Nagusa's Steep Peak and Nonexistent Waterfall

What?
Mount Nagusa (七種山) is a 683m high peak and chosen as one of Kansai’s 100 best mountains. The hike up is continuous struggle along ropes and protruding rocks, but is rewarding in that it has stunning views over central Hyogo’s mountain all along the way. Nagusa Waterfall (七種48滝) is actually a collective term for a string of smaller and bigger waterfalls on the mountain’s slopes. The tourist association recommends visiting them in the rainy season. And rightfully so, as during this dry winter there was not a trace of the falls to be seen.
Where?
Located in central Hyogo Prefecture (兵庫県), the trailhead is located behind a camping ground. The nearest station is Fukusaki Station (福崎駅) on the JR Bantan Line (播但線) (connected with Himeji 姫路), and while it is possible to walk from here, it takes over an hour of your time. There are a few buses that run from Fukusaki Station to the Taguchi Shuraku Center (田口［集落センター］) bus stop, from where the walking distance is reduced to an acceptable 20 minutes. Otherwise, a rental car or taxi service is your only option.
URL
Fukusaki Town Tourism Association

What a beautiful day. The perfect opportunity to try out my new flashy orange-brown boots and my new flashy mustard-yellow backpack. But as it is winter, I would also need my age-old flashy poison-green jacket.
Anyone who passes me would think I am colorblind!

More than colorblind I must have been google blind. Even though I checked, I severely underestimated the distance between the station and the trail head. Instead of the half an hour that I had in mind, it took a little more than an hour to just arrive at the start of the hike.
Already then, I felt a blister coming up on my heel - courtesy of my new shoes and some bad shoelacing.

The first 20 minutes after arriving at the trailhead were absolutely brutal. After that, the path flattened out for a more enjoyable experience.
On this trail you need to continuously look out behind you otherwise you would miss an absolutely mesmerizing scenery. The mountains of central Hyogo are a beautiful rolling tapestry that seemingly stretches as far as the eye can see. The gentle rolling is only perceived from afar though; when climbing, this Mount Nagusa is a real challenge. As I have heard Hiking in Japan guru Wes Lang say: judge a mountain not on its height but on its shape.

And rightfully so. Even though the path flattens out, early on there are already the occasional bumps in the road. To be taken pretty literally.
Big boulders can only be conquered with ropes or chains. Even though you will only advance a few meters, you would have climbed a dozen. It keeps the hike trilling of course, however it is not for the faint hearted.
And then the real challenge still needs to come. The first brutal 20 minutes were only an appetizer, a sign of more to come. To reach the summit of the lower Nagusayari mountain, it’s necessary to conquer an almost vertical climb. I actually saw a descending hiker almost losing his balance and dangerously drop a few meters.

Until then, the hike was a continuous ridge hike on a rocky underground. Thrilling but dangerous in places. After the Nagusayari though, the trail strangely turns into a forest hike - after of course first a very steep descent.
And then it’s just “repeat” for the real summit. A grueling way up followed by a neck breaking descent.
In between, there were the absolutely gorgeous views from the top. Even though the cold northern wind was far from comfortable, I ate my onigiri right then and there, because there’s no way I would pass on that view.

Incredibly scary mascot greeting visitors at Fukusaki Station.

Fellow hikers enjoying the first stretch of ropes.

It's as narrow as it looks on this picture. Don't look down.

If you wonder where the arrow points to: down.

From here, the next highlight of the trip should have been the Nagusa waterfall.
Unfortunately, with this year’s dry winter, there wasn’t even a trickle to be admired. It made the big stone staircase and viewing platform look a little bit silly of course.

My initial plan was to make yet again a steep ascent and continue my loop hike over several ridges of some lower mountains. I didn’t expect any spectacular views or anything, but any path in the forest is better than a boring asphalted road, as I learned from my hike on the Ikuno plateau.
But my feet in the new shoes, and especially that blister made me go for the easy forestry road that connects the waterfall with the trailhead.

On this road I saw many a sign pointing to smaller waterfalls. In a different season this road might still have its charms; now however even the river was completely dried up - I didn’t hear the slightest dripping of water. What a bad season to be a waterfall.

Anyway, as there was still more than an hour to walk to the station, my decision to take a shortcut was a correct one.
Choosing Mount Nagusa to walk in my new boots might not have been one though, but that does not spoil the great image I have of the mountain.