Shikoku's second-highest summit
Mt. Tsurugi rises to 1,955 m (6,414 ft) on the spine of inland Tokushima Prefecture, in the heart of Shikoku. Mt. Ishizuchi in Ehime is taller by just 27 metres, which makes Tsurugi the second-highest peak in western Japan and one of the Hyakumeizan — Japan's 100 famous mountains. It is the centrepiece of Tsurugisan Quasi-National Park and one of Shikoku's three sacred peaks alongside Ishizuchi and Miune.
The name means literally "sword mountain." The most popular legend ties it to the Heike clan, whose defeated nobles fled into these mountains in the 12th century after losing the war to the Minamoto. According to local tradition, the sacred sword of the boy-emperor Antoku was buried near the summit, and Hōzōseki, the great rock just below the top, is still venerated as the body of the kami at Tsurugisan-hongū Hōzōseki Shrine. The mountain reads as a single site where mountain worship, defeated-clan history and modern hiking all overlap.
A chairlift mountain — and not only that
The trailhead at Mino-Koshi sits at 1,420 m, and from there a 15-minute chairlift climbs another 330 metres to Nishi-jima Station. With the chairlift, the summit is reachable in about 40 minutes of easy walking on grass-bordered path — which is why Tsurugi turns up on family day-trip lists alongside genuine high-mountain expeditions.
It would be a mistake, though, to file Tsurugi as a tourist mountain. Climbed from Mino-Koshi on foot, the two-hour route through hardwood forest opens onto the bamboo-grass plateau in the way only a real mountain does. The trail also doubles as a pilgrimage route, and on weekends in season you will still pass white-robed shugendō practitioners on the same path.
Choosing your route — Ridge Path, Ōtsurugi-dō, and the ascetic circuit
Four trail systems radiate from Mino-Koshi and Nishi-jima Station. The gentlest is the Ridge Path (Onemichi), a 40-minute climb past the iconic Katanakake-no-Matsu pine to the summit. Most chairlift users walk it; the gradient is mild throughout.
The Ōtsurugi-dō climbs the rocky west flank past Ōtsurugi Shrine and Goshinsui spring (one of Japan's 100 best waters) before joining the summit ridge. Similar in length to the Ridge Path but rougher and more atmospheric — the classic pairing is to climb Ōtsurugi-dō and descend the Ridge Path.
Experienced hikers can take the Gyoba (ascetic) circuit, which links small shrines and cave-altars like Ryōken-jinja, Furutsurugi-jinja and Fudō-no-iwaya with short chained passages and exposed rock. Three hours plus, not advisable after rain, but a rare chance to walk a working shugendō training ground in real time. Few mountains anywhere preserve this much religious layering above an active commercial chairlift.
Jirōgyū and the Miune traverse
Almost every returning hiker will tell you the same thing: "If you come back, do Jirōgyū." Mt. Jirōgyū (1,930 m) is Tsurugi's twin peak, a two-hour round trip from the main summit. The connecting ridge is an open sea of dwarf bamboo grass under a wide Shikoku sky — one of the most photogenic ridge walks in western Japan, and almost certainly the quietest one of its calibre.
Strong hikers can keep going from Jirōgyū along the ridge to Mt. Miune (1,894 m). The full Tsurugi–Jirōgyū–Miune traverse runs seven to eight hours with limited escape options; the safe way to do it is as an overnight, sleeping at Tsurugi-sanjō Hut or Miune Hut. That this kind of high-ridge traverse exists on Shikoku at all is something most mainland hikers have never registered.
Kirengeshōma in July, autumn colour, winter rime
Tsurugi's calendar has three peaks. From late July into mid-August the yellow Kirengeshōma flowers (Kirengeshoma palmata) bloom in the ascetic-circuit zone — one of Japan's largest natural populations, famous since Tomiko Miyao's 1998 novel "Tengai no Hana" used the site as its setting. Expect a crowded Nishi-jima Station and worth-it hillsides.
Mid-October to early November is peak autumn colour, with beech, maple and rowan colouring the forest visible from the chairlift. Tsurugi is on the warm Pacific side, so the timing runs a week or two later than equivalent mainland elevations. From mid-December the summit holds snow, and on January–February cold snaps rime ice (juhyō) coats the summit-ridge trees. The chairlift closes for winter, so a winter climb means walking the full Mino-Koshi route with traction devices and serious cold-weather gear.
What to bring, and how far Mino-Koshi really is
Summit temperatures sit 10–12 °C below the lowland cities. Even in summer the ridge picks up wind, and a Jirōgyū round trip in a single T-shirt is not realistic. Fleece, a wind shell, long trousers and grippy hiking shoes are the baseline; the ascetic circuit adds the need for gloves and the kind of mental focus you would give a Class-3 scramble.
Rain gear is often overlooked but always relevant. The Shikoku ranges sit in the path of moist Pacific air, and afternoon storms develop quickly over Tsurugi in summer. A Gore-Tex jacket and rain trousers belong in the pack year-round. A headlamp is the underrated cheap insurance for anyone who keeps going to Jirōgyū and finds themselves descending later than planned.
Access deserves its own paragraph. From JR Tokushima Station to Mino-Koshi is around 2.5 hours by car on winding mountain roads; public buses run only seasonally and are not realistic for most itineraries. Tokushima Awa-Odori Airport is closer than the train station — for hikers coming from Tokyo or Osaka, flying in and renting a car is usually the cleanest plan. With Tsurugi, the trip almost always starts with the question of how to get to the trailhead.