Autumn in Ena 恵那の秋

Fallen leaves
Come flying from elsewhere
Autumn is ending.

~Matsuo Basho

Along this road
Goes no one,
This autumn eve.

~Basho

The road to my beautiful mountain school.

The view from the Beautiful Mountain school (^-^)/

Mountains Make Me Happy...

And Ena has plenty of Mountains!

The beautiful view just up the road from my apartment. The impressive, snow covered peak of Ontake-san, rising 10,049 feet (3,063 m) over the borders of Gifu and neighboring Nagano, is the first thing I see every morning as I walk out my door. Ontake is an active volcano (erupting last in 1980) and one of Japan's holy mountains. The humid haze of summer makes the peak almost invisible. I know that when I stumble out of my door to be greeted by it's graceful, Fuji-esque slopes covered in snow, autumn has arrived.

Whiter than the rocks
Of Stone Mountain
Autumn wind
-Basho

The Southern Japanese Alps. Just a few of the many reasons I'm thankful to be in Ena (^-^)/