Dewasanzan – The Three Mountains
| The Good | The Not-So Good |
| Mountain shines | Limited access in Winter |
| Out of the way travel | Physically challenging |
Dewasanzan are three mountains in the northern region of Japan that form a triad of sacred mountains: Mt. Haguro, Mt. Gassan, and Mt. Yudono. There is a very professional and well written official English homepage here, which goes into a lot of detail about the area, including extensive access guides. While not the most special of locations in Japan (5-story pagoda are not uncommon, nor are shines on top of mountains, if you are a more experienced tourists working your way up the Japan sea coast line in winter, this could be a great stop for you.
As well as stunning views while hiking (during summer and fall), the most popular tourist spot is the Dewasanzan Shrine (map). The English on the official site is terrible and not that helpful. The shrine itself is fairly difficult to access although there are a number of options listed here. For hiking, again the same site has an extensive guide. Hiking is not what When Japan caters for so you will have to look into that yourself.
Access to Dewasanzen Shrine
Most casual tourists will want to focus on Mount Haguro. Mount Gassan, which is really just for hiking, and Mount Yudono (more details here), are both closed (buses don’t run) over winter until June due to snow.
To get to Mount Haguro the nearest town is Tsuruoka, from which there is an hour long bus ride to the main shrine. The bus timetable is here but as is usual with Japanese bus companies, completely unreadable. The “How to go” section gives you a good overview and lists the current bus times from Tsuruoka Station. There isn’t really any other way to get to the mountains and you will need to plan ahead, taking into account the seasons (buses don’t run over winter to Mount Yudono and Mount Gassan due to snow). The trek up Mount Haguro will take between 1-2 hours, so time buses with that in mind.
Getting to Tsuruoka City is fairly simple. They recommend a route from Tokyo via Niigata city, which takes you over the Japanese Alps. A trip to Sado Island (ferry and stay overnight with car hire) would certainly be worth the time. There is also a highway bus from Yamagata Station, which is a good option as there is plenty to do in the more accessible area of Yamagata, from which you can get back to Tokyo easily.
When at Mount Haguro
You have two choices. Stop off at the bottom of the mountain by the 5-story pagoda and walk up, or take the bus to the top and walk down. The is a distinct lack of maps in English so When Japan has linked to a fairly easy to understand Japanese version from blog here. There are 2446 steps from the bottom to the top and it will take you at least an hour.
Below is a video of someone climbing all 2446 steps in a little over 1 hour. If you don’t fancy the climb, watch the entire hour long video (30 minutes at 2x speed). There appear to be plenty of flat bit to take a rest, but if you are not so sure on your feet, take the bus to the top and walk down (assuming your knees are good).
