Akaishi Mountains

Akaishi Mountains
Akaishi Mountains
Southern Alps (南アルプス)
	Akaishi Mountains (Mount Kita and Mount Aino); from Mount Komatsu
Highest point
Peak	Mount Kita
Elevation	3,193 m (10,476 ft)
Coordinates	35°40′27″N 138°14′12″E / 35.67417°N 138.23667°E
Dimensions
Length	120 km (75 mi)
Width	40 km (25 mi)
Naming
Native name	赤石山脈 (Japanese)
Geography
	Akaishi Mountains Honshu
Country	Japan
Prefectures	Nagano, Yamanashi and Shizuoka
Range coordinates	35°34′N 138°11′E / 35.567°N 138.183°E
Parent range	Japanese Alps

The Akaishi Mountains (赤石山脈, Akaishi Sanmyaku) are a mountain range in central Honshū, Japan, bordering Nagano, Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. They are also called the Southern Alps (南アルプス, Minami Arupusu), as they join with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Kiso Mountains ("Central Alps") to form the Japanese Alps.

Origin of the name

There are a lot of red stones (赤石 Aka-Ishi) around the Akaishi River, a tributary of the Ōi River in the southern part of Southern Alps. Then it was said that the mountain of red stone came to be called Mount Akaishi. The mountain represents the mountain range and the name Akaishi is used for the whole range mountain range, Akaishi Mountains.^[1]

Major peaks

Almost all major peaks of the Akaishi Mountains are in Minami Alps National Park that was established on June 1, 1964.^[2] The range is the source of two rivers, Ōi River and Tenryū River, which flow to the Pacific Ocean.

Mountain	Height	Note
Mt. Hō'ō	2,840 m (9,318 ft)	100 Famous
Mt. Nokogiri	2,685 m (8,809 ft)	200 Famous
Mt. Kaikoma	2,967 m (9,734 ft)	100 Famous
Mt. Senjō	3,033 m (9,951 ft)	100 Famous
Mt. Kita	3,193 m (10,476 ft)	the highest mountain in Akaishi Mountains 100 Famous
Mt. Aino	3,190 m (10,466 ft)^[3]	100 Famous
Mt. Nōtori	3,026 m (9,928 ft)	200 Famous
Mt. Shiomi	3,047 m (9,997 ft)	100 Famous
Mt. Warusawa	3,141 m (10,305 ft)	100 Famous
Mt. Akaishi	3,120 m (10,236 ft)	100 Famous
Mt. Hijiri	3,013 m (9,885 ft)	100 Famous
Mt. Tekari	2,591 m (8,501 ft)	100 Famous

Panorama

Yatsugatake and Akaishi Mountains from Mt.Utsugidake.

Flora and fauna

Alpine plants, such as Siberian dwarf pine can be seen above the tree line. Rock ptarmigan and spotted nutcracker also live in the alpine zone. Japanese serow and sika deer live in the forest belt on the mountain slopes. Callianthemum hondoense (北岳草, Kitadake-sō) is endemic to Mount Kita.

Walter Weston in the Japanese Alps

Englishman Walter Weston introduced the Western world to the Japanese Alps in his book Mountaineering and Exploring in the Japanese Alps. During his visits to Japan, he climbed Akaishi Mountains. Several monuments in his memory have been set up in several places in the Japanese Alps.

He climbed the following peaks:

1892 Mount Akaishi - The first non-Japanese to climb this mountain
1902 Mount Kita
1903 Mount Kaikoma
1904 Mount Hōō and Mount Senjō

References

^ Name dictionary of Japanese Mountain (日本山名辞典), Shōbunsya(昭文社) in 1992, ISBN 4-385-15403-1, P4
^ Minami Alps National Park Archived 2011-03-22 at the Wayback Machine(home page of the Ministry of the Environment)
^ "標高値を改定する山岳一覧" (PDF). Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2023.

Books

Mountaineering and Exploring in the Japanese Alps -by Walter Weston (1896)

External links

Yamanashi Nichinichi Newspaper: Minami Alps website

[1] Name dictionary of Japanese Mountain (日本山名辞典), Shōbunsya(昭文社) in 1992, ISBN 4-385-15403-1, P4

[2] Minami Alps National Park Archived 2011-03-22 at the Wayback Machine(home page of the Ministry of the Environment)

[gsi2014-3] "標高値を改定する山岳一覧" (PDF). Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2023.

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