I joined package tour which departs from Osaka and I hiked to see Jomon sugi (over 2000 year-old cedar) at Yakushima Island.
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You can already see many sites which are written about hiking to Jomon cedar in English so I’ll introduce not general information but my real experience in Q &A style.
・Access to Yakushima Island
Our package tour used air plane.
Osaka airport→Kagoshima airport (transfer)→Yakushima airport
Luckily our flight arrived on time but in case of strong wind or typhoon flight can be cancelled or there’s possible that some flights can’t land on Yakushima airport because of bad weather and have to go back to Kagoshima.
Air plane is comfortable but I’ve heard that cancellation rate of air plane tend to be higher compare to high speed vessel.
・departure date
We went there the beginning of November in 2017.
During we stayed there typhoon hadn’t come. But several typhoons come to Yakushima every year.
In October of 2017 two typhoons came to Japan. Generally October has more risks to come typhoon than November.
・Do we need guide to go hiking for Jomon cedar?
Our package tour included guides. If you are beginner of hiking, I recommend you arrange guide for any troubles, for walking at adequate pace, and for getting sightseeing information.
Most part of trekking course is fit for hiking. But some part of course has many roots of trees and has some steep slopes.
・I’m a beginner. Can I accomplish?
I think you can. But one-day hiking to see Jomon cedar is a long way so you have to prepare enough.
The distance one day hiking to Jomon cedar is 22 kilometers.
At first you hike along the railway trail which flat or gentle slope. One way is 8.5km.
Mountain trail starts after you walk through railway trail. One way is 2.5km.
In case of one day course you have to go and return. Total distance is 22 km. It takes about 10~11 hours. You have to start hiking very early morning and go back to start point by sunset.
Three months before this trip I only walked less than 20-minutes every day for work. So I decided to sometimes walk or hike on weekends. But I couldn’t use enough time so I did only for about 30 minutes at a time.
I did squats for strengthening the muscular power of the lower half of the body. To be honest, I couldn’t do every day. I did it sometimes.
・Things to bring
・Backpack (30L backpack rental was included in our tour )
・Flash light (A pocket size LED light was enough. Our bus, the chartered one, departed very early in the morning (4:00 am) because weather forecast said it will be rain afternoon. When we start hiking, it was still dark so we needed flash light. You may need it also in the evening if you return late.)
・Water (A 500mL pet bottle was enough. You can supply water at several places.
・Portable toilet (It was included in packaged tour. We didn’t use it. There were toilets at 3 places along hiking course. 1 place was bio-toilet(composting toilet).)
・Meals (breakfast and lunch. They were included in tour.)
・Candy, Calorie Mate, chocolate and so on. (Especially candy is good to keep your energy.)
・hat or cap
・work gloves (I didn’t bring them but it is good to protect your hands.)
・towel
・plastic bag or Ziploc bag (It rains a lot in Yakushima. To keep your belongings away from wetting you should put them into plastic bag or Ziploc. Especially camera or cell phone)
・folding umbrella (You need while you eat meal. You can also use while walking railway trail.)
・insole of shoes, Band-Aid (To prevent getting blisters on your feet you had better bring them . )
※I didn’t use trekking poles. If you don’t get used to use it, I don’t think you need them.
※You should take enough sleep the day before hiking.
※As bus drives on the winding road, bring motion sickness medicine if you need. There isn’t many shops in Yakushima and they close early.
・Clothes to wear
・rain wear and hiking boots (Our packaged tour included rental rain wear and hiking boots.
It rains a lot there so you need absolutely rain wear. You should wear hiking boots to protect your ankles.)
・Thick socks (Thick socks are good for shoe sore prevention.)
At the beginning of November I wore thin long sleeve, stretch pants, rain wear. I wore a little thick long sleeve when I felt cold.
Yakusugi one day hiking trail is 600m ~1300m above sea level. But at 0m abouve sea level Yakushima is rather warm compare to Osaka.
These information are my personal opinion. Not all information suit for all people.
I’ll introduce some highlights of sightseeing.
An interesting shape fallen tree:
It is like the head of dinosaur! You can see it near trail along railway.
Wilson’s stump（ウィルソン株）:
Go inside this stump and look up at the sky. You can see heart shape from the certain direction.
Couple cedar（夫婦杉）:
Two cedars’ branches are connected each other.
