Mount Tsukuba

Tsukuba is only 877 metres but it stands alone on a flat plain with nothing near it, so it is visible from a great distance and has been noticed for a very long time - it appears in the Man'yoshu, the eighth-century poetry anthology, more often than any mountain except Fuji, and the pair of poetry-exchange gatherings held on its slopes are among the earliest recorded Japanese social customs. It has two summits, Nyotai at 877 metres and Nantai at 871, with a shrine at the col between them and a cable car and a ropeway serving each side. Walking up takes about ninety minutes on the Miyukigahara trail. The rock is gabbro rather than volcanic, and the mountain is one of the few in Japan with no volcanic history at all. Plum blossom on the lower slopes flowers in February and the view over the Kanto plain reaches Fuji on clear winter days.

History

The Fudoki of Hitachi Province, completed in 721, says the mountain was named after a noble, Tsukuha no Mikoto, and that the area was once called Ki no kuni. Legend tells that a deity asked Mount Fuji and Mount Tsukuba for a night's shelter: proud Fuji refused and Tsukuba welcomed the guest with food and water, which is why Fuji is cold and barren while Tsukuba is green and full of colour through the seasons (Wikipedia, Mount Tsukuba).

Highlights

• A mountain alone on a plain - visible for great distances, unusual in Japan.
• Two summits - Nyotai and Nantai with a shrine at the col between them.
• No volcano - gabbro rock, one of the few Japanese mountains with no eruptive past.
• The Man'yoshu connection - named in eighth-century poetry more than any peak but Fuji.

When to go

February for plum, November for colour, clear winter days for Fuji. Half a day.

Good to know

The summits carry shops, antennas and viewing platforms rather than wilderness. Weekend queues for the cable car are long. Haze over the plain hides distant views for much of the year. The trails are rocky and steeper than the height suggests.

Nearby

Tsukuba city is south; Mito is north-east.

Key facts