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Chichibu-Tama-Kai NP, Saitama / Nagano
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Summer brought a procession of foals over Jumonji Pass until the early 1960s. Traders linked 5–6 young horses by rope; on easier stretches, they released all but the leader, and the rest followed.
Some of the famous Azuma-shakunage around Jumonji Hut were planted by its longtime keeper to attract visitors. The hut itself was built in 1967 for mountain events at Japan’s National Sports Festival.
At Jumonji Hut, a longtime keeper’s autumn mushroom harvest first became soup, then udon when hikers kept ordering it. The cozy trail-side specialty grew from what she gathered at the mountain’s foot.
This was also a wedding road: couples from Tochimoto and Azusayama formed ties across the pass, and brides crossed with relatives carrying rice and household goods. Some families made the journey in a day.
In 1864, residents of Tochimoto, Azusayama and Iokura placed stone Kannon markers at roughly 3.9-km intervals along the route. They marked distance and watched over pilgrims bound for Mitsumine and Zenkoji.
For people coming from Shinshu, crossing Jumonji Pass was the “back way” to Mitsumine Shrine. They sought protection from fire and theft through its wolf deity, known affectionately as Oinu-sama, or “Mr. Dog.”
At a halfway spot called Kome-tsugiba, or “rice-transfer place,” everyday goods changed hands between Nagano and Chichibu: rice, sake, meisen silk, tobacco, salt and bamboo strips for making barrel hoops.
Jumonji Pass sits on a watershed: rain on one side flows toward the Pacific through the Arakawa, while water on the other drains into the Chikuma and Shinano rivers on its way to the Sea of Japan.
Along the old route, Japanese hemlock and Azuma-shakunage form an unusually extensive plant community described as distinctive to the Chichibu Mountains. The pass lies within a 2,145-ha protected forest.
One archaeological interpretation links Jomon arrowheads found in Chichibu to obsidian from Wada Pass, with Jumonji proposed as a route the stone may have traveled. It’s a tantalizing hint of very old connections across the mountains.
In summer 1879, foreign instructors R.W. Atkinson and W.G. Dickson crossed this route with a third traveler, according to the former Otaki village history. The pass was already known well beyond nearby communities.
