is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in southeastern

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It runs from

Mount Sahoro is located in the Hidaka Mountains, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is the site of the Sahoro Ski Resort. There are two routes up the mountain: * Karikachi Pass route * Sahoro Ski Resort route References * Shyun Umezawa, Yasuhiko Sugawara, and Jun Nakaga ...

or Karikachi Pass in central Hokkaidō south, running into the sea at

Cape Erimo is a Cape (geography), cape in Hokkaidō, located at . It is the de facto southern tip of Hidaka Mountains. Description Hot and cold fronts meet near the cape, thus creating a dense mist which covers the cape for more than 100 days a year. Wi ...

. It consists of folded mountains that range from in height.

Mount Poroshiri or sometimes Mount Horoshiri is located in the Hidaka Mountains, Hokkaidō, Japan. Its name was derived from a phonetic kanji transcription of the Ainu words for "great mountain", ''poro-shiri''. It is the highest mountain in the Hidaka range, ...

is the highest at . The Hidaka Mountains separate the

subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Counties of Albania, Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several Districts of Albania, district ...

s of Hidaka and Tokachi. Most of the range lies in the Hidaka-sanmyaku Erimo Quasi-National Park (日高山脈襟裳国定公園, ''Hidaka-sanmyaku Erimo Kokutei-kōen''). Since the mountain range lies so far north, the alpine climate zone lies at a lower altitude.

Geology

The Hidaka Mountains formed in the late

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

as part of the outer arc of the western end of the Kuril Island Arc. They were formed by the uplift resulting from the collision with the Kuril arc and the Northeast Japan Arc. The Hidaka mountains no longer appear to be uplifting. The western end of the range is high P/T metamorphoseed

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

accretionary complex An accretionary wedge or accretionary prism forms from sediments accreted onto the non-subducting tectonic plate at a convergent plate boundary. Most of the material in the accretionary wedge consists of marine sediments scraped off from the d ...

as part of the Kamuikotan belt. This is characterized by

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology), cementation. Sedimentati ...

rocks from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

and Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous periods. The eastern end of the range is tertiary

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...

as part of the Hidaka Metamorphic belt. This is characterized by low to medium pressure metamorphic rocks with sedimentary rocks from the Cretaceous-

Lower Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 Ma to 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). It was prece ...

Plutonic Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form '' intrusions'', such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.Intrusive RocksIntrusive rocks accessdate: March ...

rocks intrude into these structures. For the most part, the Hidaka mountains are composed of

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

migmatite Migmatite is a composite rock found in medium and high-grade metamorphic environments, commonly within Precambrian cratonic blocks. It consists of two or more constituents often layered repetitively: one layer is an older metamorphic rock tha ...

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

es, and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

s.Paul Hunt, ''Hiking in Japan: An Adventurer's Guide to the Mountain Trails'', pg. 35

Glaciation

The Hidaka mountains are the only mountains in Hokkaido to show evidence of

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

. This occurs above , where one can find

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

s and more than 20

cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...

s from Mount Kitatottabetsu in the north to Mount Toyoni in the south.Shyun Umezawa, Yasuhiko Sugawara, and Jun Nakagawa, ''Hokkaidō Natsuyama Gaido 4: Hidaka Sanmyaku no Yamayama'' (北海道夏山ガイド4日高山脈の山やま), pp 12–13

Flora and fauna

Mount Apoi is located in the Hidaka Mountains, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is near the town of Samani. It is well known for hosting a large number of plants that are found only on Hokkaidō, such as . The mountain is made from ultramafic rock of unknown age. Mt. ...

is known for endemic alpine plant life, such as . The Hidaka Mountains are also one of the last refuges of the Hokkaido bear (''Ursus arctos yesoensis'') and Hokkaido deer (''Cervus nippon yesoensis''). The mountains can be divided into four zones. The topmost zone (1,400–1,600 m) is colonized by

Siberian dwarf pine ''Pinus pumila'', commonly known as the Siberian dwarf pine, dwarf Siberian pine, dwarf stone pine, Japanese stone pine, or creeping pine, is a tree in the family Pinaceae native to northeastern Asia and the Japanese isles. It shares the common ...

and other

alpine flora Alpine flora may refer to: * Alpine tundra, a community of plants that live at high altitude * Alpine plant Alpine plants are plants that grow in an alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and above the tree line. There are many different pl ...

