Following yesterday’s hike from Okutama lake (奥多摩湖) Mitakesan (御岳山), you will find in this article all the practical information (mountain lodge, access…) for hiking to the top of Mitakesan (御岳山) summit.

General facts

Easily accessible by cablecar, Mount Mitake is the most touristic place in Okutama as the small village next to the temple with all the souvenirs shops and accommodations witnesses it. If you are looking for wilderness and loneliness, go somewhere else.

But the combination of a short hike and a visit at the shrine can be an easy and nice family outing, away from Tōkyō. The shrine is said to have been founded in 90 BC and is as such one of the oldest in Japan. There is a “treasure hall” next to it where you can see some national treasures like a Samouraï armor Akaito-odoshi-o-yoroi (赤糸威大鎧) dating from the Kamakura period.

See http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/tokyo/mitakesan.html for more information.

Hikes examples

• From Okutama lake to Mitakesan

Mountain lodges

Most of the hikes in the southern part of Okutama are easy day hikes. As such there are very few lodges in this area.

Village de Mitakesan :
Touristic place, Mitakesan has several accomodations possibilities including a youth hostel.
Check Mitakesan tourist office web site for more information : http://www.mt-mitake.gr.jp/
Shinonomesansō (東雲山荘) :
Located near the summit of Hinodeyama (日の出山), east of Mitakesan.
Opened from mid-April to beginning of January. Reservation mandatory.
tel: 042-597-0501
Ootakesansō (大岳山荘) :
Located east of Ootakesan summit.
Closed.
Nokogiriyama emergency hut (鋸山非難小屋) :
This emergency hut does not exist anymore. There are only toilets.
Gozenyama emergency hut (御前山非難小屋) :
Located east of Gozenyama summit, a bit away from the trail.
No water.
For more information contact:
tel: 042-521-2947
fax: 042-522-9511
Mitōzan emergency hut (三頭山非難小屋) :
Located south of Mitōzan (三頭山) summit.
No water.
For more information contact:
tel: 042-521-2947
fax: 042-522-9511

Access from Tōkyō

Mount Mitake is just before Okutama station (奥多摩駅). So to get there, from Shinjuku station (新宿駅) if there is no direct train for Ōme (青梅) nor Okutama, just take the first train on the Chūō ligne (中央線) which stops at Tachikawa station (立川駅), change for a train on the Ōme ligne (青梅線) to the station of the same name and change again for a train to Okutama. Check the site http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ for train schedules in English. It costs 1050 yen and takes almost two hours for the Shinjuku – Okutama trip.
Between Ōme and Okutama the stations of Hinatadawa (日向和田駅), Mitake (御岳駅), Kori (古里駅), Hato-no-su (鳩ノ巣駅) and Okutama are all possible access to Mount Mitake. Get off the train at Mitake station if you want to use the cable car ; if you want to walk, get off at any of the other stations. If you get off at Mitake station, take the bus (the bus stop is 50m left of the station exit) to go to the cable car (270 yen, 10 minutes) and take a cable to Mount Mitake (570 yen, 6 minutes). Bus and cable cars runs every 30 minutes (only one every hour during lunch time). Check the page (in Japanese) http://www.mitaketozan.co.jp/access/index.html for bus and cable car schedules.
If you are ready for a longer hike, another option is to hike from Musashi-Itsukaïchi (武蔵五日市駅) south-east of Mount Mitake. To get there, from Tachikawa station, take the Ōme ligne and get off at Haïjima station (拝島駅) to take a train on the Itsukaïchi ligne (五日市線) to the end of the line at Musashi-Itsukaïchi. It costs 780 yen and takes a bit more than an hour from Shinjuku.

To go back, just take the first train back towards Shinjuku and do the trip described above the other way around.

Maps

Necessary maps for the south part of Okutama lake and Mitakesan area are:
1/25000地形図、奥多摩湖、東京14号-3、 NI-54-25-14-3 (Okutama-ko, Tōkyō 14-3, NI-54-25-14-3)
1/25000地形図、武蔵御岳、東京14号-1、 NI-54-25-14-1 (Musashimitake, Tōkyō 14-3, NI-54-25-14-1)

Safety

Check the weather forecast on the english page of the Japan Meteorological Agency : http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html

For the latest information regarding mountain conditions, call the Okutama tourist office (奥多摩観光局) at 0428-83-2152.

National phone numbers for rescue are 119 for firefighters and 110 for the police. The following numbers can also be useful in case of emergency:

• the Ōme police station (青梅警察署) has a mountain rescue team. In case of emergency call the Ōme police station at 0428-22-0110 (internet web page : http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/9/ome/05sangaku/01sangaku.htm),
• the Okutama police station which is part of the Ōme police at 0428-83-2121.