Mt. Akagi （赤城山）
Mt. Akagi is a gentle, docile peak surrounding a scenic lake. Its easy access from Tokyo brings the car-driving crowds in the summer.
The hike: From the bus stop, check the bus timetable so you can plan your hiking times accordingly. Follow the road downhill toward the lake. You’ll pass a campground on the left, and the trailhead will appear quickly on the right side. The trailhead will be marked Komagadaketozanguchi (駒ヶ岳登山口). The path is well-maintained and you’ll spend the first 20 minutes or so climbing iron stairs. Eventually the trail will flatten out as it reaches the ridgeline, and you’ll be sitting on top of Komagadake in next to no time (about an hour from the bus stop). The views toward Lake Ono (大沼) are beautiful, and the summit of Mt. Akagi will be right in front of you. Continue on the same trail, dropping down to a saddle, where the real climb begins. It should take another45 minutes of sweating before reaching the summit plateau. You’ll first come to a stone marker on the right side, with a trail branching off to Hanami-ga-hara (花見ヶ原). Ignore this trail and head to the high point of Mt. Kurobi (黒檜山). Along the way, you’ll find another trail branching off to the left. This is your return trail to the lake, but for now ignore it and go to the top. The views toward the Nikko mountains are fantastic, and you’ll see the peaks of Oze as well and Mt. Fuji if the weather is clear. After a well deserved lunch break, retrace your steps to the junction and turn right. This trail descends very steeply, with big drops off the left side of the ridge. You definitely don’t want to fall here, and a hiking stick will save your knees. It should take about an hour to reach the lake shore. After reaching the lake, turn left and hike along the road for 20 minutes or so and you’ll reach the Visitor’s Center where you started. It’s perfectly feasible to do this hike in reverse, especially for people who’ve got bad knees.
When to go: This hike can be done year round, but bring some crampons and an ice axe for a winter ascent. Please note that there are no buses in winter.
Access: From Ueno station in Tokyo, take either a limited express train or local train and get off at Maebashi station (前橋駅). The local train takes about 2 hours, with a change of trains at Takasaki (高崎駅), , while the limited express train will save you about a half an hour, with a change of trains at Shinmaebashi (新前橋駅). The cost difference is 1890 yen versus 3700 yen, so take your pick according to budget. From Maebashi station, take a bus bound for Mt. Akagi Visitor’s Center (赤城山ビジターセンター) and get off at the Visitor’s Center. You might have to change buses at Fujimi-onsen (富士見温泉) depending on the season. The bus takes around an hour, but if you’re short of time a taxi will get you there in about 45 minutes, but will set you back about 8000 yen or so. Click here for the bus schedule.
Level of difficulty: 2 out of 5 (elevation change 468m)
Explore posts in the same categories: Gunma hikes (群馬県)Tags: hiking, Hyakumeizan (百名山), japan, Kanto hikes (関東地方), Maebashi, Mt. Akagi
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Hiking in Japan 
July 18, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Is there a place to park there?
July 28, 2010 at 12:07 am
Plenty of space to park.
November 22, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Thanks for the info on this walk, we just did it this weekend. Very strenuous but very rewarding! I would just say however, the start of the trail is further up the road from the carpark rather than down.
July 5, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Hi,
Thanks for excellent information. I just did the mt Fuji by Kawaguchiko trail and very much liked it.
I definitely want to go mt. Akagi. However, I do not like steep rocky parts much. Specially descenhow ding.
Could you kindly tell me how much steep ( “.. big drops..” ) in compare to mt. Fuji?
October 8, 2012 at 9:44 pm
Thank you for the detailed information, I’m sorry if I always seem to be adding corrections – I guess I’m a sucker for detail. The link with the bus schedules seems to be outdated – when I did a search I found different times, notably a bus leaving Maebashi station at 8h45 instead of 7h32. I don’t know why they make these changes and then leave the old version online, it drives me mad myself.
Second, it seems that the best bus stop for this hike is a couple of stops before the visitor centre (あかぎ広場前 – Akagi hiroba mae). At least that is where all the other hikers get off anyway.
Finally a suggestion – instead of returning to the start point after reaching the road by the lake you could lengthen the hike by a couple of hours by going along the lake in the other direction until you reach a campground and take the hiking path that goes up just beyond the toilets (there is a wooden sign),
The path has many signs along the way, takes you over some minors summits surrounding the lake and offers some great views of Akagi and lake Ono. As a bonus I saw no one the whole time. However there wasn’t enough time to do the final peak so I returned to the bus stop walking along the road. You could probably do it you walked fast enough.
May 19, 2014 at 11:42 am
8h45 is the Winter time schedule. There is also a bus at 7h32 in the Summer.
October 31, 2014 at 9:54 pm
Hi- I am living right by the visitors center on Mt. Akagi so if you want an update on the weather or path conditions feel free to send me email- hpeterson@caj.or.jp
December 7, 2014 at 7:46 pm
Hello
We’ve just been there today. We couldn’t find the bus schedules and missed the 8:45 bus by 5 minutes so we had to wait until 11:30!!! You definitely don’t want that to happen… If i had read the comments before this wouldn’t have happened.
We ended up starting the hike at around 12:30 and we could make it on time for the return bus which is at 16:40. The view was really really nice although we had lunch in almost whiteout conditions at the summit (we could take shelter in some bushes using a space blanket). The way down was indeed pretty steep but we didn’t have to put on the crampons in spite of the snow. Maybe that was mistake, but the snow wasn’t icy so we didn’t feel the need to do so. It was a very nice day overall, we almost didn’t met anyone. Just be sure not to miss the bus…