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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Kanagawa / Shizuoka
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A split boulder with room beneath it is Kintoki-yadori-ishi, said to have sheltered Kintaro and his mother. Nearby Temari-ishi and Keotoshi-ishi carry more stories of his legendary strength.
At the summit, Kintaro Chaya’s 15-spice masakari curry udon hides rice beneath the noodles, so lunch ends as curry rice. Eating up the curry also saves washing water on this water-scarce peak.
Each May 5, children wrestle at Kintoki Shrine while a Yutate Shishimai lion stirs boiling water with bamboo leaves and flicks droplets over spectators for health—a dance nationally designated in 2022.
Kintoki began as a stratovolcano active 350,000–270,000 years ago, but a massive collapse tore away its south side. Erosion later exposed its layered interior, visible from the Sengokuhara trail.
Before Kintoki, the peak was known as Inohana-dake. An 1820 gazetteer recorded more than 20 summit shrines, each facing the foothill village that had established it.
A Ministry of the Environment inventory lists several plants around Kintoki found nowhere else in Hakone, including iwashajin and hime-shaga. Steep rock faces also shelter Hakone kometsutsuji azaleas.
The prefectural border runs between the summit’s two tea huts: Kintaro Chaya is on the Kanagawa side, while Kintoki Chaya stands in Shizuoka. One summit, two prefectures—and two lunch stops.
Mount Kintoki drew 19th-century botanists: French researcher P.A.L. Savatier collected specimens here, while Russian botanist Karl Maximowicz reported on summit Hakone kometsutsuji in 1870.
