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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Shizuoka
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A Matsuzaki folktale says Banzaburo won a contest to wed Mt Fuji, though Fuji loved younger Chokuro. She gave him Amagi’s finest rhododendron and left Haccho Pond as their mirror before departing for Suruga.
The trail to Banzaburo passes Amagi rhododendrons, a flower endemic to Izu. Their pink-to-purple blooms brighten the mountain in late spring, and many hikers come to see this local floral star.
Local wasabi has a 1744 origin story: Amagi-Yugashima forest keeper Itagaki Kanshiro brought seedlings from Utogi after teaching shiitake cultivation. Water from the Amagi forests still nourishes Izu’s wasabi fields.
Japan revised Banzaburo’s official height from 1,406 m to 1,405 m on April 1, 2025, when it updated national elevation results. The mountain didn’t move; the measuring reference changed.
Banzaburo rises from the ancient Amagi Volcano, which erupted repeatedly from about 800,000 to 200,000 years ago. This land volcano helped form the Izu Peninsula after Izu collided with Honshu.
People often say “Mount Amagi,” but Amagi is actually a whole chain of peaks. Banzaburo is the highest one, with nearby Banjirō a separate summit along the range.
Edo-era Amagi was protected, but not untouched: officials restricted ordinary cutting of 9 tree species while charcoal production went on. Records describe depleted patches being rested before cutting resumed.
