Mount Ishizuchi & Saijo

At 1,982 metres, Mount Ishizuchi is the highest mountain in western Japan and one of the country’s seven sacred peaks. Worshippers in white still climb it every summer, pulling themselves up four sets of heavy iron chains towards the shrine on the summit ridge — though ordinary hikers can bypass every one of them on a well-made path. From the top, the knife-edged pinnacle of Tengudake hangs over a sheer north face, and on clear days you can see the Inland Sea and the Pacific.

The mountain belongs to Saijo, a city on the coastal plain to the north. Meltwater and rain filter down through the range and re-emerge under pressure all over town, so that pure, cold water flows from pipes in parks, at the station and even in the harbour. Saijo is also the scene of one of Shikoku’s great festivals, when well over a hundred lantern-hung floats take to the streets each October.

Mount Ishizuchi & Saijo highlights

• Stand on the summit shrine platform at Misen and scramble out to Tengudake, the true high point.
• Test your nerve on the iron chains — or take the bypass path and keep your hands free for the camera.
• Ride the ropeway to 1,300 metres and walk through beech forest to the old shrine settlement of Joju.
• See some of Japan’s earliest autumn colours from late September.
• Fill your bottle from Saijo’s uchinuki springs and follow the water walk through town.
• Time a visit for the Saijo Festival in mid-October.