Kusatsu-Shiranesan (草津白根山)

Location:	Honshu, Japan
Range:	Mikuni Mountains (三国山脈)
Elevation:	2,171 m (7,123 ft)
Route:	Moto-Shirane trail (本白根コース)

Japan Hyakumeizan (日本百名山)



Overview
Kusatsu-Shiranesan is an active volcano with three crater lakes on its summit. Of these, the Yugama (or 'hot water cauldron') is perhaps the best known, given its easy accessibility and its distinctive, milky-blue waters.

Route Planning

At the time of writing there was a one-kilometre exclusion zone from the crater, owing to a Japan Meteorological Agency level 2 alert warning for increased volcanic activity. Buses to Shiranekazan (白根火山) - the volcano - were accordingly not running, but the funicular (or 'ropeway') was still operational, and the trails around the highest point, Moto-Shiranesan (本白根山) (2,171 m), were still open. The Moto-Shirane trail (本白根コース) is an easy circuit from the ropeway station.

Source: http://www.kusatsu-onsen.ne.jp/hiking/detail/index.php?ccd=1

Log

If only I'd done my homework, I would have realised that the Yugama was off-limits at the present time. As it happened, I only found out about the exclusion zone at the Kusatsu bus station, when the man behind the counter made it clear that the bus service to the crater had been discontinued: 'Shiranekazan? No bus - boom!' he said, miming an eruption. Thankfully, the walking trails around Moto-Shiranesan remain open.

Unsurprisingly the trail is packed, given the lovely weather and the relative ease of the route. The views of the extinct central crater (中央火口), however, help to compensate for the crowds, as do the views from the summit of Moto-Shiranesan (本白根山) itself (2,171 m). I manage to catch the delicate dicentra in bloom (see the 'Flora' section below), which is a bit of a treat.

Coming off the summit of Moto-Shiranesan, the route wends past the Kagamiike (鏡池) or 'mirror lake', which occupies another extinct crater.

It doesn't take long to complete the Moto-Shirane circuit. Determined to make the most of a glorious afternoon, I decide to strike out towards the Yumiike (弓池), or 'bow lake', although I am not entirely sure it is shaped like a bow.
The Yumiike lies just within the exclusion zone, so there are no crowds here and I have the view all to myself.

One takes calculated risks in life. Figuring my presence on the volcano would make absolutely no difference to the probability of a minor eruption, I decide to cross the rope barrier for the short hike up to the Yugama crater lake (湯釜). I hadn't counted on being trailed by an official with a loudspeaker (I later found out his name was Sato).



Sato (on his loudspeaker): 'Danger! Return! Go back!'

Me: 'I'll be fine. A couple of photos and I'll come down.'
Sato catches up with me at the rim of the crater, just as I am about to snap a shot. 'No photo! No photo!', he insists, sticking his hands annoyingly in front of my lens. A brief scuffle ensues.
Me (indignant): 'If you break my camera, there'll be hell to pay! What's the matter with you? Where are the signs that say 'no photography'?'
Sato: 'Go back! I am rule!'
Me: 'No, you're 'rude'. You don't make the rules and you don't get to boss me around just because you're in a hard hat and a high-vis jacket.'
Sato: 'I call police.'
Me: 'Be my guest. I think you'll find they have better things to do than chuck tourists off mountains.'

As it turned out, they didn't.

Flora

Here are some alpine and meadow flowers I saw along the trail:

Red clover
(Trifolium pratense)

Dicentra peregrina

Chickweed wintergreen
(Trientalis europaea)

The dicentra - dubbed the 'Queen of Alpine Plants' in Japanese (高山植物の女王) - was a particular highlight for many of the Japanese walkers out on the trail.

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Nearby Attractions

Yubatake

The town of Kusatsu (草津温泉) at the foot of Kusatsu-Shiranesan has been renowned for its curative waters since the 13th century, although its transformation into a spa resort was largely down to the efforts of Erwin von Bälz, a German physician to the Japanese imperial family in the late 19th century. Scalding hot volcanic spring waters are cooled by exposure to air through a series of wooden conduits in the Yubatake (湯畑) (or 'hot water field'), before being channelled to various thermal baths. The process helps to precipitate sulphur and other minerals - somewhat poetically called 'hot water flowers' (湯の花) - which are then harvested. Owing to the distinctive smell of sulphur emanating from the waters, the Yubatake was voted one of Japan's top 100 'smellscapes' (かおり風景100選) in a Japanese Ministry of Environment poll in held in 2001.

