MT. ONTAKE HIKES

MT. ONTAKE

Mount Ontake (60 kilometers southwest of Matsumoto as the crow flies) is the second-highest active volcano (after Mount Fuji) and the 14th highest mountains in Japan. It is 3,067-meters 10,062 feet) tall and has long been revered as a sacred volcano and has been the object of shamanistic mountain worship. A composite volcano, Ontake It located the Southern Japanese Alps in central Honshu around 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of Nagoya and around 200 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Tokyo.

Mt. Ontake is situated at the borders of Kiso and Ōtaki, Nagano Prefecture, and Gero, Gifu Prefecture. The volcano has five crater lakes, with Ni no Ike at 2,905 meters (9,531 feet) being the highest mountain lake in Japan. A number of actors and artists have gone to the mountain to put themselves into trances in order to get divine inspiration for their creative activities. [Source: Wikipedia]

Tom Fay wrote in the Japan Times: “For a millennia and more, mountain ascetics and pilgrims have traveled from far and wide to scale the peak, with shrines and teahouses popping up along the various approach routes. Even until the morning of the eruption, it wasn’t uncommon to see modern-day yamabushi (mountain ascetics) making their way to the summit, clad in traditional white garb and clutching a pilgrim’s stick and conch-shell trumpet. Since the hiking boom of the 1980s, Ontake has attracted another kind of devotee, the mountain climber. [Source: Tom Fay, Japan Times, September 28, 2018

Ontake’s last last major eruption, the first on record, was in 1979 when it sent 200,000 tons of ash into the sky. That major eruption was followed by minor explosions in 1991 and 2007. After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Mount Ontake, which is located a short distance from a volcanic front, remained dormant. Other nearby volcanoes such as Mount Norikura and Mount Yaki, both of which straddle the border between Gifu and Nagano prefectures, experienced a series of earthquakes of magnitude 3 or 4. [Source: Japan Times, September 30, 2014]

“Masaaki Churei, a former official at the Japan Meteorological Agency who is familiar with the links between earthquakes and volcanoes, said: "When a huge earthquake occurs off the Sanriku coastline, volcanoes that have remained dormant tend to erupt two or three years after the earthquake. It’s possible the Great East Japan Earthquake instigated the eruption of Mount Ontake."

Websites and Sources on Volcanoes: USGS Volcanoes volcanoes.usgs.gov ; Volcano World volcano.oregonstate.edu ; Volcanoes.com volcanoes.com ; Wikipedia Volcano article Wikipedia , Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program volcano.si.edu operated by the Smithsonian has descriptions of volcanoes around the globe and a catalog of over 8,000 eruptions in the last 10,000 years. Volcano Information in Japan: Volcano Research Center at Tokyo University eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp ; Wikipedia List of Volcanoes in Japan Wikipedia

Mt. Ontake Eruption in 2014

A volcanic eruption of Mount Ontake on September 27, 2014, killed 63 people. It filled skies with burning ash and hurtled large stone known as volcanic bombs. Hikers around the summit of the mountain ran for their lives as massive gray cloud of ash, smoke and gases billowed down the mountainside. Some managed to reach the relative safety of the mountain huts, with some putting on helmets they found there and calling for help. Many didn’t make it. The eruption was the worst volcanic disaster in Japan since 1924, when 144 people were killed on Mt. Tokachi. [Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, The Telegraph, BBC, Japan Times]

The volcano erupted without warning, happening at perhaps the worst possible time. It was a beautiful autumn day. The skies were clear and blue. Beautiful autumn foliage was on display.“The best season for the leaves just started, the weather was beautiful, it was the weekend, and it was lunchtime,” Masahito Ono, a Nagano prefecture tourism official, told the Guardian. After the eruption toxic gases lingered in the air and rescuers described an eerie moonscape with with a thick layer of grey ash, mixed stones, a couple meters deep in some places.

Around some 300 climbers, including children, were admiring the foliage and the summit crater when he eruption occurred at 11:52am local time, producing thunder-like booms and emitting a steady column of gas and ash skyward and over the surrounding area.. .Most of the victims are reported to have died from injuries due to flying volcanic material and inhalation of hot or toxic air. Rocks hurtled down from the sky; the ash was so thick it turned day into night.

Ontake used to be a popular hiking destination. It was closed after the 2014 eruption but reopened in 2018. Tom Fay wrote in the Japan Times, “There are a number of hiking routes up the mountain, the most direct of which is the Otaki-guchi Trail starting from the top of the gondola at the Ta-no-Hara trailhead. However, the only trail with access to the summit is from the Ontake Ropeway (open late April to early November). There are a small number of daily buses to both trailheads from JR Kiso-Fukushima Station on the Chuo Main Line during the summer, and at weekends only from July to October. [Source: Tom Fay, Japan Times, September 28, 2018]

According to best-hike-japan.com, the Otaki-guchi route takes 4 hours 45 minutes and covers 6.6 kilometers. It ascends an elevation of 887 meters. It is of intermediate level difficulty during the best season. The season for hikers is July to October [Source: best-hike-japan.com

“This route is popular for hikers because it is the the shortest one to the peak. Steep slope begins after passing a worship space. The smell of sulfur hung in the air around Otaki-chojyo. From Otaki-chojyo, it becomes a flat trail. When visibility is low due to dense fog, be careful not to stray from the route. In sunny day, great view of North Alps is expected from the peak. The route is good in condition.

