is a

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 border of the city of

Minamibōsō is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 37,143 in 17,175 households and a population density of 160 persons per km². The total area of the city is , making it the fifth largest city in Chiba Pr ...

, in southern

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 is formed by two peaks. The north, called Konpira Peak, is , and the south, called Kannon Peak, is . Mount Tomi is one of the mountains of the

Mineoka Mountain District is an area in the Bōsō Hill Range in the southern part of Chiba Prefecture. The Mineoka Mountain District runs along an east–west line across the southern part of the Bōsō Peninsula from the southern bank of the Kamo River (Chiba Prefectur ...

of the

Bōsō Hill Range The is a mountain range on the Bōsō Peninsula of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The highest point in the Bōsō Mountain Range is at Mount Atago, with an altitude of . The hill range runs from roughly in a line from Mobara or Ōamishirasato to Kisa ...

Origin of name

The ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' for Mount Tomi, 富, means '

wealth Wealth is the abundance of Value (economics), valuable financial assets or property, physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for financial transaction, transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the ...

' or '

abundance Abundance may refer to: In science and technology * Abundance (economics), the opposite of scarcities * Abundance (ecology), the relative representation of a species in a community * Abundance (programming language), a Forth-like computer prog ...

'. The name of Mount Tomi is said to be derived from the semi-mythical figure . According to tradition Ame-no-tomi-no-mikoto, historically associated with the

Emperor Jinmu was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' and '' Kojiki''. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture"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 ...

region, and is now associated with the nearby

Awa Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Daijingū neighborhood of the city of Tateyama in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is one of two shrines claiming to hold the title of ''ichinomiya'' of former Awa Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on ...

. The former town of Tomiyama, now absorbed as part of Minamibōsō, is named for the mountain.

Mount Tomi Prefectural Park

The area around the mountain has been designated as Mount Tomi Prefectural Park (富山県立自然公園). The western foot of Mount Tomi is rich with

broad-leaved tree A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with ne ...

s, including

castanopsis ''Castanopsis'', commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 140 species, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia. A total o ...

live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks. ...

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy ...

, as well as large stands of

Japanese cedar ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a Monotypic taxon, monotypic genus of Pinophyta, conifer in the cypress family (biology), family Cupressaceae, formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeri ...

In literature

Tomi-san is the setting for

Kyokutei Bakin (), a.k.a. (, 4 July 1767 – 1 December 1848), was a Japanese novelist of the Edo period. Born (), he wrote under the pen name (). Later in life he took the pen name (). Modern scholarship generally refers to him as , or just as n. He is ...

's 106 volume epic novel ''

Nansō Satomi Hakkenden ''Nansō Satomi Hakkenden'' ( ja, 南総里見八犬伝, label=shinjitai; ja, 南總里見八犬傳, label=kyūjitai) is a Japanese epic novel (''yomihon'') written and published over twenty-eight years (1814–42) in the Edo period, by Kyokute ...

'' (南總里見八犬傳), published late 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 ...

between 1814 and 1842. Mount Tomi appears in the novel as Toyama, the home of Princess Fuse.

Hiking

The mountain is popular as a

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

destination. The viewing platform on the north peak offers views of the surrounding area and

Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamakura. ...

.富山（南房総市）

Transportation

The hiking trail that leads to Mount Tomi is accessible by bus from the

Iwai Station is a passenger railway station in the city of Minamibōsō, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Iwai Station is served by the Uchibō Line, and is located 73.7 km from the western terminus o ...

in Minamibōsō via the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

Uchibō Line The is a railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) adjacent to Tokyo Bay, paralleling the western (i.e., inner) shore of the Bōsō Peninsula. It connects Soga Station in the city of Chiba to Awa-Kamogawa Station in the ...

References

{{Reflist Tomi