(比叡山) Mt. Hiei Hike

One of Japan's Holy Places, alongside Osorezan and Koyasan.

Budget: JPY870 (~USD9)

JPY540. Train, Kyoto Station to Yase-Hieizanguchi Station.
JPY330. Train, Hieizan-Sakamoto Station to Kyoto Station

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 848m / 2,782ft)

May 2021
Difficulty: 2 out of 5?
Route below is around 11.8kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲908m/ ▽907m (source, 5 hours?)

When to Go
Anytime during the year, but the area is famous for the maple tunnel which is supposedly beautiful in autumn (November).

Special Notes

Weather forecast. English / Japanese.
Trailheads. Mainly train stations - see the map above.

Eizan Cable Car and Ropeway (叡山ケーブル). Japan's highest vertical interval cable car (wikipedia), whatever that means.

Access: Bus from Kyoto Station (bus stop C3, which is almost hidden from view) to Yase-Hieizanguchi Station (official bus stop is Yase-eki-mae). Google maps will work.
Cable car costs JPY550 one way, Ropeway costs JPY350 one way. It runs from around 9:15am til 4:45pm in December, schedule here.
If you are going by foot, it is not possible from here. I was following this source, but when I asked the people at the cable car, they said no, it's impossible to go up by foot. I don't believe them, but at that point I couldn't find the trailhead so I just took the cable car.

Hieizan-Sakamoto Cable Car (坂本ケーブル). Longest cable car in Japan (wikipedia).

Costs JPY870 one way. It runs from 8:30am til 5:00pm in December, schedule here.
I just walked from here to the closest train station. It was a bit of a walk (30 mins ish for me?) but the view was great so I did enjoy myself.

Hiei Summit. If you want to skip all the hiking (no judgment) . Runs March til December.

Straight from Kyoto Station. About three buses a day.

Bus schedule, Kyoto Station to Hiei Summit

Mountain huts: None.

Itinerary

06:00am. Train, Kyoto Station to Yase-Hieizanguchi Station.
06:55am. ETA: Yase-Hieizanguchi Station.
07:00am. Start hike.
Follow directions to Mt. Hiei Summit (大比叡山).
Follow directions to Hieizan-Sakamoto Station
12:00pm. ETA: Hieizan-Sakamoto Station.
12:02pm. Train, Hieizan-Sakamoto Station to Kyoto Station.
12:19pm. ETA: Kyoto Station.

The very difficult to see C3 bus stop.

Yase-eki-mae bus stop.

Had to walk a little bit to the cable car.

Cable car comes every 15 minutes.

The steepest in Japan!

The path to the ropeway... that I did not take. It was just a ten minute walk so seriously, why would anyone take a ropeway?

Starting my hike.

There's a sign like this that's useless to me coz I can't get it. So I just followed other people and turned left.

Well used rough road.

Oh, the ropeway!

Plenty of signs around here.

Just the view to the side.

Continuing my hike.

An intersection with a flat spot and plenty of people resting.

Doesn't feel like I've left Tokyo at all.

Not that I'm complaining. Still love it.

Oh, arrived at a huge parking lot.

...with a bus stop?!

And this is how I learned that there's a bus that goes straight here from Kyoto Station.

A bit of the view while going up.

At this fork I turned right.

The path to the right.

Some flowers when I went.

The summit!!!.... ???? OK, the summit is before this.

So I backtracked, and saw this little path.

There's the summit! You can see that big pile of concrete behind on the right.

Here's the wide-view. Left is the summit, right is the lump of concrete.

On the other side is this wide flat spot. Maybe ok for wild camping then?

Going down.

Plenty of pink ribbons to guide my way.

Continuing on.

Whoa. Welcomed by a shrine.

Some more shrine!

A lot more! Oh yeah, this is a holy mountain.

Lots of people coming to pray. Ok, maybe not lots.

Another shrine!

Going to the cable car on my way down.

Following the signs. In this case I turned left. I was also running to catch the cable car, but I was reprimanded. This is a holy place, the path is a holy path, DO NOT RUN I was told. So brisk walking I did.