- Elevation 2578m
- When to climb Mid-June - October
- Courses range from 6km to 12km depending upon the trailhead, with the shortest course via ropeway taking 4.5 hours.
Mountain stats
4 hours from Tokyo to the Yumoto Onsen trailhead, via train and local bus.
3 hours drive from Tokyo, with car parks available at the trailheads.
Mt Nikko-Shirane (日光白根山 nikko-shirane-san) is one of Japan’s Hundred Famous Mountains and is located on the border of Gunma and Tochigi prefectures. At an elevation of 2578m, it’s also the tallest peak in both. In 2023 I made a weekend trip out to Nikko, climbing the nearby Mt Nantai on Saturday before hiking Mt Nikko-Shirane on Sunday.
After spending the night in Nikko, I got on the first bus to the Yumoto Onsen trailhead, and arrived at 7:30am. Usually for day hikes I have to get up pretty early, so it felt nice to have a “sleep in” (relatively speaking).
In the winter months this area becomes a ski field, so your hike begins up a grassy, open slope. There’s even the opportunity to spot Mt Nantai in the distance.
Once you make it off the field, it’s into the main hiking track. I didn’t get the feeling that this was a super well-travelled trail, and I think hikers are more likely to climb from the opposite side of the mountain via the ropeway. It was quiet enough that we didn’t see any other hikers for the first 2.5 hours of our climb.
As well as the funny-looking bugs, we were in the peak of summer, so there were plenty of wildflowers on the trail as well.
Although this course comes with 1200m of elevation gain, which was about the same as the day before at Mt Nantai, it didn’t feel like it at all. Since the course is a little bit longer (9km), the elevation gain is spread out a bit more. It’s not just one steep uphill climb, and there’s opportunities to take breaks from climbing and enjoy some flat sections as well.
At 10am we reached the peak of Mt Mae-Shirane (前白根山, mae-shirane-san). Unfortunately the views were completely obscured by clouds! It was from this point that we finally started to see other hikers about.
Immediately beyond Mt Mae-Shirane is your first opportunity to see Mt Nikko-Shirane.
At first we were a bit disappointed by the lack of a view, but we got lucky and the clouds partially cleared to reveal the teal blue Goshikinuma (五色沼) lake, which sits right in front of Mt Nikko-Shirane’s peak.
This is by far the most beautiful view on the hike, so I’m glad we were able to see it! From here, you can also see the continuation of the trail stretch out along the ridgeline on the left.
These sort of exposed ridgeline sections are my favorite to hike, so this was a real nice one.
We also spotted a deer, who saw us but was pretty chill about it and directly cut in front of us across the trail. So cute!
Looking at YAMAP, it seems like quite a few people spot deer on this hike, so maybe they’re more used to humans around here.
The trail has you descend a little bit, before you begin your final climb up to the peak of Mt Nikko-Shirane. From here the blue skies started to come out.
As you climb, you get a chance to see the lake from the opposite side. My brain can’t comprehend distance very well, so to me it always feels so cool to see a distant ridge and be like “I was just there, and now I’m already all the way over here!”
As we got closer to the summit, we could see a lot of people crowded around it in the distance - as you would expect of a popular hyakumeizan.
We arrived at the peak of Mt Nikko-Shirane just before 12pm. It was quite crowded, and the summit itself was quite small, so I snapped a couple pictures and then we began our descent.
From the peak we descended down towards the ropeway where we would end our hike. We passed a lot of hikers who were coming up from this trail. If you take the direct out-and-back route from the ropeway side, the total course is 6km and only takes 4.5 hours, so it’s a more reasonable hike and understandable that it would be popular.
I do feel like the ascent from the Yumoto Onsen side was much more varied and interesting. The descent in comparison felt a bit more like a “normal” hike you might encounter on other mountains, with it mostly being amongst the trees with not much views. That’s not to say it’s a bad trail! But I think being able to experience the awesome view from Mt Mae-Shirane makes this side pale in comparison.
Once at the ropeway station we got on the gondola back down, before then getting on a bus to Joma-Kogen station.
Overall, a pretty satisfying weekend. My next hike after this one ended up being Mt Fuji, so you can say that I had a pretty eventful summer in 2023.
Hiking course options
| Date climbed | Length | Course time |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-08-27 | 9km | 6h40 (the expected time for an average hiker without breaks) |
Mt Nikko-Shirane can be accessed by four trailheads:
- From the top of the Mt Nikko-Shirane Ropeway, which has the shortest course, a 4.5h, 6km loop course
- Yumoto Onsen (湯元温泉), which has a nearly 9h and 12km loop course
- Sugenuma (菅沼) which provides the opportunity to do a 6h 9km out-and-back course
- Konsei-toge (金精峠) which has a 8h and 10km out-and-back course
We did a point-to-point hike from Yumoto Onsen to the top of the ropeway. This doesn’t have an official course listed on YAMAP, but at 9km and 6.5 hours, sits in between options 1 and 2. Although the Yumoto Onsen loop course is a bit longer, it may be a bit more convenient public transport-wise, which I go into the details of below.