Daiou sugi (Great king cedar)（大王杉）:
Radioactive carbon dating shows that this tree dates back to 3000 years ago or more. It is said cedars in Yakusima grow slowly on oligotrophic granite so they can live long.
Jomon sugi（縄文杉）:
You’ll be surprised to see this great cedar such as hermit or owner of this mountain. You can see it from two observation platforms.
It is said this cedar is 2000 years old. Radioactive carbon dating shows Jomon cedar is younger than Daiou cedar. There’s possibility that Jomon cedar is older if many samples are taken. But it can hurt Jomon cedar.
I was very impressed seeing real Jomon sugi after walking long-distance.
If you are interested, you should go there!
Click each post's
Osaka airport→Kagoshima airport (transfer)→Yakushima airport
Luckily our flight arrived on time but in case of strong wind or typhoon flight can be cancelled or there’s possible that some flights can’t land on Yakushima airport because of bad weather and have to go back to Kagoshima.
Air plane is comfortable but I’ve heard that cancellation rate of air plane tend to be higher compare to high speed vessel.
・departure date
We went there the beginning of November in 2017.
During we stayed there typhoon hadn’t come. But several typhoons come to Yakushima every year.
In October of 2017 two typhoons came to Japan. Generally October has more risks to come typhoon than November.
・Do we need guide to go hiking for Jomon cedar?
Our package tour included guides. If you are beginner of hiking, I recommend you arrange guide for any troubles, for walking at adequate pace, and for getting sightseeing information.
Most part of trekking course is fit for hiking. But some part of course has many roots of trees and has some steep slopes.
I think you can. But one-day hiking to see Jomon cedar is a long way so you have to prepare enough.
The distance one day hiking to Jomon cedar is 22 kilometers.
At first you hike along the railway trail which flat or gentle slope. One way is 8.5km.
Three months before this trip I only walked less than 20-minutes every day for work. So I decided to sometimes walk or hike on weekends. But I couldn’t use enough time so I did only for about 30 minutes at a time.
I did squats for strengthening the muscular power of the lower half of the body. To be honest, I couldn’t do every day. I did it sometimes.
・Things to bring
・Flash light (A pocket size LED light was enough. Our bus, the chartered one, departed very early in the morning (4:00 am) because weather forecast said it will be rain afternoon. When we start hiking, it was still dark so we needed flash light. You may need it also in the evening if you return late.)
・Water (A 500mL pet bottle was enough. You can supply water at several places.
・Portable toilet (It was included in packaged tour. We didn’t use it. There were toilets at 3 places along hiking course. 1 place was bio-toilet(composting toilet).)
・Meals (breakfast and lunch. They were included in tour.)
・Candy, Calorie Mate, chocolate and so on. (Especially candy is good to keep your energy.)
・hat or cap
・work gloves (I didn’t bring them but it is good to protect your hands.)
・towel
・plastic bag or Ziploc bag (It rains a lot in Yakushima. To keep your belongings away from wetting you should put them into plastic bag or Ziploc. Especially camera or cell phone)
・folding umbrella (You need while you eat meal. You can also use while walking railway trail.)
・insole of shoes, Band-Aid (To prevent getting blisters on your feet you had better bring them . )
※I didn’t use trekking poles. If you don’t get used to use it, I don’t think you need them.
※You should take enough sleep the day before hiking.
※As bus drives on the winding road, bring motion sickness medicine if you need. There isn’t many shops in Yakushima and they close early.
・Clothes to wear
It rains a lot there so you need absolutely rain wear. You should wear hiking boots to protect your ankles.)
・Thick socks (Thick socks are good for shoe sore prevention.)
At the beginning of November I wore thin long sleeve, stretch pants, rain wear. I wore a little thick long sleeve when I felt cold.
Yakusugi one day hiking trail is 600m ~1300m above sea level. But at 0m abouve sea level Yakushima is rather warm compare to Osaka.
These information are my personal opinion. Not all information suit for all people.
I’ll introduce some highlights of sightseeing.
An interesting shape fallen tree:
Wilson’s stump（ウィルソン株）:
Daiou sugi (Great king cedar)（大王杉）:
Jomon sugi（縄文杉）:
It is said this cedar is 2000 years old. Radioactive carbon dating shows Jomon cedar is younger than Daiou cedar. There’s possibility that Jomon cedar is older if many samples are taken. But it can hurt Jomon cedar.
I was very impressed seeing real Jomon sugi after walking long-distance.
If you are interested, you should go there!
and share if you like it.Advertisement