The Japanese Alps & Sacred Mountains: climbing the Roof of Japan

Mount Fuji, at 3,776 m (12,389 ft), stands alone southwest of Tokyo, a near-perfect volcanic cone that has been worshipped for centuries and is one of Japan’s Three Holy Mountains. It is not part of the Japanese Alps, but it is the natural starting point for any guide to climbing in Japan. In its short official season, from early July to early September, hundreds of thousands of people climb it by one of four trails, making it the busiest mountain on the planet. It is a non-technical but strenuous high-altitude walk, and the sunrise from its summit, the goraiko, is one of the great experiences in Japanese mountain culture. For everything on climbing it, see our full Mount Fuji climbing guide, the four-trails route comparison, and the best time to climb.

The Japanese Alps are three mountain ranges in central Honshu: the Northern Alps (Hida Mountains), the Central Alps (Kiso Mountains), and the Southern Alps (Akaishi Mountains). They were named the Japanese Alps by the English engineer William Gowland in the late nineteenth century, and the missionary Walter Weston, often called the father of Japanese mountaineering, popularised them to the wider world. Between them they contain almost every one of Japan’s highest summits, with only Fuji, Ontake, and Hakusan among the top peaks lying outside. Guides to the individual Alps peaks are being added to this pillar; the sections below map the ground so you know where each fits.

The Northern Alps are anchored by Kamikochi, the beautiful valley resort that serves as the main gateway, and the range’s signature outing is the Kamikochi to Yari and Hotaka traverse, which crosses the notorious Daikiretto, a knife-edged gap between the peaks.

Japan’s Three Holy Mountains (Sanreizan) are Mount Fuji, Mount Tateyama, and Mount Hakusan, a trio revered in Shinto and Buddhist tradition and a focus of pilgrimage for over a thousand years. Fuji stands alone; Tateyama rises in the Northern Alps; and Hakusan (2,702 m), the White Mountain, lies just west of the Alps across Gifu, Ishikawa, and Fukui. A fourth great sacred peak, Mount Ontake (3,067 m), is a volcano long climbed by pilgrims, and the site of a deadly 2014 eruption that is a sober reminder these are living volcanoes. The tradition of mountain worship, and the shrines and huts that grew from it, is part of what makes climbing in Japan distinctive, and it is a thread this pillar follows through the peaks.

The Japanese Alps have one of the most developed mountain-hut (yama-goya) systems in the world. Staffed huts spaced along the high ridges serve meals and offer bunks, so climbers can link summits over several days carrying only light loads, a very different style from the self-supported expeditions of the greater ranges. This makes the Alps ideal for classic traverses: the Kamikochi to Yari and Hotaka route across the Daikiretto in the north, the Shirane Sanzan over Kitadake, Ainodake, and Notori in the south, and the full Southern Alps traverse, an eight-day epic regarded as one of the most demanding treks in Japan. The high season for all of this is summer.