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Aso-Kuju NP, Oita
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About 2,200 years ago, a major eruption began when Yufu’s slope collapsed; lava domes formed and hot ash flows swept its flanks. Japan’s Meteorological Agency records no eruptions in the historic era since.
The 8th-century Bungo no Fudoki describes a stone chamber at Yufu’s summit where ice was said to persist through summer—a striking old account of this mountain’s summit.
An 8th-century Manyoshu poem calls Yufu 木綿山 (Yufu-no-yama) and begs clouds not to hide it, so the singer can see home. Yufu City records 4 poems about the mountain; their authors are unknown.
In a local legend, Yufu and Sobosan both courted Tsurumi, who chose Yufu. Sobosan’s tears became nearby Shidakolake, the story says, while the lovers’ still-warm romance explains Yufuin’s and Beppu’s hot springs.
The 2026 program for Yufudake’s 46th mountain-opening festival paired a safety-prayer ceremony and ribbon-cutting with pork soup for the first 1,200 visitors—a warm community welcome to climbing season.
The old name Yufu comes from “yufu,” a white, cotton-like fiber made from paper-mulberry bark—not cotton plants. The Bungo no Fudoki says the trees grew abundantly here and their fibers gave the area its name.
The meadows on Yufu’s lower slopes are shaped by people: cutting grass, grazing livestock and controlled burns help keep them open. This traditional care also supports rare Ehime ayame, including white-flowered forms.
Yufu’s twin peaks flank a summit crater. The saddle between them is called Mataye, and Yufu City’s trail map labels the roughly 90-minute route between the West and East peaks an around-the-crater traverse.
