Southern Alps Shin-Nanbu hiking & climbing route

Route Guide

Drive about 20 minutes from Misakubo Dam, which is one of dams along the Tenryu river, then a parking lot at the logging road will be reached. Park your car and start walking on the logging road. If you hike deep along Tenryu-gawa river, you will enter a valley unexplored by people and the height difference from the logging road to the river side might make you dizzy. You will encounter surprisingly deep canyons. Especially the “green” season during early summer and the autumn leaves season during fall are recommended to visit here. The logging roads in the neighborhood tend to get damaged by typhoons every year and you might see collapsing trails if you proceed to hike on the logging road. That reminds us of the great efforts of people who maintain and manage the logging roads.

When you enter the trail, it becomes deep suddenly. The Toko o’ne is the ridgeline where you ascend 700 m in a short distance all at once and even though it is situated in the deep south, it will remind you that you are in a part of the South Japan Alps. This ridgeline hike represents the trail walk in the deep south and it is not maintained well. Along the trail, some trees are falling and other trees covered by moss are piled up, and this will make you feel that you are hiking on a natural and authentic trail. A slope just before the junction of the ridgeline of Mt. Marubon-dake is a dangerous spot called Bento-korogashi. Be careful not to drop items such as trekking poles. After passing here, you will finally get on the ridgeline.

On the ridgeline, the view of Mt. Fuji will take your breath away. For the first half of the ridgeline with a great open view, you will walk through bamboo bushes. Caution must be exercised to stay on the trail. After passing the last steep slope and turning left at Bara-dani-no-kashira junction, the summit at an elevation of 2,068 m will be reached. Unfortunately, the view at the summit is not great. There is no place to sit down nicely either. However, this is the southmost peak at an elevation of 2,000 m, one of 300 top mountains in Japan. The triangulation point is slightly different from the ones of other mountains. If you are interested, please have a look. It takes over 10 hours for a round trip. You have to keep the descent time in mind while you ascend.