- Elevation 1623m
- When to climb October - January, March - May
- A 9km and nearly 7h loop course, with options to extend the course to some neighbouring mountains.
Mountain stats
A 40-minute bus ride from Kawaguchiko station to the trailhead at Iyashi no Sato.
A 2 hour drive from Tokyo. There is a large carpark near the trailhead.
Mt Odake (王岳, oo-dake) is a 1623m peak near Lake Saiko. It’s also one of Yamanashi’s 100 Famous Mountains. I climbed it together with the neighbouring Mt Onigatake (鬼ヶ岳) as a loop course in April, with some great views of Mt Fuji from along the trail. This hike felt like a bit of a hidden gem - the views really exceeded my expectations, and I would probably put it in my top 3 for hikes in the Fuji area.
⛰️ Make sure not to confuse Mt Odake (王岳) with the more well-known Mt Odake (大岳) in Toyko which has an elevation of 1266m.
The hike starts off at the Iyashi No Sato, which as it turns out is a bit of a tourist spot (I checked it out after the hike). I didn’t realise it at the time, but from here you can already get a great view of Mt Fuji. It’s a couple 100m down the road in the opposite direction of the trailhead - I’d recommend going there and getting a photo just in case Mt Fuji disappears behind clouds while on your hike up.
The one thing I’d keep an eye out for is once you on the trail proper, there’s a signpost that says “根場民宿村”. You’ll want to make a right turn here.
I feel like it’s not immediately obvious from the sign, so I actually proceeded on straight ahead. At first the trail seems still fairly walkable, albeit quite rocky, but it soon gets steeper and steeper, until I finally realised my mistake and turned back.
I have YAMAP setup to send notifications to my Apple Watch when I go off-track which is usually quite handy, but unfortunately I had turned that feature off on a previous hike where I had intentionally stepped off the course. Oops.
Today’s hike was also my first time trying out hiking poles! I had been pole-less for my entire hiking career so far (140 hikes or so), but recently I started to experience a bit of pain in my achilles heel so I decided to give them a go.
I found that the next day I had a fair amount of muscle pain in my upper body which was new for me, but also expected for hiking poles, since they make you use your upper body muscles more. Overall my legs were actually in pretty good condition though so I’d call that a win for the poles. Obviously the main downside is that there’s a lot more fumbling with the sticks when I need to descend over rocky bits or use a rope or ladder.
Within 2 - 3 hours of beginning your hike, you should reach the first peak of the day, Mt Odake. Today was quite hazy, but otherwise you could see Mt Fuji pretty well! The probability of getting a clear view of Mt Fuji is quite high in winter, but your chances start to drop as you head into April and May, so even with the haziness I was pretty happy.
The peak had two summit markers, one from the city of Kofu which marked this peak as one of Kofu’s 25 Famous Peaks (the first I’m hearing of this list, actually) as well as the more traditional Yamanashi 100 marker.
Don’t go too crazy on the photo-taking here though, because there’s much better spots further along the trail. From here you’ll have another 2 hours of hiking with some downs (and mostly ups) to get to the second peak of the course, Mt Onigatake, with plenty of great views along the way.
Actually as you begin heading in that direction, Mt Onigatake should already be visible, although it might be hard to get a clear view with all the trees.
Just a little bit further along on the trail, you get a much clearer view of Mt Fuji.
There’s also a little bit of a sketchy rock crossing. It’s totally fine if you use the rope, but it makes a scaredy-cat like me a little bit nervous.
From here it’s one long ridgeline walk with some ups and downs.
The little town in the distance is next to Lake Saiko, and if you use the zoom on your camera, you can probably spot where you began your hike. It’s pretty funny how far away it looks. I could peep that a couple more people had parked at the carpark since I started my hike.
As you continue along, there’s some more spots where you need to clamber up a rock with the help of a rope.
The views of Mt Fuji on this hike were pretty amazing. I don’t think I see it mentioned as much in in the list of the well-known hikes in the Fuji area, so this almost feels like a bit of a hidden gem, or maybe I just missed it.
Once you’ve had your fill of Mt Fuji, you’ll come to the climb up to Mt Onigatake. At first I assumed the peak visible in front of me was it, but it’s actually a false peak and Mt Onigatake is behind it.
After 4 - 5 hours of hiking, you’ll reach Mt Onigatake (鬼ケ岳, oni-gatake). The 王 in Mt Odake means king, and 鬼 in Mt Onigatake means demon, so it’s an interestingly named pair of peaks.
Mt Onigatake doesn’t seem to fit into any of the hiking lists like the Yamanashi 100, so the peak is a little more understated. There’s a wooden peak marker you can pick up and pose with for a photo of Mt Fuji if you like.
