Mount Oe - There where Demons Reside

What?
Mount Oe (大江山) is a series of peaks in the small village of Oe, now fully incorporated in Fukuchiyama city (福知山市). Most people who know about this place think about demons, although I’m not sure why. In each case, the village tries to live up to that image and has a Demon Shrine (鬼岳稲荷神社), a Demon Cave (鬼の洞窟) and a Demon Museum (日本の鬼の交流博物館) located in a park called Demon Village (鬼の里). Mount Oe is less demonic though than it might seem, as the highest point is only at 832 meters. Nevertheless it offers a pleasant hike with beautiful panoramas.
Where?
Located in northern Kyoto Prefecture (京都府), Mount Oe is quite a pain to get to. We had our own wheels so we had no problems though. If you don’t have your own wheels, there are a few buses that connect Oe Station (大江駅) with the Demon Museum. Oe Station in its turn can be reached from Fukuchiyama Station (福知山駅) which has straight JR train connections with Osaka and Kyoto.
URL
Hiking in Japan Fukuchiyama Tourist Association

Mount Oe. Famous as the “demon mountain”, but the demon statues men built around the foot of the mountain don’t really instill fear; they’re rather cute. It’s these statues that made clear to us that we were in the neighbourhood of our destination when approaching by car. The same kind of statues take post at several spots in the small village, and they all seem to be linked to the Demon Museum in the Demon Village which is the start of the hike. Strolling through this demon’s village, the hike starts at a mountain trail at the corner of the local baseball field. The path is not very long, but it is steep, so keep track of your breath!

When finally arriving at the first split in the road, we headed for the peak called Nabezuka (鍋塚). It is around this split that the mountain started to look a little bit scary, just as the home of demons should look like. I doubt the mountain got his nickname because of its looks, but in the beginning of December the bare trees in combination with the cloudy sky and fierce, cold wind had something very eerie.
The climb to Nabezuka (763m) is again rather short but feisty. It is rewarded though with some fantastic views. Mount Oe may not be very high, but as it is the highest in the area it offers some commanding vistas, even in the cloudy weather.

This demon in the demon village was quite impressive.

I think it's a plantation. It looked very eerie in each case.

Bald landscape, cold northern winds. The demon's lair?

This part of the ridgeline was also pretty demonic looking.

Eventually it was the cold northern wind that chased us away. We retraced our steps but this time kept following the ridgeline. After a first saddle we reached a second peak, namely Hatogamine (鳩々峰, 746m). Again, the short climb was well worth it.
We kept on walking the ridgeline, dropping down into a forest that showed a surprisingly high variety of plants. If you’re a bit familiar with Japanese forest, you will know that a lot of them only have about 1 kind of tree. Mount Oe is really interesting in this way as it feels a lot more natural, as strange as it may sound.
Eventually we prepared for the last stretch upward, this time to the highest point of Mount Oe (832m). The view at the top was a bit disappointing compared to the other 2 peaks, but reaching the top of any mountain always leaves a trace of satisfaction.
From here on we just kept on going down, first passing the “demon shrine” and tracing our way back to the demon village on asphalted road. While that may sound a little boring, the road winds up and down through dense forest, and we saw more than 1 group of deers who were leisurely eating about. That is, until they noticed us.

When we finally arrived back to where our car was parked we had walked around 15 kilometers in 4 hours and a half. Mount Oe is a nice mountain, not really spectacular or anything, but pretty with great views. If you’re a hiking fan and if you’re in the neighborhood (it’s not easily reached), give this mountain a try and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.