こんにちは！グローバル観光学科3年次生の辻野 百音です。今回、私たちジェフ先生のゼミ生は2月28日に、参加可能なメンバー(先生＋4人)で感染対策をしつつ、フィールドワークに行きました！

まず、東山の如意ヶ岳、通称大文字山に登りました。元々は夏休みに予定していましたが、予想以上の暑さで中止になってしまいました。ですが、今回は天候に恵まれ気温もちょうどよく、開催することが出来ました。

最初、私たちは登山口に近い哲学の道で待ち合わせをしました。全員集まり、無事に登れるようお参りをしていざ出発！

体調が悪い人もおらず、対面でゼミ生と会うことが初めてな生徒も加わり、仲良く喋りながら山登りをスタート。ですが学生全員、思っていた以上に登ることがきついと早々に気づきました…。休憩を挟みながらも、何とか頂上を目指しました。

歩くこと約30分。木々の間を転ばないよう歩いていると、目の前から木がなくなり、開けた場所に出ました。そこは「大」のある場所。ようやく半分登りきった証拠です！
天気がよく京都の街も一望できて、とてもいい景色でした。

さらに約20分ほど歩くと、頂上に着きました。みんなで座りお昼ご飯タイム。自然の中で食べるお弁当はとても美味しかったです！

しばらくしたあと、反対側を降りて南禅寺に向かいました。ずーっと続く獣道はとても疲れました。膝が震えたり、先生も膝がかなり痛そうで、学生たちはみんな心配しながら降りました。

帰り道はほぼ舗装されていない道で時間がかかりましたが、降りきると目の前には南禅寺の水路閣。授業で写真を見るのとは違い、歴史を感じる美しいものでした。

「今から帰るのも疲れるね」と話しながら、重要文化財の山門の下にある階段で休憩。全員が疲れきっていて足が痛かったですが、楽しかったと笑うことが出来ました。

一人では行くことの無いだろう大文字山を登り、南禅寺の水路閣と山門を見てきました。コロナ禍で自粛をしていたのでとてもハードなフィールドワークになりましたが、それ以上にいい経験になったと思います！皆さんも、よければ登ってみてください！


Hello! My name is Mone Tsujino and I’m a third year student in the Department of Global Tourism. On February 28 the seminar members who were able to go (4 members + Jeff Sensei) had a one-day fieldwork excursion while minding the health measures for the pandemic.

First we climbed up Mt. Nyoi-ga-Take, familiarly known as Mt. Daimonji. We had originally planned on this fieldwork during summer vacation, but because of the extreme heat we put it off. However, this time we were blessed with beautiful warm weather and happily started our fieldwork.

Our meeting spot was the north end of Philosophers Walk, near the place where the climb up Mt. Daimonji begins. After everyone gathered together, we walked past the entrance to Ginkaku-ji, paid our respects to the gods at Hachi Jinja Shrine for a safe climb up the mountain, and set off!

All of us feeling well, we started climbing as we chatted amongst ourselves, meeting in person one student who had been online for the whole school year. But none of us students had imagined how difficult the climb would be! We quickly found out! Taking short breaks along the way, we headed for the top.

We climbed about thirty minutes, making sure not to slip and fall as the trail wandered through the trees. Then the trees ended and we came to a wide open space. We had reached the Dai character, which meant we were halfway up the mountain! The sky was clear, and from there we could see all of Kyoto laid out below. What a fantastic view!

Another twenty minutes of hiking brought us to the top of the mountain. We sat down beside the trail and had our picnic lunches. Eating out-of-doors makes the food taste so delicious!

After our lunch break, we headed along the Higashiyama mountain range to the path leading down to Nanzen-ji Temple. Following the steep wilderness trail was really tiring! We started feeling weak in the knees, and Jeff seemed to have a lot of pain in his knees. All of us were worried about him as we hiked down the mountain.

The trail down the mountain wasn’t kept very well, but after a long, hard descent, we reached the aqueduct and Nanzen-ji Temple. I had seen photos of the aqueduct and the temple in classes, but the real thing had a feeling of history, and was beautiful beyond words!

As we chatted about being too tired out to even start going home, we found a nice stone stairway to sit down and rest, right in front of the National Treasure Nandai-Mon gate of Nanzen-ji (see photo). All of us had painful legs from our mountain trek, but we were laughing as we chatted.

Climbing Mt. Daimonji is something that we probably wouldn’t do alone. But together we climbed the mountain, saw the aqueduct, and visited Nanzen-ji. The pandemic limited our activities for a long time, so it was really strenuous fieldwork. The feeling of accomplishment and happiness at the end, however, more than made up for the hard work. Everyone, if you get a chance, please enjoy hiking up Mt. Daimonji!