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Aso-Kuju NP, Oita
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Tsurumi is the southern end of a 5-km volcanic chain whose underground heat feeds Beppu’s hot springs. By 1845, a local record already included recipes for cooking with geothermal steam—the tradition now known as jigoku-mushi.
A shrine said to date to 771 honors Tsurumi’s 2 summits as the paired fire deities Hi no Kagutsuchi and Hiyaki-hayame-no-mikoto. The shrine is revered as guardian of Beppu’s 8 hot-spring districts.
At a vent around 1,100 m, Tsurumi’s 1974–75 steam bursts rose 100–150 m and scattered small stones nearby. The Japan Meteorological Agency records them as fumarolic activity—not a lava eruption.
Tsurumi’s winter “white blossoms” are wind-shaped rime, not snowfall. They form especially when summit temperatures fall below −4°C and north or northwest winds exceed 5 m/s; the ice grows into the wind along the trees.
Local accounts trace Tsurumi’s yamabushi pilgrimage to 965, when ascetics meditated around 3 volcanic crater ponds. Meiji-era reforms interrupted the rite; revived in 1963, it is still held annually.
Since 1995, Beppu’s winter endurance contest has made Tsurumi’s subzero summit a playground: contestants eat shaved ice on ice chairs, thread needles with numb fingers, and tackle other icy challenges.
Beppu’s 12-km “one-shot ascent” climbs from sea level to Tsurumi’s 1,375-m summit without using trunk roads. First held in 1988, the spring event welcomes everyone from young children to older hikers.
The Japan Meteorological Agency says Tsurumi’s latest known summit lava flow predates the 7,300-year-old Akahoya ash, which blankets most of the mountain. The ash on the slopes is younger than the rock beneath it.
