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Chichibu-Tama-Kai NP, Tokyo
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Some photographs in the Mitake Visitor Center are more than 100 years old. Replicas of the gear residents used to haul loads up steep paths make the mountain’s earlier daily life tangible.
By 2021, the center had held flying-squirrel observation events for more than 30 years. Its seasonal slideshow even has a flying-squirrel character, Musakun, introduce the mountain’s sights.
At a local pilgrim inn, or shukubo, near the center, home-style cooking can include handmade sashimi konnyaku, sesame tofu, mountain greens and river fish—a seasonal taste of Mitake.
The center stands in a living 御師 (oshi) settlement: spring brings pilgrim representatives, while in autumn and winter shrine guides visit affiliated villages with protective amulets—a tradition still practiced today.
Historic pilgrimages to Mitake were also practical meet-ups: people from Kanto villages exchanged rice varieties thought to resist drought, floods, typhoons and pests.
At nearby Musashi Mitake Shrine, “Oinu-sama” means Japanese wolf, not dog. Shrine tradition says a white wolf guided Yamato Takeru and became the protective deity Ōkuchi Magami.
The nearby shrine’s Daidaikagura was transmitted from Edo in 1749 and 1780, then passed down by shrine families for more than 2 centuries. It is performed as worship, not simply as a show.
The center’s second floor has a wooden 1:5,000 relief model that turns the surrounding ridges and valleys into a 3D landscape. Nearby dioramas recreate Mt. Mitake’s natural scenery.
The center’s animal-trace craft turns visitors into nature detectives: after learning about local wildlife, they use stamps modeled on the traces animals leave to make a keepsake.
The center’s seasonal magazine has a column called “ちょい” (choi). It is more than a catchy name: in local Mitake dialect, the word means “a short rest.”
