Mount Naeba, Stratovolcano on the Nagano–Niigata border, Japan
Mount Naeba is a stratovolcano on the Niigata–Nagano border built mainly of andesite lava and pyroclastic rock. Its summit is a gently sloping lava plateau of about 600 hectares, edged by cliffs cut by the Nakatsu and Kiyotsu rivers, giving it a table-mountain profile. The plateau holds high moorland with ponds where plants grow like rice seedlings, and the northern ridge includes Kaguraga-mine and Kirinoto.
Mount Naeba is a stratovolcano of andesite lava and pyroclastic rock that erupted in four major phases; its present edifice formed about 300,000 years ago. The summit plateau, a lava tableland of roughly 600 hectares, lies within Jōshin'etsu Kōgen National Park. In 1811 the merchant and writer Suzuki Bokushi climbed it and described it in his book Hokuetsu Seppu.
The summit plateau holds the Ime and Naeba shrines, stone Buddhas and small stone towers, and was long venerated as a guardian of rice farming. The name may come from the pond vegetation resembling rice seedlings (nae). The Ime shrine's festival at Mitsumata falls on 12 July, with the mountain opening in the first week of July.
The main Niigata-side trail starts from the Mitsumata area of Kagura Ski Resort, where a parking lot sits below the fifth station; no bus serves the trailhead, so access is by taxi or private car. The fifth station has the Wada Hut with baths and toilets. Snow can linger near the summit until summer, and many junctions make route-finding tricky.
The summit plateau, about 600 hectares, holds a high moor with ponds where sedges and Miyama-hotasai grow like rice seedlings, giving the mountain its name. The Dragondola cable car links the Naeba ski resort to the Kagura ski area, not the summit.
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