Mount Daisengen (大千軒岳, ''Daisengen-dake'') is a mountain located on the

Oshima Peninsula The Oshima Peninsula (渡島半島 ''Oshima-hantō'') is the southernmost part of Hokkaidō, the northernmost of the Japanese islands. Where the peninsula starts is open to interpretation. A more generous interpretation is to draw a line southe ...

Hokkaidō 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 ...

. Mount Daisengen is the tallest mountain in the southern region of the peninsula. A gold mine was established on the mountain during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, and a group of 106

Japanese Christians Christianity in Japan is among the nation's minority religions in terms of individuals who state an explicit affiliation or faith. Between less than 1 percent and 1.5% of the population claims Christian belief or affiliation. Although formally b ...

were executed on the mountain by the

Matsumae clan The was a Japanese clan that was confirmed in the possession of the area around Matsumae, Hokkaidō as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and charged with defending it, and by extension the whole of Japan, from the Ainu "barbarians" ...

during the nationwide crackdown on Christianity. Several climbing routes exist.

History

By about 1612, some Japanese Christians began to flee to the less populated Tōhoku and

Ezo (also spelled Yezo or Yeso) is the Japanese term historically used to refer to the lands to the north of the Japanese island of Honshu. It included the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 18 ...

(modern-day

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 ...

) regions of Japan in order to escape

religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within soc ...

by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. Some of these Japanese Christians took up residence working at the gold mine near Mount Daisengen. The aftermath of the 1637 to 1638

Shimabara Rebellion The , also known as the or , was an uprising that occurred in the Shimabara Domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan from 17 December 1637 to 15 April 1638. Matsukura Katsuie, the ''daimyō'' of the Shimabara Domain, enforced unpopular polic ...

led to a more severe government crackdown on Christianity within Japan, and in 1639, the

executed 106 Japanese Christians who worked on the mountain mining gold.

Adventuring

Climbing routes

New Road route (新道コース)

Trailhead is accessed from Matsumae. Round trip of roughly 3 hours and 50 minutes. The route is suitable for beginners.

Old Road route (旧道コース)

Trailhead is accessed from Matsumae. Round trip of roughly 3 hours and 50 minutes.

Kaminokuni Ishisaki route

A trail from Kaminokuni exists but is currently inaccessible due to the road to the trailhead being closed.

Sengen route (千軒コース)

Trailhead is accessed from

Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...

. Round trip of roughly 7 hours and 30 minutes. The remains of a gold mine guard house exist adjacent to the Sengen route. A stone monument with a large

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

at the top was constructed in remembrance of the

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

of the 106 Japanese Christians.

Gallery

File:View of Mount Daisengen from Fukushima, Hokkaido.jpg, alt=View of highest point of mountain from neighboring town of Fukushima, Hokkaido., View of Mount Daisengen from

Fukushima, Hokkaido is a town located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of September 2016, the town has an estimated population of 4,390, and a density of 23 persons per km2. The total area is 187.23 km2. Economics Industries in the town include s ...

. File:Triangulation point commemorative plaque.jpg, Commemorative plaque at the summit of Mount Daisengen. This plaque marks the 100 year anniversary of the commencement of creating a

triangulation station A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

in the area.

References

External links

* Mountains of Hokkaido {{Hokkaido-geo-stub