I’m interested in doing the hike through Dewa Sanzan, but I’d also like to visit Japan for Hanami (or possibly in winter) when 2 of the mountains would be closed. The hike through the forest on Haguro san looks like a fairytale, but it’s also pretty far out of my itinerary (lots of train changes) just to visit one mountain. Does anyone know areas that look similar to Haguro san (especially the cedar forest) where I could do a day-hike that may be more accessible?
6 comments
Yes! Check out Yamadera. If I recall, it was walkable right from a pretty prominent train stop. Super beautiful forest shrine!
If you want to have the spiritual side, I would suggest one of these. Cedar is extremely common in Japanese forest and not incredibly hard to find. The two area I suggest are relatively easy to go from Osaka, like 2 train from Osaka station.
Kumano Kodo, that is a pilgrimage route in the unesco world heritage, however, that is more a 3 to 6 days trip. [https://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/resources/model-itineraries/](https://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/resources/model-itineraries/)
Koyasan could be an alternative, for sure it’s popular for foreigners who want to stay in a temple. If you go, you might as well spend a night there. There is many hiking routes around the area, here is an example [http://eng.shukubo.net/upfile/woman-pilgrims-route.pdf](http://eng.shukubo.net/upfile/woman-pilgrims-route.pdf)
Love it!
Hmm… kind of difficult to think of something as the view of the pagoda on the Haguro-san trail is quite magical.
But here’s a few suggestions:
* Nakasendo trail between Magome and Tsumago (doable as day-trip from Nagoya, even from Kyoto with a JR pass and really-early departure)
* Hike between Kibune and Kurama-dera (north Kyoto)
* Hike up Mt Atago (north-west Kyoto; for the most interesting hike go from/to Hozukyo station and Kiyotaki – there is a fork in the trail so you can approach via one way and leave via the other way)
* Mt Hiei (north-east Kyoto)
* Much more of a hike, but still interesting: hike from Saijoji temple to Myojingatake and from there to Mt Kintoki or down to Gora station (to get to Saijoji take a train to Odawara, from there the train to Daiyuzan, and then the bus to the temple) (Hakone area; doable as day-trip from Tokyo)
I visited Dewa Sanzan last year and hiked the three mountains. You can see my trip planning [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/bidu2y/july_2019_toyama_backpacking_tohoku_fuji_rock_how/) (warning: long).
I can tell you straight away that, yes, you will not be hiking either Gassan or Yudono at that time. There are permanent snowfields (some of which were a bit sketchy.. and that’s with trail maintenance) even in July. A small slip would have been recoverable but a bad one could have had some really bad consequences.
What’s actually more difficult about getting out there is making the buses. It’s not so difficult to get to Tsuruoka – shinkansen to Niigata and then catch the Inaho special rapid train up to Tsuruoka. But from there to Haguro, the buses only run once an hour.
A rough schedule would probably be something like:
Day 1: Travel to Haguro via Niigata/Tsuruoka. Check in, eat, sleep – it’s a pretty sleepy place. If you find that you have a lot of extra time, you could try to visit the jellyfish museum in Tsuruoka.
Day 2: Get up, hike up the mountain and back down (or take the bus). Depending on your choice, you can either leave Haguro or stay another night.
If you leave Haguro, you’ll have to line up the buses and trains to see how far you can get to your next destination. If you stay, that won’t be a problem but the hike up and down Haguro doesn’t take all that long (few hours round trip? depending on fitness) so you might end up with some extra time on your hands if you stay.
If you go in winter and end up being near Nagano then I recommend the hikes around Togakushi Shrine. It’s a pretty easy day trip and the walks weren’t too difficult. Being covered in snow made it a bit magical and to top it off there is some great soba in the area.