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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Shizuoka
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Mount Amagi is a range, not a single peak: it spans volcanic ridges and satellite cones. Its highest point is Mount Banzaburo, at 1,406 m—the top of a whole mountain family.
Izu’s wasabi story has a shiitake twist: in 1744, Amagi forest keeper Itagaki Kanzaburō reportedly brought seedlings home from Utogi after teaching shiitake-growing there. Today, springs from Amagi forests nourish the fields.
The wild Amagi-amacha hydrangea has sweet-tasting leaves that become local sweet tea when withered, kneaded and dried. In neighboring Kawazu, the tea is still used in the Buddha’s Birthday Hana Matsuri.
Hacchoike was once called a crater lake, but it formed when a fault created a hollow that filled with water. Its name means “eight chō” (about 870 m around), though estimates put its shore at roughly 560–580 m.
At Hacchoike, Japanese tree frogs (moriao-gaeru) attach foamy egg masses to branches above the water. In winter the pond can freeze solid; it was once used as a natural skating rink.
Amagi-shakunage is a rhododendron endemic to the Izu Peninsula, and its natural range is tiny: only 2 sites are reported, the Amagi mountains and Chōkurō-yama. Amagi’s ridges bloom pink-purple in late spring.
The old Amagi Pass tunnel crosses the mountain range rather than a summit. Completed in 1904, its 445.5 m stone passage is Japan’s longest surviving stone road tunnel—and a setting connected with Kawabata’s The Izu Dancer.
Near Namezawa Gorge in Amagi’s forest, Taro Cedar is about 400 years old and 9.6 m around. It was such a landmark that locals said lost travelers could find their direction when the giant tree came into view.
The Amagi range receives more than 4,000 mm of rain a year—over 4 m. That abundant moisture helps sustain its mossy forests, and snow can fall on the mountains while nearby towns are sunny.
Amagi’s shogunal forests were not untouched wilderness: records show charcoal burning across the mountains by about 1817. When some areas ran low on resources, they were rested before charcoal-making resumed.
Researchers found some large beeches near Hacchoike with their lowest branches less than 3 m above ground. They suggest these trees began growing where neighboring trees were sparse—a clue to the forest’s earlier history.
