(大菩薩) Mt. Daibosatsu Hike

One of the more flexible hikes – it can be easy and quick, or looong depending on your preference. It’s one of the hundred famous mountains, and for whatever reason I have not have heard of it, which is a pity because the ridge is simply beautiful and peaceful.

Budget: JPY5,420 (~USD51)

• JPY1,690. Train from Nakano Station to Kai-Yamato Station.
• JPY1,020. Bus from Kai-Yamato Station to trailhead
• *multiplied by two for the return trip
• *We actually rented a car, and ended up paying JPY4,500 per person so it may be a better alternative

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 2057m /6749ft.)

• June 6, 2020.
• 2 out of 5 for me. It very quick easy but can be easily adjusted to make it a bit longer.
• Route below is around 8.3km, with an elevation elevation change of ▲770m/ ▽773m (3h45m map time)
• Map Link

When to Go
Any time during the year, but some blogs say it sees snow in winter, so bring spikes then.

Special Notes

• Weather check : Japanese
• There’s an emergency hut in the middle of the ridge, but there is no door so winter might be a bit risky.
• The road to the trailhead is a winding road. I actually got a bit carsick.
• Can be a dayhike or an overnight hike, as there are numerous starting points and trails.

• Trailheads. There are a couple of starting points, and your transportation will depend on such:
• Kamihikawa-touge (上日川峠線). This is a much closer starting point to the summit, and you have about 45 minutes to an hour to the summit. 
• The bus is from Kai-Yamato Station (甲斐大和駅) (JPY1,020 one way, last train heading home at 15:45). Bus schedule here, look for "大菩薩上日川峠線". As a rule, bus runs from third week of April to second week of December. 

• Daibosatsu-touge (大菩薩峠登山口).
•  This will add at least two hours to your time going up, and the bus leaves from Enzan Station (塩山駅). (JPY300 one way, last train heading home at 18:00). Bus schedule here, look for "塩山駅 ⇒ 大菩薩の湯 ～ 大菩薩峠登山口 ～ 柳沢峠 ～ 落合". It seems that the bus runs throughout the year, except for Dec 31 to Jan 3.

Itinerary
Saturday (Using Kai-Yamato Station as starting point)

• 06:22 – 08:03. Train from Nakano Station to Kai-Yamato Station.
• 08:10 – 08:51. Bus from Kai-Yamato Station (甲斐大和駅) to Kamihikawatouge (上日川峠)
• 09:00 – Start hike
• 14:00 – End hike

The start of the hike was a nice lush green. 

This was close to the summit. We were only a little bit over an hour in, and this is the peek of the view waiting for us. 

Yey! The weather forecast was pretty bad, so I'm thankful we had a view.  While celebrating our little hike, we realized this is NOT the summit. It is a little segue opposite the pile of rocks. 

Summit! We had our lunch stop here, even though there's zero view haha. 

When we went back to the fork, the clouds have settled in and blocked our views. We continued on to the loop, which is behind the rocks to our left. 

And soon enough we saw the view that generally is used to represent Mt. Daibosats. 

Walking across that ridge. 

There were some ups and downs, but nothing beyond beginner level. 

Mountain hut! It's free, but does not have a door so that might be a problem in winter. 

Here's the trail to the mountain hut.

Soon enough the vegetation changed. 

The rest was basically like this. 

Probably the steepest section of the hike. 

This might be my favorite view for the entire hike. 

The rest of the hike back was a couple of hours like this. And when you think it's over, there's still some more haha. We had to go past a couple of little streams. One guy in our group went off trail for a bit to take a soak too.