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Minami Alps NP, Shizuoka
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At 3,141 m, Warusawa is the highest of the 3 Arakawa peaks—and Japan’s sixth-highest mountain. Its ridge neighbors, Nakadake (3,084 m) and Maedake (3,068 m), also rise above 3,000 m.
The Arakawa Sanzan ridge has Japan’s southernmost clearly preserved glacial landforms. Ice-age glaciers left bowl-shaped cirques on Warusawa’s slopes and other striking traces along the neighboring peaks.
Warusawa’s summit is mostly greenstone, mixed with pieces of red chert. Nearby Nakadake and Maedake are made of sandstone—so the bedrock changes noticeably across this trio of peaks.
Local hunters reportedly called a particularly rough stream “Warusawa,” and the peak inherited its name. Mountaineer Kyuya Fukada later championed this local name over Higashidake, meaning “East Peak.”
On neighboring Maedake’s southeast slope, the Arakawa Flower Field spans about 100 × 200 m yet holds 3 distinct plant communities: tall herbs, low herbs and bare-ground specialists. It occupies an old snowbed.
Seasonal deer fences protect flower meadows at the West Cirque and Maedake’s southeast slope from browsing sika deer. Where a fence gate crosses the trail, hikers are asked to close it behind them.
Warusawa entered mountaineering records during Onmatsu Ogino’s long 1906 journey. In 1909, mountaineers Kojima Usui and Takato Takato’s party spent 20 days crossing Warusawa and neighboring Akaishidake.
