Standing 1955m (6414 ft) at the deepest end of the valley, the famed Mt. Tsurugi is the highest mountain in Iya and the second highest in Shikoku (Mt. Ichizuchi in Ehime Prefecture is a couple dozen meters higher). With great views of the sunrise and sunset, as well as a place to see the wondrous early-morning unkai ("sea of clouds") , on clear days the expanse from the summit stretches as far as the Seto Sea in the north, and to the Pacific Ocean in the south.
Not too difficult to climb, hiking the mountain is a rewarding experience due to its range of well-maintained trails, a chairlift which can bring you about half-way up, and a variety of facilities on both the top and base, including restaurants, toilets, camping, guesthouses, and a full service summit hut that offers a wonderful way to spend the night (see below about accommodation options). Tsurugi is also a great starting or ending point for longer hikes around the mountains of Iya.
Home to a Buddhist Temple , several Shinto Shrines , and a training retreat for esoteric Shugendo Monks , the revered Mt. Tsurugi is ranked as one of the "100 Famous Mountains of Japan" . With its name meaning "Sword Mountain" , there are several supposed reasons how it took this title, but it certainly isn't because it is particularly steep (the summit is actually very broad and has a gentle curve). More commonly referred to as "Ken-zan" by the local Iya Valley people, this illustrious mountain is well steeped in legend, and its curiously unique history is detailed at the bottom of this page .
Autumn Leaves on Mt Tsurugi
The autumn colors on the mountain are particularly nice, with the leaves changing from mid-October to the end of the month. Actually, at Tsurugi the entire month of October is promoted as the "Momiji Matsuri" ("Maple Leaf Festival"), however its not so much of a party-atmosphere "festival" but just a way to announce the wonderful colors!
Main Trailhead:
- Tsurugi Trailhead at Minokoshi
Hiking Time (main trailhead to summit) :
- 1:35 to 2:05 hours up (hiking only)
- 0:55 to 1:10 hours up (chairlift and hiking)
Climbing Difficulty: 1.5 - 2.2
Tsurugi Chairlift:
- open daily, from mid-April to Nov 30
- ¥1050 adult, ¥520 child one way
- ¥1900 adult, ¥900 child round trip
- 9am - 16:30 daily
(8am - 16:30 during Golden Week, everyday in Aug, and Sat, Sun & Holidays in Oct)
Facilities at Tsurugi Trailhead (Minokoshi):
- Parking, toilets, Wi-Fi
- Guesthouses, restaurants
- Small nature museum
- Chairlift from Minokoshi to Nishijima
- Tsurugisan Bus Stop
Facilities on Mountain:
- Campground at Nishijima (free)
- Tsurugi Chojou Hutte on summit
(staffed accommodation, restaurant, website )
- Toilets at Nishijima Chairlift Station
- Toilets on summit
- Water springs along trails
For More Info:
-The
Tsurugi Kanko Center (on
twitter ) is located within the same building (downstairs) as the chairlift station in Minokoshi. Here you can get free maps, trail info, as well as some basic hiking gear. A nice cafe is here too. Open daily Apr-Nov 10am-3pm. See the Map below for location details.
- Also, the Tsurugi Chairlift has its own website (in Japanese) giving details about its schedule, prices, and Tsurugi event info.
-And for more info on other hiking trails in Iya, check out our Hiking Portal Page .
Staying & Eating on Mt Tsurugi and the Minokoshi Area
Restaurants & Grocery
All of the guesthouses and mountain huts around Mt Tsurugi offer meals to non-guests, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And all places close for the winter (from late Nov to early/mid April)
Your best options down in Minokoshi would be either at Minshuku Matsuura (open every day 7am - 7pm), or at neighboring Kirinomine (open most weekends and some weekdays). There is also a cafe with drinks and some light meals at the Tsurugisan Kanko Center which is located downstairs in the chairlift station building
Or you may be better off eating upon reaching the top of the mountain at Tsurugi Chojo Hut, which actually has a pretty good menu.
If wanting to bring your own food up the mountain instead of eating at the hut, bento lunch boxes and other take-out food can be bought at the Minokoshi guesthouses, with Minshuku Matsuura having the best range. Additionally, drinks and some snacks can also be purchased either at the guesthouses or at the mountain huts, but there is no grocery store in Minokoshi and its a long drive to anything, so if wanting to cook a meal while camping, be sure to bring in everything from lower in the Iya Valley, from Oboke, or from Ikeda.
Mountain Huts
On the top of Mt Tsurugi is the staffed Tsurugi Chojo Hutte, which has rooms, bunks, meals, and even hot baths. The staff is welcoming and helpful. They also operate a second building next door called Unkai-so, and either place can be booked through their English website. Walk-ins are possible, but reservations are preferred.
Also, over on nearby Mt Ichi-no-mori is the staffed Ichi-no-mori Hut with bunks and meals. Its a bit smaller and less busy, but the classic building is certainly quite cozy with a great secluded feeling. Reservations can be made through the Mima City website (they may be able to handle an English email... or maybe not.)
Either of these huts are a great experience, allowing for a mountain-top stay without needing to worry about having gear, shivering in a tent, dealing with weather, or cooking for yourself, while also being able to enjoy awesome sunsets, starry night skies, and famed early morning unkai (sea of clouds). But understandably, both huts are closed during the winter.
