Japan's second-highest peak, hidden deep in the Southern Alps
Mt. Kita rises 3,193 m (10,476 ft) in Yamanashi Prefecture, the highest summit of the Akaishi Range — the Southern Japan Alps. It is the second-highest mountain in the country after Fuji, yet almost invisible from any town: the peak sits so deep inside the range that you have to drive to Yashajin Pass north of Kōfu just to see its profile. The writer Kyūya Fukada, in his classic Nihon Hyakumeizan, described Kita as 'the second-highest peak in Japan, and yet so little known.' The mountain anchors the Minami Alps National Park and forms, together with Mt. Ainodake (3,190 m) and Mt. Nōtori (3,026 m) to the south, the trio known as the Shirane Sanzan.
Just below the summit grows Kita-dake-sō, an alpine buttercup found nowhere else in the world. It flowers for only a few weeks at the end of June and into early July, briefly whitening a thin ribbon of the limestone ridge. Mt. Kita's appeal is not really its altitude — it is the combination of endemic flora, a great rock face on its eastern side, and a long high-altitude traverse stretching south across the Shirane Sanzan ridge.
Two routes from Hirogawara: Kusasuberi and Daikanba
Almost every climb of Mt. Kita begins at Hirogawara (1,520 m), the bus terminal at the head of the Noro River valley. From there, two routes climb the mountain. The Kusasuberi (grass-slide) route climbs past the small lake of Shirane-Oike Hut, then up a steep grass-and-talus face to gain the ridge near 2,800 m. The distance is short but the elevation gain is brutal. The alternative is the Daikanba-sawa (Great Birch valley) route, which follows a stream up to the Futamata fork, then climbs to Happonba-no-Col and onto the ridge below Kita-dake Sansō hut. The Daikanba line is visually the most dramatic — you climb directly beneath the great east face of Kita.
The standard schedule is two days: a first night at Shirane-Oike Hut or Kata-no-Koya hut, then the summit and descent on day two. Strong climbers do attempt a single-day round trip, but it means 1,700 m of elevation each way and is not realistically recommended. To extend into a Shirane Sanzan traverse you add a second night at Kita-dake Sansō or Nōtori hut, making it a three-day route. The Daikanba route has been closed in past years due to landslide and snow-bridge collapse, so confirm current trail status with the Minami Alps municipal site or the Ashiyasu Fan Club before leaving.
The Shirane Sanzan: Japan's longest stretch above 3,000 m
South of Kita's summit the ridge continues to Mt. Ainodake and then Mt. Nōtori. These three peaks form the Shirane Sanzan, and all three rise above 3,000 m. Mt. Ainodake was re-measured in 2014 and now stands at 3,190 m, tied with Mt. Okuhotaka as Japan's third-highest peak. The traverse between Kita and Ainodake is a broad, rounded grass ridge with deep valleys falling away on both sides — known as the longest sustained stretch of trail above 3,000 m anywhere in Japan.
The classic three-day Shirane Sanzan traverse runs Hirogawara → Kita → Kita-dake Sansō hut → Ainodake → Nōtori → descent to Narada hot spring. Narada is a famously remote onsen, and most climbers wash off three days of sweat there before catching the long bus back. Where the Northern Alps traverses are about rock and exposure, the Shirane Sanzan is about scale: wide alpine meadows held high above the surrounding country. To climb Mt. Kita as a single-summit out-and-back is one experience; to traverse the Shirane Sanzan is another mountain entirely.
The Buttress: an alpine wall on the east face
The east face of Kita falls away in a complex 600 m rock wall known to Japanese alpinists as the Kita-dake Buttress. It is a separate mountain from the hiking trail — a serious alpine-rock objective with a history reaching back before WWII. The Fourth Ridge, D-Gully Otaki, and Pyramid Face are the classic lines and are still climbed today. Regular hikers will never set foot on the Buttress, but if you take the Daikanba route, the entire face rears up to your left from the Futamata fork onward — a useful reminder that Kita has more than one face.
Several fatal accidents have occurred on the Buttress over the years, and major rockfall has been reported around the Fourth Ridge approach in recent seasons. The hiking trail does not pass directly below the wall, but if you stop to rest near the Futamata fork on the Daikanba route, be aware that you are in the rockfall fan of the face above. The wall's presence is a quiet argument that Mt. Kita is not just 'Japan's second peak' but a full alpine mountain offering many ways of being climbed.
