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Daisetsuzan NP, Hokkaido
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To the Kamikawa Ainu, Daisetsuzan is kamuy-mintara, “the gods’ playground.” Another recorded name, Nutap-ka-us-pe, means “the one rising above a broad wetland”—apt for its high plateaus.
Daisetsuzan’s summit zone holds about 250 alpine-plant species—roughly 40% of Japan’s total. Among them are local endemics such as Hosoba-uruppusō, a flower found only in this range.
In 1921, a Sōunkyō innkeeper persuaded writer Ōmachi Keigetsu to trade an Asahidake out-and-back for a 4-day, trackless traverse. Keigetsu then named the valley Sōunkyō, after Ainu Sō-un-betsu, “river of waterfalls.”
All 5 alpine butterfly species recorded in Hokkaido occur in Daisetsuzan. Two—Usubakichō and Asahi-hyōmon—are found nowhere else in Japan, cold-loving relicts of the Ice Age.
Usubakichō takes 2 winters to become a butterfly: its egg waits about a year to hatch, then its larva feeds on komakusa and spends another winter as a chrysalis before emerging.
At Asahidake’s opening, the Ainu ceremony Nupuri-kor-kamuy-nomi asks 7 kamuy for hikers’ safety. A torch procession and offerings at an inau altar lead into songs and dances, with visitors joining a circle dance.
Researchers found that miyama-kinbai can have only about 2 months to grow in snowy places. It stores carbohydrates in thick roots, then uses that reserve to flower and set seed in a hurry.
The 5-level Daisetsuzan Grade rates wilderness and remoteness as well as difficulty. On the Grade 5 Tomuraushi–Hisago-numa–Kaun-dake route, there are no built structures beyond junction signs and summit markers.
Just 2 years after Keigetsu’s rough traverse, in 1923, the Hokkaido Mountain Club began opening a formal route and built 2 stone shelters, at Kurodake and Asahidake.
Daisetsuzan starts Japan’s autumn-color season: color begins high up in late August and travels downhill. Even chinguruma, with its white summer blossoms, becomes a vivid red groundcover by fall.
Most Daisetsuzan peaks are around 2,000 meters, but their far-northern latitude brings conditions comparable to Honshu’s 3,000-meter mountains. Large snowfields can remain even in midsummer.
The roughly 2-kilometer-wide O-hachidaira is a caldera left by a major eruption about 30,000 years ago. Hikers can follow the rim and look into the volcanic heart of the range.
With only rough 1:200,000 maps and many unnamed peaks, teacher-naturalist Hideo Koizumi made 7 extensive surveys from 1911 to 1920, documenting the region’s volcanic terrain and alpine plants.
