"Amagisan Doro", written 天城山道路 in Japanese, means "Amagi Mountain Road". "Amagi" itself is a place name written with the characters 天, meaning "sky" or "heaven", and 城, meaning "castle". The place is on the backbone of the Izu Peninsula of Japan that lies between Suruga Bay and the Pacific Ocean just south of Mt. Fuji, and about 100 km from Tokyo.
When I lived in Japan, I spent many happy hours hiking among the tall cedars, and along the stone terraces where the famous Japanese radish "wasabi" has been cultivated for hundreds of years. Wasabi requires plenty of cold, clean water, and the mountain streams that run down out of the highest points in Izu are diverted into cascading stone-walled beds. The wasabi paste that accompanies sushi and other Japanese fare is made by simply rubbing the root on a rough surface.
The Amagi area is also well-known as the setting for what is commonly regarded as Japan's most famous short story, The Dancing Girl of Izu [伊豆の踊り子].
The music of Amagisan Doro is peaceful and contemplative. It evokes the sounds of two classical Japanese instruments: the koto, a sort of wooden harp with strings that are plucked, and the shakuhachi, a wooden flute.
The music is accompanied by sequence of photos and videos I captured during my walks in those mountains. Enjoy!
![Black Lake [elev. 10,620 ft] under an overcast sky. The mountain at right is Chiefs Head Peak - the chief is reclining with his nose at the right edge and chin a bit to the left.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5005dbf284aebe9f4d09d4f5/1413205525591-I5LZOGZ345CRXKHP8R9Z/image-asset.jpeg)
![A wider panoramic view includes Long's Peak [elevation 14,259 feet] visible between the two pine trees at left.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5005dbf284aebe9f4d09d4f5/1412381375654-TXINMPKB0XXJZVJT7S42/image-asset.jpeg)