Kita-dake-sō: a few weeks of flowers at the end of June
Just below the summit, on a limestone-mixed band around 3,000 m, blooms Kita-dake-sō (Callianthemum hondoense), an alpine buttercup endemic to this single mountain. The flowering window is extraordinarily narrow — just a few weeks from late June into early July. Snow is still patchy on the ridge at that point and conditions are unreliable, but a steady contingent of climbers each year times their trip specifically for the flowers. The same window catches other alpine plants — Hakusan-ichige, Shinano-kinbai, Chōnosuke-sō — at their best, and the ridge near the summit becomes what Japanese hikers call a 'sky-flower garden.'
Trampling of alpine flora is a real and visible problem at Kita, and boardwalks and protective ropes have been installed around the most sensitive sections of the summit area. If you climb specifically for Kita-dake-sō, you are climbing in the unstable shoulder season before the rainy season properly ends — assume worse weather than typical July and pack the same shell layers and insulation you would for the Northern Alps in early summer.
A short summer above 3,000 m: gear and timing
The snow-free season on Mt. Kita runs from roughly mid-July through early October. The Yamanashi Kōtsū bus to Hirogawara begins service in late June and shuts for winter in early November. August is the peak — Kata-no-Koya and Kita-dake Sansō are both reservation-only and fill weeks in advance. Late September and early October bring autumn color (the dakekanba birches turn yellow against the deep blue ridge), but the ridge can drop below freezing overnight, and you should pack closer to early-winter conditions than late summer.
Gear for Kita assumes sustained time above 3,000 m. Ridge mornings even in August can hit 5–10 °C (41–50 °F), and a fleece or light down plus a windproof, waterproof hardshell are essential. Mid-cut or higher boots and a 40 L pack sized for a two- to three-day food and clothing load are the standard. The Kusasuberi grass-slide from Shirane-Oike Hut is a sustained steep climb through forest and open slope, and trekking poles take real load off the knees on the descent. If you don't acclimatize easily, a first night at Hirogawara Sansō or Shirane-Oike Hut, with the summit on day two, is a worthwhile investment over the rushed one-night plan.
Kita-dake Sansō, Kata-no-Koya, Shirane-Oike: the hut spine
The huts on Kita are the structural skeleton of any Shirane Sanzan traverse. Kita-dake Sansō, perched on the ridge at 2,880 m just south of the summit, is the critical link for the traverse south to Ainodake. Kata-no-Koya (Shoulder Hut) sits at 3,000 m just below the summit and is the favored base for a Kita out-and-back. Shirane-Oike Hut, beside its small alpine lake, is the mid-point on the Kusasuberi route. Hirogawara Sansō at the trailhead handles pre-dawn arrivals and post-climb showers.
Southern Alps huts run smaller operations than their Northern Alps counterparts and book out weeks or months ahead in peak season. Bunks are shared, meals run on fixed shifts, lights-out is early. Treat them as functional sleep-and-meal platforms rather than mountain inns, and align your hiking day to the meal slots — your trip will go far more smoothly. Note that Kita-dake Sansō was rebuilt in 2024 with revised capacity and a new booking system; confirm current details on the Minami Alps city site before leaving.
Sunrise from the ridge near Kita-dake Sansō frames Mt. Fuji slightly off to the right of the rising sun, with Shiomi to the southeast and Senjō and Kaikoma to the west. That particular angle on Fuji — neither from its summit nor from the Northern Alps — is one of the quiet reasons climbers come back to Kita specifically to spend a night up here.
Kōfu to Hirogawara: a seasonal, regulated approach
Access to Kita starts at Kōfu Station on the JR Chūō line. From there, a Yamanashi Kōtsū bus (or shared taxi) runs via Ashiyasu parking and Yashajin Pass to the Hirogawara terminal in about two hours. Private cars cannot continue past Ashiyasu — the Minami Alps Forest Road is closed to private vehicles. The bus operates seasonally (roughly late June through early November); outside that window, there is effectively no way in to Hirogawara.
From Tokyo, the JR Azusa limited express runs from Shinjuku to Kōfu in about 90 minutes, then two more hours to Hirogawara — half a day in transit. Climbers either spend the night before in Kōfu or Ashiyasu, or take an overnight bus to be on the trail at first light. After the descent, the hot springs at Narada and Ashiyasu are the traditional places to wash off and ease the long journey home. Climbing Mt. Kita is unlike Mt. Fuji — you don't look up at it from a city and decide to go. You have to commit to entering the Southern Alps before you ever face the mountain itself.
