literally ''"saw mountain"'' is a low

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

on the

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

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 lies on the southern border of the city of

Futtsu 260px, Futtsu City Hall is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 42,476 in 18,115 households and a population density of 210 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Futtsu is l ...

and the town Kyonan in Awa District in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

. The mountain runs east to west, having the characteristic sawtoothed profile of a . It falls steeply into

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...

on its western side, where it is pierced by two road tunnels and a rail tunnel, carrying the Uchibo Line south from Futtsu to

Tateyama Tateyama may refer to: People with the surname * Midori Tateyama, Japanese writer * Shohei Tateyama (born 1981), Japanese baseball player * Yoshinori Tateyama (born 1975), Japanese baseball player * Homarefuji Yoshiyuki (born 1985), Japanese su ...

. Both features are due in part to the mountain's history as a

stone quarry In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's o ...

in 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 ...

, the marks of which are still picturesquely evident. The western side of the mountain is also the site of the sprawling

Nihon-ji is a Buddhist temple in the city of Kyonan, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The temple is located on the slopes of Mount Nokogiri and is known for its Nihon-ji Daibutsu. Nihon-ji was established as a Hossō sect temple, was transferred to the Tenda ...

temple complex, which is the home of two

Daibutsu or 'giant Buddha' is the Japanese language, Japanese term, often used informally, for large Japanese sculpture, statues of List of Buddhas, Buddha. The oldest is that at Asuka-dera (609) and the best-known is that at Tōdai-ji in Nara, Nara, Nar ...

sculptures - a huge seated carving of

Yakushi Nyorai Bhaiṣajyaguru ( sa, भैषज्यगुरु, zh, t= , ja, 薬師仏, ko, 약사불, bo, སངས་རྒྱས་སྨན་བླ), or ''Bhaishajyaguru'', formally Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja ("Medicine Master ...

that at tall is the largest pre-modern, stone-carved Daibutsu in Japan, and the "Hundred-''

shaku Shaku may refer to: * Shaku (unit) * Shaku (ritual baton) * Buddhist surname In East Asian Buddhism, monks and nuns usually adopt a Buddhist surname and a Dharma name, which are combined in the surname-first East-Asian naming order. Since the 4th c ...

'' Kannon", a tall

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

image of

Kannon Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...

carved into one of the quarry walls - as well as 1500 hand-carved

arhat In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...

sculptures, which combined with the spectacular scenery of the Bōsō Hills and Tokyo Bay, make Mount Nokogiri a popular tourism destination. The temple is accessible by road and by a cable car, the

Nokogiriyama Ropeway The is a Japanese aerial lift line, as well as its operator. The line climbs Mount Nokogiri (''Nokogiri-yama'') from the outer Tokyo Bay coast in Futtsu, Chiba. It opened in 1962. Nokogiriyama Ropeway Company belongs to Keisei Group. Outlin ...

, which runs from

Hamakanaya Station is a passenger railway station in the city of Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Hamakanaya Station is served by the Uchibo Line, and is located 64.0 km from the starting point of t ...

on the JR Uchibo Line to a lookout deck near the top of the temple precinct. The western end of the mountain falls precipitously into

, where

Cape Myōgane is a cape located on the border of Futtsu and Kyonan, Chiba, Japan, where Mount Nokogiri on its western end precipitously falls into the Uraga Channel to Tokyo Bay. Cape Myōgane marked the eastern border between Awa Province and Kazusa Prov ...

() is a good place to watch large ships pass through

Uraga Channel The is a waterway connecting Tokyo Bay to the Sagami Gulf. It is an important channel for ships headed from Tokyo, Yokohama, and Chiba to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. Geography The Uraga channel is at the southern end of Tokyo Bay (formerly ...

at sunset.

Highlights

Mt.Nokogiri from Mt.Iyogatake 01.jpg, Mount Nokogiri (background) from

Mount Iyogatake is a mountain on the border of the city of Minamibōsō, Chiba Prefecture, Japan with an altitude of . Mount Iyogatake is at the west of the Mineoka Mountain District of the Bōsō Hill Range, in close proximity to Mount Tomi. The mountain takes ...

File:Mt.Nokogiri.JPG, Mount Nokogiri from Tokyo Bay File:Nokogiriyama-ropeway.JPG, Nokogiriyama Ropeway File:Nokogiriyama-Ropeway-Sancho.JPG, Nokogiriyama Ropeway Summit Station File:Remains of Nokogiri Yama quarry.jpg, Remains of Nokogiriyama Quarry Image:Nihonji daibutsu.jpg, ) Image:Jigoku nozoki.jpg, Image:Hyaku shaku kannon.jpg, Image:Hyakutai kannon.JPG,

External links

{{Commonscat, Mount Nokogiri (Chiba)
Nokogiriyama at 1000 Leaves Chiba Prefecture wiki encyclopedia

Nokogiri, Mount Futtsu Kyonan