Mount Yahiko, Sacred mountain in Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Mount Yahiko rises to 634 meters and commands views across the Echigo Plain, the Sea of Japan, and Sado Island from its summit. The mountain can be accessed by foot through various trails or by using the cable car system that ascends its slopes.

Mount Yahiko has been revered as the mountain of the deity Ame-no-Kaguyama-no-Mikoto, worshipped at Yahiko Shrine, and the whole mountain forms the shrine's sacred precinct. The summit holds the shrine's inner sanctuary, the Okumiya (Goshinbyō). In 1972 Emperor Shōwa visited the mountain's Panorama Tower during the National Tree-Planting Festival.

The whole mountain is the sacred precinct of Yahiko Shrine, dedicated to Ame-no-Kaguyama-no-Mikoto, and is counted with Hikosan and Yukisan as one of the Three Hikoyama of Japan. The shrine's okumiya, or go-shinbyo, stands near the ropeway's upper station, and the summit is reached by a pilgrimage route that begins at the shrine's approach.

The northern trailhead follows the approach path of Yahiko Shrine, while the southern one starts at Yamaizawa near Urayama-dake. The Yahiko Skyline road (Niigata Prefectural Route 561) is closed in winter. A ropeway runs from the foot to near the summit, and a short cable car links the summit parking area with the ropeway's upper station.

The Panorama Tower at the summit parking lot is a rotating observation tower that lifts visitors 85 meters over about eight minutes, with the viewing deck at 76 meters. It is the same height as Tokyo Skytree, 634 meters, a fact promoted on local signs. Emperor Showa visited it on 23 May 1972.