Climbing season officially opens for Japan’s Mt. Hiyoriyama, the shortest mountain in the country

Ceremony marks official start of climbing season for this six-step summit trail.

While Japan’s alpine topography, of course, exists all year round, many of the country’s most prominent mountains have a dedicated climbing season. Sometimes this is done for safety reasons (like how Mt. Fuji is closed to hikers for most of the year), and in other places the climbing season is more of a traditional cultural custom.

Regardless of the reason, those mountains that do have a climbing season often hold a ceremony to mark the first day and officially welcome visitors aiming to reach the summit. And so it was that on Sunday, July 5, a took place in the city of Sendai’s Miyagino Ward to declare Mt. Hiyoriyama officially open to climbers for the summer. Around one hour later, the first hikers reached the peak and basked in the mountaintop sunshine as they took in the view.

Now, you might be thinking that if it only took an hour to get to the top, Mt. Hiyoriyama can’t be all that tall, and you’re right. However, the opening ceremony wasn’t even held at the foot of the mountain, so after it was done, hikers had to walk from the venue to Mt. Hiyoriyama, and that alone took them about an hour…and if you’re now thinking that left almost no time at all for the actual hike, you’re right, because Mt. Hiyoriyama is the shortest mountain in Japan.

▼ Video of last year’s opening-day Mt. Hiyoriyama hikers, in which one of the interviewed girls says “When I made it to the top, the view was amazing.”

▼ Mt. Hiyoriyama

Of course, it would be irresponsible to claim the title of “shortest mountain in Japan” without sufficient scientific data to back it up. So in 2014, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, an official government entity, conducted a survey of Mt. Hiyoriyama and determined its peak to be at an elevation of three meters (9.8 feet). This allowed it to slide under Osaka’s Mt. Tempo, which has a peak elevation of a dizzying 4.54 meters (14.9 feet), and Hiyoriyama has since been recognized as Japan’s shortest mountain. There appears to be only one trail to the top, and it can be completed in roughly six steps. This year’s ceremony was attended by roughly 150 people, 50 more than last year’s.

▼ The closest train stop to the Mt. Hiyoriyama is Rikuzen Takasago Station on the Senseki Line. The walk from the station to the trailhead takes about 65 minutes.

It’s worth noting that the Japanese language does in fact have different words for “mountain” and “hill.” It’s not clear what specific criteria, if any, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan uses for differentiating between the two terms when talking about any specific raised landmass, but the Mt. Hiyoriyama name has been in use for centuries and the “yama” part of it is the word for “mountain,” so perhaps linguistic precedent helped it earn its title as Japan’s shortest mountain.

Mt. Hiyoriyama used to be about twice as tall as it is now, but lost around three meters of height in the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Thought the circumstances by which it became Japan’s shortest mountain are sad, the opening ceremony has become a source of community fun and also a way to attract out-of-prefecture visitors to the area. So if you’re in the area, and up for a 10-second hike this summer, Mt. Hiyoriyama is waiting, and once you’ve got that experience under your belt, you should be physically prepared to try summiting Mt. Tempo, like we did.

Source: TBS News Dig (1, 2), Kahoku Shimpo
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