Camping
The Nishi-jima Campground is located just below Nishi-jima Lift Station, about halfway up Mt Tsurugi. There are several flat, grassy campsites here scattered among some thicker sasa grass. All are perched in a rather pretty spot, looking westward down the valley towards the sunset. There is no fee to camp here and there are no reservations, so availability is on a first come basis (it may be busy on weekends and holidays). There is no covered area or fixed shelter, so bring proper gear in case of bad weather. Toilets and water are up at the lift station a couple minutes up the path, and another water spring is below the lowest tent site.
It is also possible to camp beside the Ichi-no-mori Hut for a fee of ¥500 per person. Reservations should be made in advance and can be done through the Mima City website (they may be able to handle an English email... or maybe not.)
And do realize that at 1700+ meters, either spot can get chilly at night,
even in the summer, so be sure to have a warm sleeping bag (freezing temperatures and/or snow can possibly happen overnight anytime from early October to mid-May).
**Otherwise, camping is not allowed anywhere else on the mountain.
Guest Houses
Aside from the mountain huts, down in Minokoshi there are also a few guest houses which allow for an early hiking start, a late return, or just a mountainous alternative at the deepest end of Iya. All have fresh local-style meals, hot baths, Japanese-style rooms, and family owned atmosphere which makes you feel warmly welcomed. Reservations would be helpful (especially on weekends), but most would take guests without notice.
There are about four places to stay operating in Minokoshi, but nowadays only Minshuku Matsuura (0883-67-5009) is most reliably open. The sweet owners offer traditional-style rooms and home-made meals, all at reasonable prices. They are closed in winter from late November to early April.
The nearby Heike-no-Yado (0883-67-5296) guesthouse is usually only open sporadically, so they should be contacted beforehand to reserve a room.
It may also be possible to stay at the Tsurugi-jinja Shrine (0883-67-5017) but you should first call them to see if that's still offered.
And Kirinomine (0883-67-5211) used to serve as a guesthouse, but recently it is only open as a restaurant (mainly on weekends and a few days during the week) and no longer takes overnight guests.
Hotels
The only hotel in the area is the cozy La Foret Tsurugi , which is about a 6 or 7 minute drive away from Minokoshi and technically located in neighboring Tsurugi-cho Town. Relaxing by their wood stove is great in the evening, while the tastey meals, comfortable Western & Japanese rooms, small hotspring bath, and natural isolation beside a pond all make it a wonderful retreat. The hiking trails for either Mt Maruzasa or Mt Tonomaru go out right from the hotel.
Its possible to walk here in about 40-45 minutes from Minokoshi along a scenic section of Rt 438, and during certain times of the year the bus to/from JR Sadamitsu Station stops here a few times a day connecting the hotel to both the station and Minokoshi (check the Bus Schedules ). And like other places around Minokoshi, its closed during the winter.
The local people of the Iya Valley call the mountain "Ken-zan", which is simply just an alternate way to pronounce Tsurugi's Chinese characters 剣山 which mean "Sword Mountain" in English. However, it wasn't only called this. Until the mid-1800s it was also known as "tate-ishi-yama" 立石山 ("standing stone mountain") due to tall upright rocks on the mountain just above O-tsurugi Shrine. And while some say that the "Sword Mountain" name of Tsurugi-san is just a reference to the standing stones, others say the weaponized name refers instead to its broad and gently rounded summit which resembles the curve of a samurai sword.
In the 1930's, while a fictional Indiana Jones was raiding Egyptian tombs and duking it out with Nazis for the Lost Ark of the Covenent (which is said to contain the pieces of the Ten Commandments brought forth by Moses), a real-life Japanese Indy Jones began digging up Mt. Tsurugi because he believed, through extensive research of comparing Japanese legends and texts with Biblical Scripture, that ancient Israelis crossed half the earth and hid the Lost Ark there. Though some of the links made are more compelling than others, the man, Masanori Takane, was a bit obsessed with his belief, and it must have taken a fair amount of effort for him conduct his nearly two decades of excavations on the mountain being that he started well before any road was built out to it.
And while he did not find the Ark, Takane's excessive archeological digs along with those of other treasure hunters did find some fairly interesting tunnels and peculiar ancient remains. However their digs abruptly stopped in 1952 after what was believed to be a deteriorated mummified corpse and some marble corridors were uncovered. No reason for the abandonment of their project was given, but a final dig starting in 1956 by a different hunter was later ceased when the government established the Mt. Tsurugi Quasi National Park in 1964, which prevented anyone else from ever excavating the mountain again for environmental reasons (or maybe, ummm, that's just what the government wants you to believe...)
So what really lies within the formidable moutain will probably forever remain a mystery (some say its a man-made pyramid, other say King Solomon had treasure other than the Ark put there... though whatever is there, it's apparently guarded by a 10-meter long snake), but if one wants to make their own opinion, consider checking out the Tsurugisan Hozoseki Shrine Ceremony, when each summer a large golden Mikoshi shrine is carried by poles around the mountain top by men wearing white robes, a Japanese tradition that's occured since times immemorial and of course, oddly similar to Biblical accounts of how the Ark itself was handled. Check the Events Page for details.
And one can only imagine a different version of Steven Spielberg's classic movie, where Indiana Jones instead comes to pre-war Japan to clash with Imperial soldiers who are led by a tormented Takane, gets clues from Mt. Tsurugi's secretive Shugendo monks, out runs some pursuers by cutting away a vine bridge with the emporer's sword, and then blasts off through the Iyakei Gorge along the still-under-construction Iya Highway in a dusty kei-truck with the plundered Ark bouncing in the back. It'd be cinematic gold.
