Mount Hōken () is one of major peaks in

Kiso Mountains are a mountain range in Nagano and Gifu prefectures in Japan. They are also called the and they combine with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Akaishi Mountains ("Southern Alps") to form a group collectively known as the Japanese Al ...

or Central Alps,

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

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 is 2,931 m (9,616 ft) high, and its shape is sharp

pyramidal peak A pyramidal peak, sometimes called a glacial horn in extreme cases, is an angular, sharply pointed mountain peak which results from the cirque erosion due to multiple glaciers diverging from a central point. Pyramidal peaks are often examples o ...

Geography

Mount Hōken is located on the main ridgeline of Kiso mountains, about 1km south of

Mount Kisokoma is a mountain located in Miyada, Kamiina District, and Kiso and Agematsu, Kiso District, Nagano Prefecture, in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is tall and is the tallest peak in the Kiso Mountains. It is also included on the list of "100 Fam ...

, the highest peak of Kiso Mountains. On the East of Mount Hōken lies great Senjōjiki Cirque.

Komagatake Ropeway is an aerial lift line in the Kiso Mountains range, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Description The line, opened in 1967, climbs up to Senjōjiki Cirque 2600m above sea level, and it is easiest route to Mount Kisokoma and Mount Hōken. Summit statio ...

bring you up to the bottom of Cirque which is about 2600m above sea level. Senjojiki Cirque is one of the largest and the most typical cirque in Japan, and it means one thousand

tatami A is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. Tatamis are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about 0.9 m by 1.8 m depending on the region. In martial arts, tatami are the floor used for traini ...

mattresses. In summer, it is filled by alpine flowers. According to geologist Tatsuto Aoki, the cirque was created 17,000 to 25,000 years ago, the last glacial maximum age.

Mountaineering

Though it is easy to go up to Senjojiki by Ropeway, nearby the rocky peak of Mount Hōken is very steep and dangerous, often occurs accident falling down to death. On the shoulder of the peak is Hōken Hut, Tengu Hut. And upper stages of "Senjojiki Station" of

exist "Senjojiki Hotel". Inside Senjojiki Cirque, promenades are equipped.

Name of the mountain

"Hōken" means treasure sword, especially meaning the sword of

Acala or Achala ( sa, अचल, "The Immovable", ), also known as (, "Immovable Lord") or (, "Noble Immovable Lord"), is a wrathful deity and ''dharmapala'' (protector of the Dharma) prominent in Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism., Jp. re ...

Buddha. It resembles the shape of the peak. In

Edo era 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 characteri ...

, the mountain was called "Shakujō-dake". "Shakujou" means "Buddhist monk's staff". This mountain was regarded as sacred.

Alpine plants

References

{{reflist Kiso Mountains Japan Alps Hoken