Hiking from Mount Jinba to Mount Takao

Getting to the start

Take the train to Takao Station (JR Chūō Line or Keiō Line), then the Nishi Tokyo bus 美32 from the north exit to Jinba Kōgen-shita (陣馬高原下), the last stop. The ride takes about 35 minutes. Buses run roughly once an hour, so check the timetable and aim for an early one: you want plenty of daylight for the walk.

The route, summit by summit

1. 1Jinba-san (about 855 m): a steep forest climb of about 1.5 to 2 hours from the bus stop, the hardest of the day. The wide grassy summit has a white horse statue, put up in 1969, and views to Fuji, the Tanzawa range and the Okutama mountains. The name means something like "camp horse", from the Takeda and Hōjō armies that fought over this border in the 1500s.
2. 2Meiō Pass and Dōdokoro-yama: gentle, rolling forest ridge. Settle into a rhythm.
3. 3Kagenobu-yama (727 m): named after Yokochi Kagenobu, a retainer of the lord of Hachiōji Castle, who is said to have fortified this summit against the Takeda. Wide views east over Tokyo, and tea houses for lunch.
4. 4Kobotoke Pass: the low point. For centuries the Kōshū Kaidō highway crossed the mountains here, and an Edo-period checkpoint stood in the valley below.
5. 5Kobotoke Shiroyama (670 m): a famous tea house: enormous shaved ice in summer, hot nameko mushroom soup in the colder months.
6. 6Itchōdaira and Mount Takao (599 m): easy, wide trail past cherry trees and a Fuji viewpoint, then down through Yakuō-in to Takaosanguchi.

Escape routes

If the weather turns, someone's struggling or you're behind time, you can drop off the ridge to the Kobotoke bus stop from Kagenobu-yama (about 50 minutes) or from Kobotoke Pass (about 40 minutes), and take the bus back to Takao Station. Decide at Kagenobu: if it's past about 13:15, take the escape route rather than racing the sunset.

What to bring

• At least 1.5 litres of water. There's nowhere to refill except the tea houses, which often close on weekdays and in bad weather.
• Lunch, or cash for the tea houses, plus snacks.
• Hiking shoes with good grip, a rain layer and a warm layer.
• A headtorch from November to February, when the sun sets early.
• Toilets are at Jinba, Kagenobu, Shiroyama and the Takao summit, and nowhere in between.

When to go

October to May is best. Clear winter days bring the sharpest Fuji views, April brings cherry blossom at Itchōdaira, and November brings autumn colour (see my autumn leaves guide). In midsummer the ridge is hot, humid and buggy: start very early or choose a shorter walk.

Private tour · 7–8 hoursRidge to Fuji: Jinba–Takao TraverseWalk the whole ridge with me: pace, timings, escape routes and the stories behind every summit.From ¥18,000 per person