Amagoi Dake, Mountain summit in Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Amagoi Dake is a 1,238 m peak on the border of Higashiōmi and Kōka in Shiga Prefecture, the second-highest summit of the Suzuka Mountains. Its rounded top is covered with dwarf bamboo and holds a small pond, Ōtōge-no-sawa, surrounded by the same bamboo. Below, natural forest mixes with conifer plantations of horse chestnut, rhododendron and oak.
The old Chikusa-goe road crossed the mountain's flanks between Katsuhatake in Shiga and Chigusa in Mie. In 1570, Oda Nobunaga was shot at with a matchlock by Sugitani Zenjūbō in the Fujikiri valley on this route, and escaped; the "Sugitani Zenjūbō hiding rock" stands nearby. From the late Edo period into the Meiji era, six mines on the southern slopes produced silver, copper and lead, and about 300 miners worked at the Mioike mine at its peak.
The name Amagoi Dake comes from a small pond near the summit, fed by the Ōtōge-no-sawa stream, which never dries up. Farmers from downstream villages climbed here to pray for rain, and Shinto rites were held at the pond. The mountain is also called Shirakura-dake and Fujikiri-dake.
Trails reach the summit from the west end of the Buhei Tunnel on National Route 477 (Suzuka Skyline), from Inagatani, from Aotake-dani via the Nenohira and Sugi passes, and from Kōtsubata via the Tsurube-dani junction and Sugi Pass. Sections can be hard to follow through bamboo grass, and Yamabiru leeches appear in summer on routes such as Kōtsubata. Warning signs stand along the Kokui-dani junction to Kura-dani stretch, where walkers often lose the path.
The small pond near the summit, ringed by dwarf bamboo, never dries up and was long the goal of rain-prayer pilgrimages by farmers from downstream. It is now a breeding site for the forest green tree frog.
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