This week's photo shoot brings us Mt. Mitake, located at the westernmost end of Tokyo's prefectural boundary. Access to the mountain by car or public transportation is relatively easy.
The mountain offers many opportunities for woodland photography with beautiful, tall, ancient-looking cedar trees lining the path/road to the peak. There is a small village near the peak with some shops that haven't changed much over many years, which might make for some quaint shots that may appear to have been taken decades ago.
Musashi-Mitake-Jinja Shrine (Japanese only), and the structures associated with the shrine include grand gates, old statues, beautiful torii gates, carved stone lanterns, stone staircases that have uniquely carved steps not often seen at a shrine, and more unique features that are specific to this shrine. There is an abundance of photo opportunities, especially for tourists. One of the best sources of information in English can be found here: Donny Kimball: https://donnykimball.com/mitake-52da177ddaa2. Donny's blog post provides useful details on how to access this location by train and bus.
The goal of this photo shoot was to capture some woodland photography shots. To avoid traffic and to ensure I can find a parking space, I left home at around 1:30 in the morning and arrived at the base of the mountain around 3:30 a.m. If you drive to the mountain and try to find parking before the start of the cable car around 7:30 a.m., you will likely face a backup of traffic as I saw when I came back down the mountain around 11:00 a.m.
Climbing at night requires that you have a headlight or flashlight. Even with a bright moon out, the canopy of the trees makes it impossible to safely navigate the road to the top. I used the flashlight on my iPhone, which was more than sufficient.
I took a lot of B-roll once the blue hour approached and was able to watch the sunrise from the peak. Most of my video was focused on the beautiful shrine, shrine gates, stone lanterns, ema boards, etc., my photography focused on more on the woodland aspect of this location.
From the peak, I used a my long kit lens (HD PENTAX-DA 55-300mm F4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE) to capture mist covered ridge lines of mountains that can be seen from the peak.
After leaving the peak, I headed down to a ravine about 30 minutes from the peak where there is a popular destination called the Rock Garden. The clear water flowing stones and boulders heavily coated in beautiful green moss. For shots taken in the ravine, I switched back to a standard kit lens with a shorter focal length (smc PENTAX-DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] DC WR). To capture as much of this scene in the frame, I put the camera in vertical position with an attempt to get most fo the scene in focus from front to back.
We then walked upstream and came across this scene where I was able to capture a shot in a horizontal position. Same as the above shot, I used a circular polarizer to reduce reflections shining off of the wet leaves, wet rocks, etc.
The final shot was located right below the hiking trail that takes you through the Rock Garden.
Times 24-Hour Parking Lot--Useful if you arrive early in the morning:
https://goo.gl/maps/LheRq62fzwwqgewa8
Trail information for hikers visiting Mt. Mitake:
https://hikesinjapan.yamakei-online.com/course/4.php
Sample itinerary for sightseeing, hiking, dining, and shopping for a day at Mt. Mitake:
https://matcha-jp.com/en/greatertokyo/5438
Detailed access information and sample itinerary for visitng with a dog (Japanese):
http://www.mitaketozan.co.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/f63766465f8155e84ddbd55bda075cf61.pdf
Sample itinerary for visitng with a dog (Japanese):
https://yamap.com/activities/2817602
Large parking lot near cable car station (7:10 a.m. to 7:00 p.m):
https://goo.gl/maps/EFkJS8LnkWGU2QKT8
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