Next fall (September 08) I plan on doing an exchange through my university to spend a year in a Japanese University. The two choices are Yamaguchi University or Tenri University.

Yamaguchi University is in Yamaguchi-ken in the heart of the city itself, or so I am told. Tenri University is in Nara-ken, just south of Nara actual.

Nara:
Nara

Yamaguchi:
Yamaguchi

The choice really comes down to what university is closer to good climbing.

From the research I have done, Tenri is closer to climbing. But I would love some advice.

I Climb pretty much every style, (boulder, sport, trad) at around a 5.11 level.

Thank, Tim.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TimJ,

I, for one, have no idea where either one of these schools is, and I'm too lazy to google.

If you can give us a specific prefecture and city name for each, you might get some responses. (No guaranty, of course...)

Edited for clarity.

Thanks Bill.

Tim

Hmmm... Your links seem to both go to the same place, but I got motivated and did a little googling.

Both schools are located outside of my normal climbing range, so hopefully someone who's located further out in western Honshu can give you more info.

However, a quick glance at my old, red guide shows one limestone area called Yoshino Kashiwagi that seems to be quite close to Tenri. Two more areas, called Ura-Rocko Eboshi-Iwa and Kohmoridani, are also reasonably accessible from Tenri. (It looks like all of these will require a car, however.) In addition, Horai, reputed to be one of Japan's premier sport areas, is within distant but possible driving range of Tenri.

By contrast, the red guide doesn't show anything close to Yamaguchi.

I should note, however, that the red guide is old and limited in its coverage. Does anyone know if the newer series guide (100 climbing areas, or whatever it's called) has a western Honshu volume out yet? If so, does anyone have a copy who can help out?

Sorry I can't tell you more.

Hi Tim,

I fear this could be a little to late to help with your selection but it might help others in a similar situation.

I used to live in Ube, about 30 odd kms from Yamaguchi and I can tell you that there is nothing worth climbing in the area.

Looking at my copy of Japan's 100 climbing destinations (vol 5) that Bill makes mention of, I can see that there are only two climbing areas in Yamaguchi, one of which I tried to find on sevearal attempts but couldn't locate the start of the access trail.

I'm not familiar with the other area you speak of but I would recommend it as it couldn't be worse than Yamaguchi.


steve

I'm currently living in Yamaguchi Prefecture and there are a few places to climb around here. Mikura Dake is about an hour or 2 from Yamaguchi city. It's a great spot with some good sport and trad route's including some multi-pitch. Here is a translated blog with some good pictures of the popular spots at Mikura http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=htt...hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff. I also have a guide book for the crag if you need a copy. There is also a crag in Yamaguchi City I believe