Mt Ryokami (両神山)

22 January 2024

Mt Ryokami (両神山 Ryokami-san) is a Hundred Famous Mountain located in Saitama that I climbed last year in April.

If you want to climb this mountain via public transport, you will only have 7.5 hours to climb a course with an expected time of 8 hours. So the schedule does look a little bit dicey, but my general impression from seeing other people's hiking records on YAMAP is that the course time is a bit inflated.

I think as long as you keep an eye on the time, you should be able to get back home on the last bus.

bus ticket — Bus ticket for the community bus.

I had nearly a year of hiking under my belt at this point, and was usually about 20% faster than the course time, so logically I knew I was going to be okay timing-wise. But I was still nervous going into this hike!

I set my schedule in YAMAP to aim for that last 17:15 bus home and began my hike.

green trees — Winter was over and the trees were starting to become green again

Keeping in mind the bus times, I kept up a high pace as I climbed the mountain. By the time I was partway up, I actually was ahead of schedule by about an hour.

As you approach the summit there are small sections of rocks with chains, but it's not too difficult. For the thrill-seekers, apparently there are other trails up to Mt Ryokami that have a lot more chains.

As far as 100 Famous Mountains go, Mt Ryokami doesn't have too much to offer in the way of scenery. From the peak you do get views of the surrounding mountain ranges though.

YAMAP has a feature that lets you estimate your finish time based on your pace, and since it was estimating that I might be able to catch the previous 15:10 bus, I opted to descend straight away instead of enjoying a lunch break at the peak.

scary descent — Going back down the steep bits is a little bit scarier than climbing up

shrine dog — Dog at the shrine part-way down

shrine dog2 — He looks more goofy than intimidating

Overall the trail is really well-maintained, so this really helped me keep up the high pace on my descent back down. I ended up being about 20 minutes early for the 15:10 bus.

trail end — Back to the start of the trail

Hiking course details

Date climbed	Length	Course time
2023-04-24	10km	7h50m (the expected time for an average hiker without breaks)

This is an out-and-back course that that starts and ends at 日向大谷口 (hinata-ooya-guchi).

There is a toilet available near the bus stop.

YAMAP activity diary + model course

💡 How to use YAMAP

Public transport access with example schedule

Culmina is a good source for bus information.

Time	Location	Transport	Cost	Notes
06:23	東京 (とうきょう)	Express train	1905	The express train will require you to buy a separate ticket
08:14	西武秩父 (せいぶちちぶ)
08:20	西武秩父	Bus	500	Note there is a bus transfer at 薬師の湯
09:48	日向大谷口 (ひなたおおやぐち)

The public bus set-up was a little bit confusing, but basically:

On the way there, you will pay 500 and receive a receipt. Get off the bus at the final stop (薬師の湯) for a transfer. When you get on the second bus, hand them the receipt and you don't have to pay anything else.
On the way back, you will pay 200 and receive a receipt. Once you transfer to the second bus, show the receipt and pay an additional 300 yen.

Both ways are cash-only.