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Kintokiyama Day Hike | A Hakone Loop to Otome Pass, with Mount Fuji Views and the Famous Summit Teahouse

2025.02.08

Kintokiyama (1,212 m) in Hakone is the mountain a lot of people in Japan say they want to climb at least once. Mount Fuji sits square in front of you from the top, there's famous food waiting at the summit, and the climb is short enough for beginners — so it's almost always busy with hikers.

This time I started from the Kintoki trailhead, joined the ridge of the Hakone caldera rim, went over the summit, and came down via Nagaoyama and Otome Pass — a loop rather than an out-and-back — in the middle of winter. This post covers the route and the things winter adds to it, but also the two things that actually moved me most on this mountain: the food at the summit teahouse, and the boards recording how many times the regulars have been up here. If you're thinking about climbing Kintokiyama, I hope it's useful.

Route overview (Kintoki trailhead to Otome Pass loop)

• Area: The Hakone caldera rim, on the Kanagawa–Shizuoka border
• Elevation: Kintokiyama, 1,212 m — the highest point on the Hakone rim
• This route: Kintoki trailhead → Yagurasawa Pass → Kintokiyama summit and teahouse → Nagaoyama → Otome Pass → down to the road
• Book time (ascent): About 75 minutes from the trailhead to the summit
• Access: Start from the Kintoki Tozanguchi bus stop in the Hakone area. Because you descend over Otome Pass to a different bus stop, this loop starts and finishes in different places — worth planning for
• Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ (beginner to lower-intermediate). Mostly easy walking, with one short steep pitch just below the summit

Several routes converge on this summit, which makes Kintokiyama unusually flexible to plan. Taking one route up and another down, as I did, changes the scenery between the outbound and return legs and makes for a fuller day. It adds a little distance compared with an out-and-back, and it's worth it.

What kind of mountain is Kintokiyama? Kintaro, and Fuji

The first thing most people in Japan associate with Kintokiyama is Kintaro, the folk-tale boy with the axe over his shoulder. He's identified with Sakata no Kintoki, a Heian-period warrior said to have been born and raised in this area — and the mountain takes its name directly from that legend.

The other thing you can't leave out is the view of Mount Fuji. From the highest point on the Hakone rim, Fuji rises straight ahead of you, with the Sengokuhara plateau and the caldera holding Lake Ashi spread out in between. It's a postcard of a view, and it explains why so many hikers wait for a clear day and come up here specifically for it.

Easy access, a big view, and a manageable climb. Having walked it, I understand why this ends up being so many people's first "proper" mountain.

Starting from the Kintoki trailhead — into the streamside trail

The start is the Kintoki trailhead, where the path begins right by the bus stop. The plan for the day was the loop: over Kintokiyama, on to Nagaoyama, then down to Otome Pass.

I'll be honest, I was out of breath almost immediately. It's about 75 minutes to the summit from here. The first stretch is flat, but you're soon on a proper trail along a stream, gaining height steadily. Even in winter, climbing warms you up enough to sweat. The air stayed sharp, though — when I checked partway up it was 3°C, the kind of cold where stopping for a minute chills you straight through. Classic winter low-mountain conditions.

Eventually the forest opens and the view arrives all at once. Blue sky, ridgelines visible into the distance, and me saying "this feels good" out loud. Ridges lit by that crisp early air felt like a reward for starting early.

From the rim junction to the summit — a steep pitch, but easy underfoot

After a while you reach a junction where several trails meet, at the point where the path gains the Hakone rim ridge. The signpost lists things like "Myojingatake 95 min" and "Kintokiyama 40 min." One way is the long traverse that links the whole caldera rim; the other is our summit. I'd climbed Myojingatake from the Gora side once before and had thought at the time that I'd like to extend that ridge someday — standing at the connecting point was a quietly satisfying moment.

Another trail drops from this junction toward Kintoki Shrine, which drives home how many directions people climb this mountain from. Up on the ridge the wind gets through, and each time I stopped the sweat went cold on me, so constant small adjustments were essential. I spent the last climb zipping and unzipping a wind shell.

The final section below the summit is the steep pitch I'd heard about. The angle kicks up and there are moments where you want a hand on the rock, but it's short and one solid push gets you through. The ice I'd been worried about never materialised. It was late January, so I'd packed chain spikes just in case and never took them out of the bag. "Mild year, isn't it," we said, walking up dry, snowless ground.

> Kintokiyama's trail does freeze on some winter days. It was warm enough not to matter this time, but conditions swing with overnight cold and recent snow, so carrying chain spikes as insurance is the sensible call.

The summit at 1,212 m — where Fuji should have been

Over the last steep section and I was on the summit of Kintokiyama, 1,212 m. Seeing the teahouse roof appear was a relief.

