The are a mountain range in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

in Japan. The mountain range covers the northwestern part of

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

and touches the prefecture borders of

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

to the west and the

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

to the north.

Mountains

Mount Hiru Mount Hiru (蛭ヶ岳 ''Hiru-ga-take'') is the tallest mountain of the Tanzawa Mountains with a height of . Gallery Image:Mt.Hirugatake from Mt.Onigaiwanoatama01.JPG, Image:Tanzawa-shumyaku from Mt.Nabewari.jpg, Image:Tanzawa-shumyaku from S ...

(蛭ヶ岳 ''Hiru-ga-take'') * Mount Fudō (不動ノ峰 ''Fudō-no-mine'') * Mount Hinokiboramaru (檜洞丸 ''Hinokibora-maru'') * Mount Tanzawa (丹沢山 ''Tanzawa-san'') *

Mount Tō is a mountain of Tanzawa Mountains, located on the border of Kiyokawa, Hadano and Yamakita in Kanagawa, Japan. Outline Mount Tō is one of the most popular mountains in Tanzawa Mountains. This mountain is a part of Tanzawa-Ōyama Quasi-Na ...

(塔ノ岳 ''Tō-no-dake'') *

Mount Shindainichi is a peak of the Tanzawa Mountains with an elevation of , and is located due east of Mount Tō. It is located within the boundary of the Tanzawa-Ōyama Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park in the Kantō region of Honshū in Japan. It ...

(新大日 ''Shin-dainichi'') * Mount Ōyama (大山 ''Ō-yama'')

Activities and sites

Hiking

The mountain range offers moderate to strenuous trails. The most popular

peaks Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-d ...

among climbers are

(塔ノ岳) and Mount Ōyama (大山) (in the eastern part of the mountains), mainly due to their easier

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

access from Yabitsu Pass. However, the tallest of these mountains is

, which is . In comparison, Mount Tō is 1,491 m (4,891 ft) high and Mount Ōyama is high. The western part is less often visited but offers the opportunity of

river trekking River climbing, river trekking, river tracing or mountain stream climbing is a form of hiking or outdoor adventure activity, a traditional sport in Japan and popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and, in some ways, similar to canyoning or canyoneering ...

sawanobori , or stream climbing (sawa = stream; nobori = climb), is a type of mountaineering in Japan that involves going up mountain streams to their source. Description The sport consists of ascending a tributary of a river along with its features, in ...

(a form of

mountaineering Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...

). Climbers come from around Japan, and there has been a growing number of international climbers.

Fishing

Fishing is popular activity within the rivers of Tanzawa. Many types of fish can be caught such as trout and yamame.

Sites

The Tanzawa Mountains are most accessible by Kanagawa Route 70, which runs between

Hadano is a Cities of Japan, city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 163,787 and a population density of 1600 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Hadano is located in the foothills of the ...

and Miyagase. The highest point of the route is Yabitsu Pass, approximately 11 km from Hadano. Toward the middle of the route is Kiyokawa Village, which offers lodging, camping, and fishing, and has a trail-head for hiking the mountains. Campsites can be found along Route 70. Another place of interest is

Lake Miyagase Lake Miyagase (宮ヶ瀬湖) is a lake within the Aiko District of Kanagawa, Japan, located between Sagamihara and Atsugi. The lake offers views of Tanzawa Mountains, including Mount Hiru. The lake is a man-made reservoir and formed by the Miy ...

, which is man-made and filled with a dam.

Wildlife and flora

The landscape of the Tanzawa Mountains consists of rivers, streams, forests, mountains, valleys, and ridges. Like much of Japan, the moist climate allows for lush vegetation which offers habitats for a variety of wildlife. The forestry is mixed and consisting of nearly half of the trees

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

and the other half

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

. The coniferous trees include Japanese cedar (杉) and Hinoki cypress (檜), and are mainly seen in the lower altitudes near the valleys. The deciduous trees include Japanese mountain maple (山紅葉) and Japanese beech, and are more common in the higher altitudes. Flowers can be found throughout the year, such as

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

. The area is populated with

Japanese deer The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the Northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south t ...

(鹿),

Japanese raccoon dog The Japanese raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes viverrinus''), also known as the ''tanuki'' ( ja, , , ), is a species of canid endemic to Japan. It is one of two species in the genus ''Nyctereutes'', alongside the common raccoon dog (''N. procyonoides'') ...

(狸), Japanese flying squirrel and

Japanese serow The : (''Capricornis crispus'') ( 羚羊) is a Japanese goat-antelope, an even-toed ungulate mammal. It is found in dense woodland in Japan, primarily in northern and central Honshu. The serow is seen as a national symbol of Japan, and is subj ...

. There is also the Asiatic black bear throughout the mountains. Additionally, hundreds of species of birds such as

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

. Along the river banks,

frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

and

lizards Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia althou ...

can be commonly found.

References

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of Kanagawa Prefecture