Finally got to do some sight-seeing

HI
Today I went to Mount Tsukuba. This is a mountain shrine. As I understand it, usually shrines have a large building to house the God's Spirit, but with Mount Tsukuba there is no Gods' building because the spirits are housed in the mountain.

It is a 45 minute hike straight up the side of the mountain. However, because most people can't hike up the mountain, they have built a shrine about half way up the mountain, and a cable car to go to the top. I didn't hike it, and I certainly didn't take the cable. I was content with going to the lower shrine, and walking up to the cable car stop. I am scared of heights, as you well know. However, I have challenged Taka and Riu that the next time I come, if the weather is good, we will hike it to the top. So we are all going into training.
Okay, at the shrine, as you go through the gateway, you bow to show respect, then you walk on the sides of the path, because the Path is built for the Gods' to walk. Mount Tsukuba has a shrine to the Mother and Father Goddess.

There is a place to wash your hands and your mouth before you go to the shrine to pray. I wish I had taken a photo of it, but I forgot. You walk past the Guardian Dogs and by a Bridge that is 400 years old. You can only walk across the Bridge if you are there on April 1, November 1, and one other date that I can't remember.
If you look at the photo of the Bridge, you will see a hemp rope across the front of it, along with pieces of White paper that look like little lightning bolts. These are to show one of two things, either this is something very sacred, as in the altar to wash your hands and mouth, or very special, as in a very old bridge.

The shrine at the top of Mount Tsukuba is over 1000 years old. The red bridge is twice as old as our Declaration of Independence. However, there is a tree a this shrine that is older than the Pilgrims, and older than the colonization of North America. The Priests at Mount Tsukuba have a record of this tree being there since 1200 a.d. Actually they brought there from somewhere else, and planted it. It is a form of cedar that I didn't recognize. I think it might be a YEW tree.