Unfortunately the sky had clouded over. Mount Fuji, the thing I'd been looking forward to, was hidden. On a clear day this is a front-row seat with Fuji filling the view, but that part is luck. Even so, the glimpses of the ground below when the cloud thinned, and the cold clean air, were enough to make the climb worth it. "Next time, on a clear day, for that view" — one more piece of unfinished business, happily accepted.

And when the view is uncooperative, Kintokiyama has something else that holds up perfectly well: the food at the old teahouse.

Summit food — nameko soup and oshiruko

The teahouse on the summit of Kintokiyama has been feeding hikers for decades. Cold body, hot bowl: I ordered the house speciality, nameko-jiru — miso soup with nameko mushrooms.

It was quietly, deeply good. Alongside the nameko there were shimeji mushrooms, fried tofu and plenty of spring onion. The mushrooms are a variety called kabutori nameko, which doesn't have the slippery texture nameko is usually known for, and apparently they use a whole pack per serving. I'd expected miso soup to be rich and heavy; this finished surprisingly clean and went straight through a tired body. The fried tofu gave the broth a gentle depth. I caught myself muttering the local word for exactly this — that feeling of something warm soaking into you.

The other signature item is oshiruko, sweet red bean soup: a large bowl with two pieces of warm mochi and seven or eight murasaki hanamame — big purple runner beans that are a thing on this mountain. In summer those same beans appear on top of "kori kintoki," shaved ice with matcha milk, so they hold the stage year-round.

Someone let me try one of the purple beans, and it genuinely got me. It was larger than any bean I'd seen, floury and soft but with real body to it, and a gentle natural sweetness. "I've never tasted anything like this," I said, and I meant it. They're apparently common around Nagano and Hokkaido; I hadn't expected to meet them on top of a mountain in Hakone. Hot soup and a sweet bean, and both the cold and the tiredness let go. "I'll be back" came out of my mouth without my deciding to say it.

The summit boards — 550 climbs, 7,000 climbs

Alongside the food, the thing that stayed with me most was the wall of boards recording how many times people have climbed this mountain.

Kintokiyama has a culture of keeping count. You write down the date, the number, your name and roughly where you live — and the numbers are extraordinary. "250." "450." Just reading them is humbling, and then someone mentions there's a regular on 7,000. That's a person who has climbed this mountain nearly every day for years. Reach 100 and your name goes up on a board, so the whole wall is essentially the regulars' affection for this place, written out.

The hiker next to me was on 550. "That's amazing," I said, louder than I meant to. Wanting to come back again and again, made visible and left on the wall — that's the warmth of Kintokiyama. Climbing on a clear day is wonderful, of course, but being let into this side of a mountain's life is something specific to here.

Down via Nagaoyama and Otome Pass — why the loop is worth it

Once I'd had my fill of the summit, it was time to head down. Rather than retrace my steps, I took the loop over Nagaoyama and down to Otome Pass.

Descending a different trail changes the mountain's face completely. You see the ridge you walked earlier from the other side, and views open at angles you couldn't get before. A loop adds a bit of distance, but it gives the day a sense of travel that an out-and-back can't. Otome Pass is a long-standing crossing between Hakone and Gotemba, and dropping over it to the bus stop below was the finish.

The choice of descents — the Otome Pass side, the Kintoki Shrine side, and others — is part of what makes this mountain fun to plan. You can build a route around your fitness and your transport, and it doesn't get stale on repeat visits.

Access and practical notes

A few things I'd pass on to anyone heading up.

• The loop uses two different bus stops: if you climb from the Kintoki trailhead and descend to Otome Pass, as I did, you don't return to your starting point. Check the bus times for the way home before you set out.
• In winter, manage your temperature constantly: you can be sweating on the climb and chilled within a minute on the ridge. Bring a wind shell that's easy to put on and take off, and a spare layer for when the sweat goes cold.
• Carry chain spikes for ice: they weren't needed on my day, but the trail does freeze on some winter days. Treat them as insurance you'll be glad not to use.
• Plan around the summit food: hot nameko soup or oshiruko is a genuine feast when you're cold. Bring coins, and let the bowl at the top be part of your motivation on the way up.

What I came away with

Fuji stayed behind cloud on my day, and Kintokiyama was still far more than a mountain you judge by whether the view came out.

A climb short enough for beginners, a story reaching back to the Kintaro legend, and above all the warmth of that summit teahouse — the nameko soup, the purple beans, and the regulars' decades of climbs written on the wall. Add a clear-day view of Mount Fuji and it entirely earns its "climb it at least once" reputation. As it is, the Fuji I didn't see has become the reason I'll go back.

If you want a bit of everything — a view, a good meal on a mountain, and the warmth of a place people love — Kintokiyama will deliver. Sort out your layers and your footing, and go and meet this Hakone peak. I'll be going back for that Fuji view myself.

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