Chichibu Tama Kai National Park

Chichibu Tama Kai National Park sits where four prefectures—Saitama, Yamanashi, Nagano, and Tokyo—meet. The park covers 1,250 square kilometers and holds eight peaks higher than 2,000 meters. It offers many hiking trails and old shrines, and it is the headwaters of the Arakawa, Shinano, Tama, and Fuefuki Rivers. Well-known landmarks include Mount Mitsumine, which has the 2,000-year-old Mitsumine Shrine, and Mount Mitake, home to the Musashi-Mitake Shrine.

On the Tokyo side, the main points are Mount Mitake (929 meters), Mount Odake (1,266 meters), and Mount Mito (1,528 meters). Mount Mitake, on the park’s eastern edge, has been a sacred mountain since ancient times. At its top is the Musashi-Mitake Shrine, established in 90 B.C. during Emperor Sujin’s reign; the building contains a Zaōgonge Statue made in 736. A cable car now gives easy access. Mount Mito has three peaks—Western (1,527 m), Central (1,531 m), and Eastern (1,528 m)—and is part of the Oku-takao Ridge running northeast from Mount Takao in Hachiōji, Tokyo. It is known for its beech forest (Fagus japonica) and was named one of Japan’s best 100 mountains in 1997. It is also the source of the Aki River, a major tributary of the Tama River.

In Saitama Prefecture, the attractions are the Tochimoto Sekisho Historical Site and Nakatsu Canyon. The historical site sits at the junction of the Chichibu Trail, which goes through Karisaka Pass toward Kōshū, and the Shinshū Route, which heads through Jūmonji Pass to Shinshū. Now a small mountain settlement, it was once busy with travelers. Nakatsu Canyon stretches about 10 kilometers, carved by the Nakatsu River, a tributary of the Arakawa River. Many visitors come in November for the fall colors.

On the Yamanashi side, major spots include Daibosatsu Pass, Mitake Shosēn Gorge, and Nishizawa Canyon. Daibosatsu Pass, famous from Kaizan Nakazato’s novel *The Sword of Doom*, lies between Kōshū and Kosuge in Yamanashi and rises to 1,897 meters. North of the pass along the ridge is Mount Daibosatsu (2,057 m). The pass is also called the Hagiwara Road, Daibosatsu Road, or Oume Way. Historically, it was a tough but important part of the Oume Route, an alternate to the Kōshū Kaidō connecting Musashi and Kai Provinces. In 1878, a renovation of nearby Yanagisawa Pass shifted traffic away. A mountain hut has been built recently.