Mount Mitake Rock Garden

photo by Guilhem Vellut · CC BY 2.0

photo by Guilhem Vellut · CC BY 2.0

1.5 km path between the Nanayo and Ayahiro waterfalls: a Tokyo 名勝 since 2000

The stream flows among moss-covered boulders for 1.5 km, between Nanayo Falls (a 50 m drop in eight tiers, only one of which can be seen from the path) and Ayahiro Falls, used by the monks of Musashi-Mitake Shrine for ascetic practice under the cold falling water. In summer rare wild plants such as the tamagawa-hototogisu bloom; the chain-assisted climb up the Tengu-iwa boulder, halfway along, is the most demanding point of the route.

The stretch, officially Oku-Mitake Keienchi (奥御岳景園地), was designated a Tokyo 名勝 (Place of Scenic Beauty) on 6 March 2000; it is jointly owned by Ōme municipality and Musashi-Mitake Shrine. The popular name, Rock Garden or 岩石園, comes from the large boulders smoothed by the stream along the entire route, in a forest of cedar and cypress planted for temple timber.

ℹ️ From Ōme, take the train to JR Mitake Station, then the 西東京バス bus (about 10 minutes, 340 yen) to Kēburu-shita, five minutes on foot from the base of the Takimoto funicular; the funicular (御岳登山鉄道, 御岳山ケーブルカー) climbs in about 6 minutes (600 yen each way), with continuous services from both stations between 7:30 and 18:30. From the upper station you walk to Musashi-Mitake Shrine (about 20–25 minutes) and go down, on iron stairways and over exposed roots, to Nanayo Falls: an hour from the funicular station according to Ōme municipality. From there, after the chain-assisted climb of Tengu-iwa, the Rock Garden stretch proper to Ayahiro Falls takes about an hour on foot (yamakei-online.com; another official tourist guide, the same source as for the bus, gives 40 minutes for the same stretch). The full round trip from the shrine comes to 3 hr 50 min according to the Japanese Alpine Club. Free entry, no opening hours; one hiking report describes the consecutive iron stairways as more tiring than expected.

🚉 Mount Mitake · 23 min walk

Sources: city.ome.tokyo.jp · city.ome.tokyo.jp · omekanko.gr.jp · yamakei-online.com

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