I have seen this type of wooden peak marker on a couple of peaks in the area - I’d be curious to know if there was some sort of volunteer effort to set these up.
Today I also decided to treat myself and had some cup noodles for lunch!
I usually can’t be bothered bringing along my gas burner, but I figured it was the last chance to do so before it got too hot. I also brought along a thermos of hot water just to reduce the overall boiling time.
Although I had been alone on the entire hike, there were 3 other groups that stopped by while I was at the peak. I actually reached the peak just after 12pm, which I feel like is generally the time most hikers aim to reach peaks in Japan, so that makes sense.
Once I finished my noodles, it was onwards down a ladder and to the final peak, 雪頭ヶ岳. Confusingly, it’s called Mt Settogatake, but there is another peak nearby with different kanji also called Mt Settogatake (節刀ヶ岳), which I would suspect is the more famous of the two.
Here at Mt Settogatake, I passed by a hiking tour group of about 10 people who had probably just wrapped up their lunch. Mt Onigatake is quite a narrow and small peak, so this was probably a good call for them to take a break here instead. I’d recommend doing the same if you are coming in a larger group.
From here you get a final insane view of Mt Fuji together with Lake Saiko (this really is the hike that keeps on giving).
The rest of the course is all descent, and will take you about 2 hours. The first bit is quite steep, but it soon turns into a more smooth and walkable path, albeit a bit boring since it’s just in the trees.
As I walked back towards the carpark where I began my hike, I also passed the Iyashi no Sato. I had seen the name since it shows up in the name of the carpark on Google Maps, but I hadn’t actually researched what it was. I just assumed it was a shopping mall or something.
So what I didn’t realise is Iyashi no Sato is a tourist spot that sometimes shows up on those “things to do in the Fuji area” lists. It’s like an open-air museum with reproductions of traditional-style Japanese houses with thatched roofs. I didn’t want to pay the 500 yen entrance fee so I didn’t really check out the inside.
Finally I jumped back in my car, and before heading on the drive home, stopped at an onsen near Lake Saiko. I hadn’t been to one in a little while, so it was nice to get to relax in the hot water for a change.
Hiking course options
| Date climbed | Length | Course time |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-04 | 9km | 6h40 (the expected time for an average hiker without breaks) |
This hiking course is a loop course starting from the Iyashi no Sato, hiking up to Mt Odake, then across to Mt Onigatake, before heading back to your starting point. Since there’s a little over 1100m of elevation gain, and there’s some small sections where you need to climb on a rock (with ropes) I’d put it into the intermediate level difficulty for a hike.
After reaching the peak of Mt Onigatake, there is also the option to do a 90-minute detour to Mt Settogatake (節刀ヶ岳) which is another of the 100 Famous Mountains of Yamanashi. I felt like the course as-is was the perfect length for me though, so I decided not to push it and skipped it. I’ll have to come back another time! If you are using Alltrails, there is a course for that here.
Directly next to Mt Settogatake (節刀ヶ岳) is also Mt Junigatake (十二ヶ岳), which is yet another of the Yamanashi 100. For those looking for a challenge, you could do a point-to-point course hitting Mt Junigatake -> Mt Settogatake -> Mt Onigatake and finally Mt Odake. There’s an example of someone doing it on YAMAP here. I’d specifically recommend it in that order, as Mt Junigatake has some rather steep chain climbs, and it would be a lot scarier if you did it in reverse and did Mt Junigatake last.
Public transport access
The trail starts and ends at Iyashi no Sato, which you can access via a 40-minute bus from Kawaguchiko station. Handily, since Iyashi no Sato is a tourist spot, there is an English website with instructions on how to get there via public transport.
You’ll be looking to get there via the green-line bus route. As of May 2025, the first bus leaves Kawaguchiko station at 9:10 and gets to the trailhead at 9:50, which should give you plenty of time to do the course.
Car access details
If you’re coming by car, there is a carpark at the trailhead. There is a concreted carpark available for visitors of Iyashi No Sato, but make sure not to park there. Right next to that, there is a separate grassy field specifically for hikers to use. It’s a decent size, so hopefully you shouldn’t have any problems getting a spot.
When to hike Mt Odake
Since Mt Odake and the neighbouring Mt Onigatake gets up to an elevation of 1738m, there will be snow on the trails in the middle of winter. I would recommend hiking this after the snow has melted and before the rainy season sets in (March through May) or to enjoy some autumn or early winter hiking in November - December. You may be able to squeeze a hike in in January before the snow sets in as well.
You can see the latest trail logs for hikes passing by these peaks here and here to get a sense of the latest conditions.
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