Hiking26 September 2026

Mt Tanzawa: a Top 100 mountain with Fuji in view, just about a day trip from Shibuya

Mountain

Mt Tanzawa (丹沢山)

Elevation

1,567 m

Area

Tanzawa mountains, Kanagawa

Main trailheads

Okura (bus from Shibusawa station)

Japan's 100 Famous Mountains

No. 51

Of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains, Tanzawa is the one you can reach from Shibuya and still be back the same night — just. It’s a long day, but on a clear morning the reward is the photo above: Mt Fuji standing on its own over the bamboo grass, with nothing in the way.

Front or back: take the front

There are two ways into the Tanzawa range. Ura-Tanzawa, the back side, has no useful public transport. Omote-Tanzawa, the front, does — so the realistic route is a train to Shibusawa station and a bus to the Okura trailhead.

From Okura you climb the long Okura ridge to Mt Tonodake (1,491 m), then follow the ridge north to the summit of Mt Tanzawa (1,567 m), and come back the same way.

How long it takes

On standard course times it’s around 10 hours of walking there and back — 18 km with about 1,670 m of climbing — and with breaks it easily fills 11–12 hours. When I did it on a clear day in early May, leaving Okura at 7:25, I was back down in a little over 7 hours including an hour of stops, but that’s a fast pace and not one to plan around. So either:

• Start very early — be on one of the first buses to Okura, or
• Split it with a night on the mountain. There are staffed huts on the ridge, including Sonbutsu-sanso on the top of Tonodake and Miyama-sanso on the summit of Mt Tanzawa. Book ahead.

If you’d rather camp, note that tents are only allowed at designated sites in Tanzawa, not on the ridge. The Okura Kogen tent site, about 50 minutes above the Okura bus stop, lets you sleep on the mountain and start the big climb at first light. We can lend you a one-person tent for it — see what we keep for you.

Not just the summit

Tanzawa is a network of ridges, and the best parts aren’t all on top of the 100-mountain peak:

• Tonodake has the cleanest view of Fuji on the route — wide open, nothing in front of it.
• Nabewari-sanso, the hut on Mt Nabewari, is famous for its nabeyaki udon, served hot in the pot. Plenty of people walk up just for a bowl, and you can loop to Tonodake via Nabewari instead of straight up the Okura ridge.
• The back side, Ura-Tanzawa, is all clear mountain streams. If you fish, it’s worth a separate trip with a car.

Coming down

A few stops back towards Tokyo on the Odakyu line is Tsurumaki Onsen, a small hot spring town right by the station — a good place to soak your legs before the ride home.

If you go

• Check the first bus from Shibusawa to Okura the night before.
• Bring more water than you think; there’s little on the Okura ridge.
• Cash for the huts and the udon.

It’s one of the best reasons to have a base in the west of Tokyo. From Okushibu Residence, the Odakyu line is a ten-minute walk away at Yoyogi-Hachiman.