Estimated course time between the main parts: Tanohara (7th step, two hours); Kongo-doji (8th step, 40 minutes)’ Otaki-chojyo (20 minutes); Kengamine peak (Mt. Ontake, 15 minutes); Otaki-chojyo (20 minutes); Kongo-doji (1hour 10 minutes); Tanohara (4 hours 45 minutes) Getting There: Public transportation. Bus from Kiso-Fukushima station to Tanohara

Volcano Climbing Safety: 1) All volcanic peaks in Japan are carefully monitored by the authorities, but as was the case with Mount Ontake, even the experts can be taken by surprise by sudden eruptions. 2) Some of the most popular hikes in Japan are up the slopes of potentially active volcanoes (this includes Mount Fuji), so the risk of being caught out, while very small, is nonetheless a real one. 3) When climbing up or near volcanoes, always pay close attention to official warnings, signs and announcements. Carry a flashlight, and if possible, eye goggles and a small radio. 4) Always be aware of your surroundings and know your escape route if there were to be an eruption. If you are in the immediate vicinity of an eruption, leave immediately and seek cover. 5) Avoid gullies, rivers or anywhere downstream of the eruption. Look out for flying rocks and ash, and use a mask, bandana or damp cloth to cover your nose and mouth. [Source: Tom Fay, Japan Times, September 28, 2018]

Mount Ontake Reopens to Hikers in 2018

Mount Ontake reopened to hikers in September 2018, about four years the deadly eruption. Tom Fay wrote in the Japan Times: “A stone memorial has been built in the small village of Otaki near the foot of Ontake. At Kaida Kogen campsite to the east of the peak a local woman says that ryokan (Japanese-style inns), hot springs and other small businesses around the mountain have seen a vast downturn in visitors since the eruption, but there is hope that with the re-opening of the summit, things will eventually return to normal. For the people who lost loved ones, however, things will never be the same, with some families filing for damages against the Japan Meteorological Agency who, it is claimed, failed to issue adequate warnings despite an increase in earthquakes on the mountain prior to the eruption. [Source: Tom Fay, Japan Times, September 28, 2018]

“It is now four years since that fateful day, and early this summer I decided to climb Ontake to see how things had changed. When I visit, the 1-kilometer exclusion zone remains in place around the summit but most trails are open as normal. It is a perfect weekend for hiking, with blue skies, gentle winds and just the slightest hint of an early morning chill, much like on the day of the eruption, I imagine. However, it soon becomes apparent that things are now quite different.

“At the base of the Ontake ropeway, the huge parking lot is almost empty, with only a handful of vehicles lined up next to the building. A few staff mill about the complex, getting ready for the visitors who will likely never appear. Announcements echo down the corridors and the shutters of the souvenir shop squeak as they are rolled up, revealing a spacious interior full of Ontake-themed cakes, T-shirts and keychains. At the counter, a shop assistant rearranges the already perfectly aligned postcards that are on display. I buy a pin badge, half out of pity. There is another announcement to inform the half-dozen hikers that the ticket window is now open, and a short line forms as we wait to board the first ropeway cars of the day. That was as busy as it ever got.”

Hiking on Mount Ontake in 2018

Tom Fay wrote in the Japan Times: “The sky was a brilliant blue and the crisp air of early autumn filled the lungs of those stepping out of their vehicles that September morning. Conditions were perfect for mountain climbing. Inside the ropeway cars there was cheerful chitchat, some hikers carefully adjusted their kit while others stared out of the windows as Nagano Prefecture slowly spread out like a sea of green below them to the east.[Source: Tom Fay, Japan Times, September 28, 2018]

“Stepping out into the fresh air high up the mountain at 2,150 meters, there was only the sound of the wind and birdsong, the faint creaking of the ropeway soon left behind as hikers followed the trail that snakes through the trees up toward the barren summit plateau of Mount Ontake. Then, just before midday, the top of the mountain exploded with a searing fury, act one of what would become Japan’s deadliest postwar volcanic disaster.

“From the top ropeway station the path meanders through pristine woodland, and it is a steady climb beyond the tree line to the Nyonindo hut. Huddles of stone statues and wooden torii gates remind me of the mountain’s sacred stature, but even the yamabushi are nowhere to be seen today. I carry on climbing up the slopes over late-season snow patches as the bare and craggy summit draws nearer. A large stone torii gate lies forlorn on its side, presumably a victim of the eruption and broken in two by a direct hit from a huge boulder lying close by.

“At the Ishimuro hut, just short of the summit, the owner tells me that he sheltered people as they ran down the mountain that day, faces gray with shock and coated with ash. I’m surprised to see the hut is open for business at all this early in the season, and the cheerful owner admits that they rarely get more than a handful of guests at night, even on weekends.

“The last part of the hike up past the hut is steep and rocky, and the mountain finally begins to look and feel like a volcano. A rope blocks the trail leading to Ontake’s true summit, known as Kengamine and lying within the 1-kilometer exclusion zone, but hikers can freely explore the mountain’s other minor peaks which sit among a unique, stony landscape dotted with alpine flowers and milky blue-white crater lakes. The ash-stained summit area has an eerie and otherworldly yet devastating beauty, but the air is quiet and somber. It is at once both easy and difficult to imagine what happened here.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons,

Text Sources: JNTO (Japan National Tourist Organization), Japan.org, Japan News, Japan Times, Yomiuri Shimbun, UNESCO, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Updated in July 2020