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Chichibu-Tama-Kai NP, Tokyo
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Mount Gozen’s limestone preserves fossils of fusulinids and trilobites—evidence of ancient marine life. Hinohara’s local museum displays examples, so the mountain’s rocks tell a story that began under the sea.
On the Hinohara-side route up Mount Gozen, a marker identifies Nakano-daira, where Jōmon pit dwellings were found. Hinohara’s tourism association dates settlement there to about 9,000 years ago and calls it Tokyo’s highest archaeological site.
On Mount Gozen’s famous katakuri slopes, a seed may spend years underground before blooming. The mountain’s nature guide says it can take about 7 years to flower; ants help spread the seeds by carrying them away.
A fully open katakuri flower turns its 6 petals backward. Look closely at the markings near its center: they act as nectar guides, directing visiting insects toward the flower’s hidden nectar.
By 2017, Tokyo Mountaineering Federation volunteers had patrolled Mount Gozen’s katakuri beds for about 20 years, putting up signs and protective barriers. Later surveys reported deer browsing and many flowers growing inside deer fences.
A 1996 warning that the spring by Mount Gozen’s shelter was not fit to drink prompted volunteer water monitoring. Testing began in 1998 and continued through 2015; early readings often worsened during busy flower and autumn-color seasons.
Along a streamside trail in the Okutama Citizens’ Forest on Mount Gozen’s slopes, look for megusurinoki—literally, “eye-medicine tree.” This maple relative has unusual three-part leaves, and its bark was once boiled to make eye drops.
