Hey everyone, just came back from a 1-month trip to Japan and wanted to share a hike I did up Mount Tsukuba in mid-August.
**BASIC INFO**
Mount Tsukuba (ç‘波山) in Ibaraki, Japan is one of the hundred famous Japanese mountains, featuring two peaks called Nyotaisan (女体山) and Nantaisan (男体山). Both peaks are around 870 meters tall. There are a number of hiking courses available, along with cable car and ropeway so people of all ages can enjoy the mountain.
You will also find the Tsukubasan Shrine there, which is a Shinto Shrine dedicated to the gods of family safety, harmony within marriage, and matchmaking.
**GETTING THERE**
There’s an express bus that you can take from Tsukuba Station to the mountain. The bus stop you alight from depends on which course you’re looking to take. On that day I went on the Shirakumobashi Course (白雲橋コース), so I alighted from a bus stop called Tsukubasan-jinja-iriguchi. From there it was a short walk to the Tsukuba Shrine, where I turned right for the Shirakumobashi Course that leads to Nyotaisan — going left brings you to the cable car station and another course that goes to Nantaisan.
If you’re in Tokyo, you can easily reach Tsukuba Station using the Tsukuba Express, which makes Mount Tsukuba quite a popular destination for a day trip/hike.
**THE HIKE ITSELF**
While the distance wasn’t too long, the elevation and the terrain made for a challenging hike on the Shirakumobashi Course — along the way I had to climb a multitude of rocks and rock formations. That said, the trail is pretty well-maintained, with signs to guide you along the way.
Once I reached the summit I got quite a nice view of the surroundings, though it was slightly crowded with fellow hikers taking photos and chilling.
From the summit it’s a short hike to a plateau in between the 2 peaks, which has toilets, shops selling food, souvenirs, and the cable car station. I wasn’t in my best condition on that day, and decided to take the cable car down in the end.
Overall if you’re someone who’s into hiking like me, Mount Tsukuba can be a nice alternative to Mount Takao, with a number of courses and decent elevation. Accessibility from Tokyo is also great with the Tsukuba Express and shuttle bus.
That’s it! If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer them.