. From 1,200 to 1,300 m is occupied by ''

Betula ermanii ''Betula ermanii'', or Erman's birch, is a species of birch tree belonging to the family Betulaceae. It is an extremely variable species and can be found in Northeast China, Korea, Japan, and Russian Far East (Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Kamchatk ...

''. The zone above 500 m is occupied by ''

Picea jezoensis ''Picea jezoensis'' (sometimes misspelled ''Picea yezoensis''), the dark-bark spruce, Ezo spruce, Yezo spruce, or Jezo spruce, is a large evergreen tree growing to 30–50 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m. It is native to northeast ...

'' and ''

Abies sachalinensis ''Abies sachalinensis'', the Sakhalin fir, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found in Sakhalin island and southern Kurils (Russia), and also in northern Hokkaido (Japan). The first discovery by a European was by Carl Friedr ...

'' along with broad-leafed trees. The lowest zone below 500 m is occupied by broad-leafed trees, including ''

Quercus mongolica ''Quercus mongolica'', commonly known as Mongolian oak, is a species of oak native to Japan, China, Korea, Mongolia, and Siberia. The species can grow to be tall. The flavono-ellagitannin The Flavono-ellagitannins or complex tannins are a cla ...

Acer pictum subsp. mono ''Acer pictum'' subsp. ''mono'', commonly known as painted maple or mono maple in English, or in Japan, wu jiao feng () in China, or gorosoe () or gorosoenamu () in Korea, is a species of maple. Description ''Acer pictum'' subsp. ''mono'' g ...

'' and ''

Cercidiphyllum japonicum ''Cercidiphyllum japonicum'', known as the katsura (from its Japanese name カツラ, 桂), is a species of flowering tree in the family Cercidiphyllaceae native to China and Japan. It is sometimes called ''caramel tree'' for the light caramel s ...

''. Resident bird species include

hazel grouse The hazel grouse (''Tetrastes bonasia''), sometimes called the hazel hen, is one of the smaller members of the grouse family of birds. It is a sedentary species, breeding across the Palearctic as far east as Hokkaido, and as far west as eastern a ...

black woodpecker The black woodpecker (''Dryocopus martius'') is a large woodpecker that lives in mature forests across the northern Palearctic. It is the sole representative of its genus in that region. Its range is expanding. The black woodpecker is easily the ...

great spotted woodpecker The great spotted woodpecker (''Dendrocopos major'') is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found acros ...

white-backed woodpecker The white-backed woodpecker (''Dendrocopos leucotos'') is a Eurasian woodpecker belonging to the genus ''Dendrocopos''. Taxonomy The white-backed woodpecker was described by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802 under the b ...

goldcrest The goldcrest (''Regulus regulus'') is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. Its colourful golden crest feathers, as well as being called the "king of the birds" in European folklore, gives rise to its English and scientific na ...

Eurasian treecreeper The Eurasian treecreeper or common treecreeper (''Certhia familiaris'') is a small passerine bird also known in the British Isles, where it is the only living member of its genus, simply as treecreeper. It is similar to other treecreepers, and ha ...

, and

spotted nutcracker The spotted nutcracker, Eurasian nutcracker, or simply nutcracker (''Nucifraga caryocatactes'') is a passerine bird slightly larger than the Eurasian jay. It has a much larger bill and a slimmer looking head without any crest. The feathering over ...

. Summer visitors to the Hidaka Mountains include

Japanese accentor The Japanese accentor (''Prunella rubida'') is a species of bird in the family Prunellidae. It is found in Japan and Sakhalin. Its natural habitat is temperate forest. References Japanese accentor Birds of Japan Japanese accentor The ...

