Mt Shinshin (思親山)

Mt Shinshin (思親山, shinshin-zan) was another of the mountains I set out to climb as part of the 36 views of Mt Fuji series. The mountain is quite far from Tokyo, and I wasn't too keen on the idea of getting stuck in the freeway traffic on the way home, so I decided to stay the night at a nearby hotel and also climb Mt Chojagatake the next day. Both of these mountains are also a part of the 100 Famous Mountains of Yamanashi.

I started at Ide train station (井出駅), which came with a free carpark. It was my first time seeing free parking at a train station! It's deep in the countryside so I don't think if there was paid parking they would probably make any money out of it. It was nearly empty when I visited on a Friday morning.

Although the course is long at 15km and 1000m of elevation gain, it's also 1/3 road. I knew going into it that this mountain was probably going to be boring, so I was taking it more as a training day than anything else.

This trail was also a part of the Tokai Nature Trail, which I had walked along the week before when I climbed Mt Tonnnomune.

However thanks to the long road I did find it to be easier to walk than I expected! I made it to the summit in about 160 minutes.

As I approached the summit, I noticed a couple of people sunbathing, and from their accents I think at least one of them was a fellow Australian. They looked to be super tired and with the big backpacks had probably done some sort of overnight hike. I was a little bit curious to know where they had hiked from since it didn't really seem like this mountain was that popular, but my anti-social tendencies got the better of me (ha) and I didn't.

After a quick rest, it was back down the way I came. The view from the peak of Mt Fuji is a bit obscured by trees, so you get a better view partway down, where conveniently a big chunk of trees had been cleared.

Once I made it back to the carpark, it was a quick 10min drive to the nearby Nanbu no Yu onsen (なんぶの湯). I really enjoyed the vibes of this onsen. There were little hammocks and couches, and lots of books and manga if you wanted to relax for a bit before heading back out.

From here I drove towards Fujinomiya where I spent the night at a hotel. I did a tiny bit of sightseeing, but there wasn't too much to do other than eat and sleep (which is all I needed, really).

I visited on a weekday so that might be part of it, but the overall impression I got was that the town felt too big. Like it was larger than it needed to be to accomodate the tourists, but at the same time there really weren't any. So it somehow felt awkward, especially being the only person in a restaurant or cafe.

One funny moment was a group of small kids on a school bus kept yelling out “hello! hello!” to me, I think in their excitement to see a foreigner. I made sure to give a big wave back!

Hiking course details

Car access details

Public transport access

This course starts and ends at Ide train station so it is hypothetically accessible via public transport. However it is a nearly 4 hour train ride from Tokyo station, and considering you are walking on mostly roads, it is not really a mountain I would recommend as a daytrip, unless you are specifically setting out to conquer the 100 Famous Mountains of Yamanashi.

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