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Chichibu-Tama-Kai NP, Saitama
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Rain falling on Mt. Kobushi can travel in 3 directions: toward Tokyo Bay as the Arakawa, the Sea of Japan as the Chikuma–Shinano, or the Pacific as the Fuefuki–Fuji. It is a remarkable watershed.
The Arakawa’s actual source is a small mountain stream, but its official 173-km length starts farther downstream, where the Irikawa and Akazawa meet. The river has two different “beginnings.”
Mt. Kobushi was once called 拳岳, or “Fist Peak.” Its later name, 甲武信ヶ岳, takes a character from each historic province meeting here: Kai, Musashi and Shinano.
The trail toward the Arakawa’s official starting point follows an old timber-tramway route. Trolleys carried wood through the valley from 1948 to 1970, and rails and sleepers still appear along the path.
In the wider Arakawa headwaters, 87.5% of the University of Tokyo’s 5,812-hectare Chichibu Forest is classified as natural forest; 1,887 hectares are old natural forest.
The University of Tokyo established its Chichibu Forest in 1916, after buying about 6,000 hectares of private woodland in the Arakawa headwaters for education and research.
Near the headwaters, a stone monument and campground honor tanka poet Maeda Yūgure. He evacuated to the site of today’s Yūgure Campground from April 1945 to December 1946.