Siberian blue robin The Siberian blue robin (''Larvivora cyane'') is a small passerine bird that was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to belong to the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. It ...

Japanese robin The Japanese robin (''Larvivora akahige'') is a small passerine bird in the family Muscicapidae. This species was formerly named ''Erithacus akahige'', or ''Komadori''. Its range extends from the south of the Kuril and Sakhalin Islands throughout ...

red-flanked bluetail The red-flanked bluetail (''Tarsiger cyanurus''), also known as the orange-flanked bush-robin, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World ...

Siberian thrush The Siberian thrush (''Geokichla sibirica'') is a member of the thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name ''Geokichla'' comes from Ancient Greek ''geo-'', "ground-" and ''kikhle'', " thrush". The specific ''sibirica'' is Latin for Siberia. It bre ...

Eastern crowned warbler The eastern crowned warbler (''Phylloscopus coronatus'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Phylloscopidae. It inhabits boreal and temperate forests in the east Palearctic. Description The eastern crowned warbler is a medium-sized, ...

narcissus flycatcher The narcissus flycatcher (''Ficedula narcissina'') is a passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is native to the East Palearctic, from Sakhalin to the north, through Japan across through Korea, mainland China, and Taiwan, winter ...

blue-and-white flycatcher The blue-and-white flycatcher (''Cyanoptila cyanomelana'') is a migratory songbird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. The species is also known as the Japanese flycatcher. It breeds in Japan, Korea, and in parts of north eastern ...

, dark-sided flycatcher, grey bunting, and

Eurasian bullfinch The Eurasian bullfinch, common bullfinch or bullfinch (''Pyrrhula pyrrhula'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family, Fringillidae. In Anglophone Europe it is known simply as the bullfinch, as it is the original bird to bear the name bull ...

. Notable bird species that transit the Hidaka mountains are

Arctic warbler The Arctic warbler (''Phylloscopus borealis'') is a widespread leaf warbler in birch or mixed birch forest near water throughout its breeding range in Fennoscandia and the northern Palearctic. It has established a foothold in North America, b ...

and

eyebrowed thrush The eyebrowed thrush (''Turdus obscurus'') is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. The scientific name comes from Latin ''Turdus'', "thrush" and ''obscurus'' "dark". It breeds in dense coniferous forest and taiga eastwards from Siberia and M ...

List of passes and tunnels

The major passes and tunnels through the Hidaka Mountains are as follows: *

Hidaka Pass is a mountain pass in the north-end of the Hidaka Mountains of Hokkaidō, Japan. The pass traverses the mountains at and is long. The road is wide with a maximum grade of 6%. The minimum curve radius is . Snow is possible on the pass from Oct ...

* Karikachi Pass *

Nisshō Pass is a mountain pass high at the north-end of the Hidaka Mountains of Hokkaidō, Japan. The east side feeds into the Tokachi River system and the west side the Saru River system. Overview The area is an important route connecting central and ea ...

and tunnel * Nozuka pass and tunnel

List of peaks by height

Mountains of the Hidaka range in order of elevation:

Bibliography

* Paul Hunt, ''Hiking in Japan: An Adventurer's Guide to the Mountain Trails'',

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Kodansha International Ltd., 1988. and C0075 * Shyun Umezawa, Yasuhiko Sugawara, and Jun Nakagawa, ''Hokkaidō Natsuyama Gaido 4: Hidaka Sanmyaku no Yamayama'' (北海道夏山ガイド4日高山脈の山やま),

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

, The Hokkaido Shimbun Press, 1991.

References

Northern Road Navi

Hokkaipedia

GLGarcs
H. Nishiwaki, ''Introduction to the landforms and geology of Japan'', 2006, last access 25 April 2008.

External links

Hidaka Mountain Museum

Google Maps
{{Authority control Mountain ranges of Hokkaido