan. Currently living in Sapporo, I had to see it!

The weekend of the 10th of August is a long weekend in Japan. Unfortunately the weather, after one month of high temperatures and sun, wasn’t gonna be very good. It was supposed to clear up only by Sunday. It was the opportunity to climb this famous mount located south east of Sapporo. Therefore, it was Mountain day (public holiday in Japan), the perfect day to climb it!

There are several ways to reach the summit. If you own a car, drive up to the observatory at the top. If you don’t, take the ropeway and the mini cablecar. If you’re brave enough, climb it by foot!

I chose the last option! Plus it was like a first training before the road trip I planned for next week and especially for Mount Fuji that I am going to climb on the 27th of August (AaaAAAaaahhh!!!).

The path to the top that I chose is 3 km long but I believe there are a couple more that are longer. The trail wasn’t so easy. Lots of roots on the way followed by tree trunks and cascades of stones. Sometimes it was « flat » (sorry, I don’t know the right vocabulary, I am still an amateur…) so I was able to catch my breath and rest a bit. I absolutely loved this mini adventure in the woods. By halfway the city could be seen from the heart of the forest. I imagined what the view could be from the summit and it gave me some energy to keep going up.

All the way to the top I met some Japenese people going down the mount. Every single time we were greeting each others saying « Konnichiwa ». I have to admit that since I’ve arrived I haven’t said it too many times… Well after that I am good for a while!
I also regularly found statues of deities wearing red bibs. These gods look like children. Indeed they are the guardians of the children and especially of the children who died before their parents. The parents put the red bibs on these statues so the gods could protect their children in the afterlife.

It was the first time I was hiking in a very (very) long time and I wasn’t really prepared let’s say… Out of my whole outfit, only my new shoes were appropriate. And when I say « new » I don’t mean to brag. No, I want you to understand that because they were new they absolutely destroyed my feet and it was quite painful to walk. I was also wearing jeans. I got the choice between that or shorts. You could think that wearing shorts would be a better idea, well, WRONG! I appreciated dearly my jeans because there were so many mosquitoes! And not little mosquitoes but beasts so big they were too slow to avoid the hands smashing them. Hokkaido hasn’t been very nice with me in terms of mosquitoes since I first arrived. Indeed I got around thirty bites over my body and I was just starting to heal when I began the trail. I panicked a little when I saw all those mosquitoes, I have to admit. Anyway, I was glad I was wearing jeans. I also had to put on a jumper so they would not devour my arms and my neck (only four bites at the end!). When I reached the top, I was soaked sweat as you can imagine. But it was all worth it!

After one hour of walk the walls of a shrine appeared and marked the end of the path. Soaked but happy, I could finally enjoy the 360° view from Mount Moiwa.
And what a view! The mount is 531m high and from the top of it you can see miles away. From Ishikari bay to the mountains around where you can ski in winter.

I attended the sunset (well, the sun was pretty well hidden in the clouds but still) and the illumination of the city. The view is indeed beautiful. Little by little, the sky got darker and the lights of the city started to sparkle. It was magical. This panorama is particularly popular for couples and photographers.

To go down the mount I was not brave enough to walk through the forest again. First it could have been dangerous since there’s no light along the way and I didn’t have a lamp with me. And to be honest my feet were killing me. Thus I chose to take the cable car and ropeway. I didn’t regret it because you can see Sapporo coming closer and closer to you as if you were engulfed by the city.