Public transport access
Bus access to Yumoto Onsen
I spent the night in Nikko, so I was able to get on the first bus leaving Nikko station at 6:06am. But if you are coming to do a day hike from Tokyo, the earliest you can arrive in Nikko is 07:45am - from which you can hopefully make it onto the 07:50 am bus and make it to Yumoto Onsen at 9:10am.
| Time | Location | Transport | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:46 | Tokyo Station (東京駅) | Local train (JR) | 2640 | |
| 07:45 | Nikko Station (日光駅) | |||
| 07:50 | Nikko Station | Local bus | 1950 | |
| 09:10 | Yumoto Onsen (湯本温泉) |
Otherwise, the next available bus is at 08:42am, which will get you to Yumoto Onsen at 10am.
You can come to Nikko via either Tobu-Nikko or JR Nikko station, and the two are within walking distance of each other. The bus first starts at JR Nikko station, and then makes a stop at Tobu-Nikko station. If you come via Tobu-Nikko and have some spare time, I would recommend walking to JR Nikko and lining up for the bus there to increase your chances of getting on and/or getting a seat.
From Nikko-Shirane Ropeway back to Jomo-Kogen station
| Time | Location | Transport | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13:56 | Mt Nikko-shirane Ropeway (日光白根山ロープウエイ) | Local bus | 1000 | |
| 14:17 | Kamata (鎌田) | |||
| 14:44 | Kamata (鎌田) | Local bus | 2300 | |
| 16:05 | Jomu-Kogen station (上毛高原駅) | |||
| 16:11 | Jomu-Kogen station (上毛高原駅) | Shinkansen | 6020 | |
| 17:20 | Tokyo station (東京駅) | |||
| Trip total: | 9320 |
If you finish your hike at the ropeway, you can get a bus back to Jomo-Kogen station, via a transfer at Kamata. From looking at the timetable in 2024 your only options are the 13:56 or 17:25 buses, so you’ll have to time your hike carefully so you don’t end up waiting 3.5 hours for the next bus to come! Note that this bus was only running between June 1 and October 27 in 2024.
At Kamata, you may have a bit of downtime before you can get on the next bus to Jomo-kogen, but there’s a crepe store and Michi-no-eki (a roadside station) nearby, so there is the opportunity to have a toilet break and buy a snack.
For 2025, I recommend Googling “鎌田 ~ 上毛高原駅 バス” and double-checking the PDF like this one for 2024 with the latest timings.
From Yumoto Onsen back to Nikko station
If you do a loop course from Yumoto Onsen, the buses back to Nikko station are more plentiful, and the overall trip back to Tokyo is cheaper (although it takes about the same amount of time).
Of course, the only downside is that the loop course adds an extra 2 hours onto your hike time, so it should only be done if you are confident in your stamina and hiking ability.
| Time | Location | Transport | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15:10 | Yumoto Onsen (湯元温泉) | Local bus | 1950 | |
| 16:26 | Tobu-Nikko station (東武日光駅) | |||
| 16:39 | Tobu-Nikko station | Tobu railway | 4090 | |
| 18:47 | Tokyo station (東京駅) | |||
| Trip total: | 6040 |
If you started your hike around 9am, and took the expected 8.5+ hours to complete the course, you would be done by 6pm. Ideally, you would be able to make it onto the 18:02 bus, but otherwise you would have to wait for the final bus of the day at 19:30 to get back to Nikko station. For a day hike, the timings are a little tight, but doable if you have the confidence in your stamina.
Car access details
All four trailheads have carparks. Both Yumoto Onsen and the Nikko-Shirane Ropeway will take somewhere in the range of a 3 hour drive from Tokyo, although it seems like getting to the ropeway will take marginally longer.
When to hike Mt Nikko-Shirane
You can hike Mt Nikko-Shirane as early as June, although looking at YAMAP there may still be some lingering snow (see this log at the end of May as an example). Of course June is also the rainy season in Japan, which reduces your chances of getting a good hike in. You can continue to hike through to the end of October, before snow starts to fall in November.
If you are planning a hike and aren’t sure about the snow conditions, I would recommend taking a look at the latest trail logs on YAMAP.
If you are interested in camping the night before, there is also a campground directly at Yumoto Onsen. However, it was actually closed when we visited due to a recent bear sighting, so it may be best to double-check the campsite is open before coming.
When we went the hiking trail was roped off with this sign, which makes it seem rather ominous, but don’t worry - the sign just mentions that the campsite is closed and that you can’t camp here, but you’re still allowed to hike through it.
Apparently there is another campsite somewhere in between Nikko station and the Yumoto Onsen campsite (and it’s along the bus route, too) so my friend who chose to camp stayed there for the night, and then we met up on the bus partway along the way.
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