What the species is and where it came from
The Japanese Alps are a series of mountain ranges in Japan that bisect the main island of Honshu. Today they take in three ranges: the Hida Mountains, the Kiso Mountains and the Akaishi Mountains. The name was coined by the English archaeologist William Gowland, who applied it only to the Hida Mountains. Reverend Walter Weston, an English missionary, popularised it. The peaks had been venerated long before: they were a place of ascetic practice for Buddhist monks and shugenja, and pilgrims came to the Buddhist temples and to the sacred peak of Mount Tate.
How it works, in terms someone would actually use
The Northern Alps, or Hida Mountains, stretch through Nagano, Toyama and Gifu prefectures, with a small part in Niigata. The Central Alps, the Kiso Mountains, lie in Nagano. The Southern Alps, the Akaishi Mountains, span Nagano, Yamanashi and Shizuoka. Several peaks exceed 3,000 m, the tallest after Mount Fuji. The highest are Mount Hotaka at 3,190 m in the north and Mount Kita at 3,193 m in the south. Mount Ontake is far from the Hida Mountains and generally not counted among them, though guidebooks mention it alongside the Alps. It is an active volcano, and it last erupted in 2014.
What it gets right
Kamikōchi, where a memorial plaque to Weston stands, is a tourist destination known for its alpine climate. Access improved from the 1960s: the Komagatake Ropeway opened in 1967, the Shinhotaka Ropeway in 1970 and the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route fully opened in 1971, bringing more climbers and tourists. Local people had long drawn timber, fuel, fertilizer, fodder, meat, minerals and medicines from these mountains.
What it does not
It does not make crossing easy. The Hida Mountains are steep and among the world’s heaviest snowfall areas, and winter crossing is still very difficult. In the winter of 1584 the forces of the daimyō Sassa Narimasa crossed over Zara Pass and Harinoki Pass, an event remembered as Sarasara-goe. The first modern geological survey sheets, issued in 1890, left the topography mostly guesswork. For decades Japanese climbers worked without a comparable guidebook.
What it changed
Weston documented two main mountain systems distinguished by geological structure. He called one the China system, for its connection with southeast China, and the other the Karafuto system, for its entry into Japan from Karafuto to the north. Geographers had believed no active glaciers existed in Japan. In May 2012 the Japanese Society of Snow and Ice showed otherwise: perennial snow patches on Mount Tsurugi hold masses of ice more than 30 meters thick. As of 2019 there are seven active glaciers in the Japanese Alps, and in all of Japan.
Who it is for, and who it is not
It is for people interested in how a mountain region was used, named and mapped, from the Kaga domain’s Okuyama-mawari surveys of the 1600s to 1800s to the climb of Mount Tsurugi in 1907, when Yoshitaro Shibasaki’s party found a shugenja cane ornament and a sword from the late Nara to early Heian period, showing the summit had been climbed more than 1,000 years earlier. It is also for anyone who wants to locate Japan’s active glaciers.
Is it worth your time
Yes, if you want the layout of the three ranges, the history of their name and the 2012 glacier finding.