Sai no Kawara Park

Located towards the western edge of Kusatsu, around the Yukawa (湯川) hot spring, is the Sai no Kawara Park (西の河原公園). The similarity of the name to Sai no Kawara (賽の河原) in the underworld of Japanese mythology is probably no accident: steam and fumes rising off the acidic waters must have given the place a slightly infernal air in a more superstitious age.
The large rotenburo (露天風呂) or outdoor bath in the Park is a great place for a soak - particularly in winter, when the surrounding landscape is blanketed in snow.

Amagisan (天城山)

Location:	Honshu, Japan
Range:	Amagi Range (天城連山)
Elevation:	1,406 m (4,613 ft)
Route:	Rhododendron circuit  (シャクナゲコース)

Japan Hyakumeizan (日本百名山)


Overview
Amagisan is an extinct volcanic range in the green, hilly heart of Izu - a peninsula with a relatively mild microclimate southwest of Tokyo. The highest point, Banzaburōdake, stands at 1,406 m (4,613 ft), making it one of the few 'mini-meizans' under 1,500 m. The forests that cover the region include rhododendron, beech and andromeda.

Route Planning
The 'Shakunage' (シャクナゲ) or 'Rhododendron' circuit (marked in pink on the map below) is an easy circular walk that takes in both Banjirōdake (万二郎岳) and Banzaburōdake (万三郎岳). A short extension along the Jyusoro trail (天城山縦走路) (marked in lime green) gets you to the 'little summit' of Ko-dake (小岳). The trailhead is near the bus stop for the Amagi-kogen golf course, and there are good views of Fuji to be had along the trail - on a clear day, that is.

Source: http://www.city.izu.shizuoka.jp/org/p2794_16.jpg

Log
Early that morning, from the ryokan in Itō, I saw the bank of cloud roll in. Low, thick and grey, it silently spread its pall, and the rain trailed in its wake. For a moment, I thought of calling off the walk - but I was here to climb another meizan, and I'd done enough D of E treks as a youth not to be daunted by a spot of damp atmosphere.

The first summit, Banjirōdake (万二郎岳) (1,299 m), was an easy amble from the trailhead. One of the few pleasures of walking in the rain - in Japan at least - is the absence of crowds. I would cross paths with only two others on the trail today: a strapping American chap striding across the traverse, and a lean local fell runner loping out from among the beeches.

Pictured on the left is the famed Japanese andromeda (Pieris japonica) tunnel - with pretty boughs bedecked with flowers in the spring, but looking something like a scene from 'Pan's Labyrinth' out of season. According to a helpful sign, 'there is a poison in the tree strong enough to make a horse which eats it suffer, and walk like it is drunk'. Hence the Japanese name asebi (馬酔木) or 'drunken horse tree'.

There was no chance of any Fuji views from the trail today given the weather. I did, however, stumble upon this rusted Fuji marker in the undergrowth a little off the trail. Not quite sure what it was doing there, as it certainly didn't mark any sort of vantage point!

The main summit on the range is Banzaburōdake (万三郎岳) (1,406 m), the highest point on the Izu peninsula. Located in a small clearing in the forest, there are no views to be had here whatever the weather. A short walk away, Ko-dake (小岳) (1,360 m) - the 'little peak' - is likewise forested, but is next to a beautiful ancient stand of moss-covered Japanese beech.

I was soaked and bedraggled by the time I boarded the bus back for Itō - but it was good to get some fresh air and some greenery!

Flora
Here are some of the flowers I saw on my walk:

Torch azalea
(Rhododendron kaempferi)

Alder-leafed whitebeam
(Sorbus alnifolia)

Hydrangea hirta

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Nearby Attractions

Jogasaki Coast

Not far from Amagisan lies the Jogasaki Cape (城ヶ崎), with an attractive stretch of coastline where the black lava cliffs of eastern Izu tumble into the pellucid waters of the Pacific. There are various hiking trails along the coast, and the Kadowaki suspension bridge (門脇吊橋) offers some splendid views.