Mount Tate

Mount Tate, or Tateyama, is a 3,015-metre sacred summit in Toyama, ranked with Fuji and Haku as one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains. Its several peaks, crowned by Oyama with its cliff-top shrine, have drawn Shugendō pilgrims for more than a thousand years to a landscape of craters, ridges and Japan's only glaciers.

Its accessibility is unusual for such a high peak: the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route carries visitors by cable car and bus to Murodō at about 2,450 metres, from where the summits are within a day's reach. The famous spring snow corridor, with walls of snow towering over the road, adds to the mountain's fame.

On the trail from Murodō the climb to Oyama and the higher peaks is a half-day to full-day walk on rocky paths, with a short shrine scramble at the top. Graded moderate, it needs fitness and care on loose stone and lingering snow rather than technical skill, and huts and a shrine lodge allow overnight stays for sunrise.

Practical notes: no permit is required, but access depends on the Alpine Route, which opens roughly mid-April to November. The high summer months of July to September are best for walking the peaks, when the snow has mostly gone; early season offers the snow corridor, and the whole route closes under deep snow in winter.