Mount Kaikoma, Mountain summit in Hokuto and Ina, Japan
Mount Kaikoma is a 2,967 m peak on the border of Hokuto in Yamanashi Prefecture and Ina in Nagano Prefecture, within Minami Alps National Park. Its upper slopes are bare white granite, which gives the summit its pale colour, above dark green forest and steep gullies. A shrine stands at the top among large granite rocks.
This location served as a center for Japanese mountain worship and religious practice from early times. A shrine associated with the mountain originally had its primary base at this site before later relocating.
The mountain is a centre of Shugendō practice in the region, and shrines at the foot of the Kuroto ridge, Takeu and Yokote Komagatake Jinja, mark the traditional starting points of the climb. Stone steles and Buddhist images dedicated to figures such as Fudō Myōō line that ridge. In the Ina Valley the peak is called Higashi-Komagatake, eastern Komagatake, while Mount Kisokoma is Nishi-Komagatake.
The summit is reachable via multiple trails suited to different fitness levels and available time. Visitors should wear sturdy footwear and prepare for changing weather conditions, as conditions at higher elevation shift rapidly.
The summit's white granite makes the mountain appear snow-capped even in summer, an exception among the mostly sedimentary Akaishi range. Writer Uno Kōji called it the "Danjūrō of mountains," and the haiku poet and monk Kairyō praised its lone iron-black peak rising above the clouds in a Chinese poem.
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