三ノ塔｜大倉から三ノ塔尾根で。丹沢という二重性—単一の頂では捉えきれない山塊。

Mount Tanzawa was chosen by Fukada Kyun in his "100 Famous Mountains of Japan." At the Aogatake Mountain Lodge in Hinokihoramaru, the hostess told me this: "It's not just Mount Tanzawa that Fukada Kyuya chose to be one of the 100 famous mountains. He chose the entire Tanzawa mountain range. That's why this mountain is also included in the 100 famous mountains." At the time, I hadn't yet read "100 Famous Mountains of Japan" properly. So, to be honest, I felt it was a bit of an over-interpretation. However, after continuing to walk the various Tanzawa mountains from east to west, and opening the book again, I realized that Fukada himself was writing about the Tanzawa mountain range as a whole. The path walked by ascetics as a place of mountain worship was not a single hiking trail. The entire mountain range, including ridges and valleys, was a place of prayer and training. Rather than aiming for a specific peak, it was about facing the mountain as a whole. This character of "Tanzawa as an area" has continued into modern forestry. In 1896, Moroto Forestry purchased Mt. Hadanodera (Tanzawa Moroto Forest, 938 hectares). After reclaiming the degraded forest, they began large-scale afforestation in 1898 with dense planting of cedar and cypress. It is said to have been an enormous, manual undertaking, with cypress planted along the ridges and cedar along the streams, and seedlings transported by horseback via Ybitsu Pass. Although the mountain suffered significant damage in the Great Kanto Earthquake, subsequent forestry conservation and reforestation efforts rebuilt it. With the construction of the Ushikubi Forest Road in the Showa period, it became possible to transport thinned timber. Forestry, too, has treated Tanzawa as an area, not a point. Connecting ridges and valleys, the entire mountain range is treated as a single unit. Walking along the Sannotou Ridge, you can really feel these overlaps. As you climb from Okura to the Omote Ridge, work paths and forest roads intersect multiple times, and you may find yourself stopping and wondering, "Which path am I walking on now?" About halfway up, at Ushikubi Col, there is a stone monument commemorating the opening of the Ushikubi Forest Road. Though you may think you are following a single hiking trail, you are actually walking on the intersection of countless paths. Paths of faith, paths of work, paths of daily life, and paths of leisure. They all intertwine within the vast Tanzawa mountain range, overlapping across time. Tanzawa is a mountain extremely close to the Tokyo metropolitan area. This "proximity" is both valuable and a pressure. Its easy access attracts many climbers, which leads to trampled paths and erosion of popular routes. But this very pressure is also proof that Tanzawa is not isolated from society. Tanzawa is neither a tourist destination nor a hidden gem; it is a mountain that is intertwined with urban living. It is not isolated, but connected. Protecting it as a natural park does not mean making it a sanctuary off-limits. Hiking trails are maintained, mountain huts remain open, and people continue to hike. Protection does not mean exclusion, but the continuation of a managed relationship. Used while protected, and protected while used. I believe Tanzawa is a mountain that exists within this tension. That is why Tanzawa is not simply pristine nature, nor is it simply a place for local leisure activities. City and mountain, use and protection, destruction and regeneration. It is a mountain of "relationships" where all these things continue to progress simultaneously. Kyuya Fukada was one of the first to accurately describe its characteristics. And now, I feel as if I have caught up with that perspective, and Tanzawa feels somehow endearing and intriguing. Photographed on: Saturday, January 31, 2026