literally, ''"Burning mountain"'' is an active

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

in the

Hida Mountains The , or , is a Japanese mountain range which stretches through Nagano, Toyama and Gifu prefectures. A small portion of the mountains also reach into Niigata Prefecture. William Gowland coined the phrase "Japanese Alps" during his time in Japan, ...

, lying between

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

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 ...

, and Takayama,

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

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 one of the

100 Famous Japanese Mountains is a book written in 1964 by mountaineer and author Kyūya Fukada.Hyakumeizan, Hiking Japan!
. Japan ...

, reaching at the highest peak.

Geography

Mount Yake is the most active of all the volcanoes in the Hida Mountains. Its two main peaks are the northern and southern peaks, but visitors can only ascend to the northern peak, as the southern peak is currently a restricted area. A crater lake lies between the two peaks. High viscosity

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

flowing from the upper regions of Mount Yake has led to the build up of a lava dome. The heat from the volcano produces many

onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

in the surrounding area.

Eruptions

In 1911, 22 minor eruptions were recorded. In 1915, during the Taishō period, however, there was a major eruption. The flow of the lava blocked the

Azusa River The is a river within the Hida Mountains or ''Northern Japanese Alps'', in the western region of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The river belongs to the Shinano River watershed, and forms the upper section of the Sai River. The name of the river ...

, which caused the river to form a lake that was named

Lake Taishō A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

.Mount Yake Volcano Disaster Prevention
. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Accessed June 30, 2008. The Azusa River is again flowing today, but the lake still remains. In 1962, there was an eruption that killed two people staying at a small hut near the mouth of the volcano. In 1995, a tunnel was being constructed on the Nagano Prefecture side of the mountain, through Mount Akandana, which was thought to be part of Mount Yake. At 2:25pm on February 11, the workers encountered volcanic gases, which were quickly followed by a

phreatic eruption A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evapo ...

on Mount Yake, leading to the death of four people. Later explorations have shown that Mount Akandana is an independent volcano. There is still an active fumarole near the mountain's peak. File:Mount Yake from Mount Nishi-Hotake 1995-4-2.jpg, seen from

Mount Hotaka Mount Hotaka may refer to: *, a stratovolcano in Gunma Prefecture, Japan *, a mountain in Nagano and Gifu Prefectures, Japan {{geodis ...

File:Volcanic craters from Mount Yake North peak 2002-6-5.jpg, crater lake between the northern and southern peaks File:Mount Yake North peak 2011-07-06.jpg, northern peak and volcanic gases File:Sulfur minerals in Mount Yake.jpg,

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

References

External links

Yakedake
- Japan Meteorological Agency * - Japan Meteorological Agency

- Geological Survey of Japan * {{Authority control Yake, Mount Yake, Mount Active volcanoes Yake, Mount Yake, Mount Chūbu-Sangaku National Park Yake Yake

Geography

Eruptions

See also

References

External links