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Takatoriyama Felt Like Another World | 139 m, Vast Quarried Cliffs and an 8 m Buddha Carved in Rock

2026.07.07

One hundred and thirty-nine metres. On paper that's barely enough to call something a mountain. And yet Takatoriyama in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, gave us a day so unlike its own numbers that "another world" is the only way I can describe it.

Enormous cliffs cut by quarrying, a Buddha roughly eight metres tall carved into the rock face, and a place of pilgrimage for climbers. We walked into it from Higashi-Zushi station — a place people and the mountain built together. I also brought along a pair of open-ear earcuff headphones, the SOUNDPEATS UU2, and I'll give an honest account of those later on.

What kind of mountain is Takatoriyama?

Takatoriyama is a 139 m low mountain straddling the cities of Yokosuka and Zushi in Kanagawa. The access is excellent — you walk up from the station and you're done in a day — and yet the sheer density of what's packed into it is remarkable.

You can't talk about this mountain without talking about stone. It's the site of a former quarry that supplied building stone, and the rock faces cut out back then still stand as enormous walls. Those vertical cliffs are now well known among rock climbers, and at weekends you'll see people on them. The marks people left cutting into the mountain have become the mountain's own face. It's a strange and rather wonderful thing.

From Higashi-Zushi station to Jinmuji and the Yakushido

We started at Higashi-Zushi. Through a residential neighbourhood and, almost immediately, onto a green temple approach. Early on you come to the Yakushido hall of Jinmuji temple.

As its mountain name Iozan — "king of medicine mountain" — suggests, this hall has long drawn devotion to Yakushi, the healing Buddha, and it's designated an important cultural property by Kanagawa Prefecture. The calm copper roof and the aged joinery are genuinely beautiful. A ridge tablet found during a re-roofing carried the date Keicho 3 — 1598. It's said to be one of the oldest buildings in Zushi, and standing there, you feel the air of the place go quiet.

I'd arrived treating this as an easy low mountain, and this one corner straightened my back a little. As an opening to a walk through history, it could not have been better.

Off the path, through the undergrowth, to a honeycombed wall of rock

Past the Yakushido, the terrain becomes properly mountainous. We left the maintained trail and picked our way — my cameraman and I, carefully — along a thin animal track buried in tree roots and fallen leaves. There's a genuine sense of adventure to it, which you don't expect at this height.

And then the view opened onto the cliff we'd heard about. The surface is weathered into pockmarks like a honeycomb, a shape that nature and human hands have made together over a long stretch of time, and the only word for it is overwhelming. The scale is enough to hurt your neck looking up. I must have muttered "this is really only 139 metres?" a dozen times.

Along for the day | SOUNDPEATS UU2 earcuffs

I'd brought one more thing I wanted to test: the SOUNDPEATS UU2 earcuffs, an open-ear design that doesn't block the ear canal. (This video was made with product provided by SOUNDPEATS and contains promotional content.)

The thing I most want to protect in the mountains is, honestly, my hearing. The sound of a stream, birdsong, the sense of someone coming up behind you — hearing your surroundings feeds directly into both safety and enjoyment. Which is why I've always been reluctant to wear earphones while hiking.

The UU2 clips onto the ear rather than going into it, so ambient sound reaches you naturally. That's the whole point of the design. I used them mainly on the train, on the approach to the trailhead, and during breaks. Here's what I found.

• More bass than I expected: I'd assumed open-ear meant thin bass, but these have genuine low end and music is properly enjoyable.
• A stable connection: on trains and in town the connection held without dropouts, which spared me any irritation.
• Comfortable to wear: the earcuff shape stays put while walking and doesn't make your ears ache over long sessions. Nothing sits inside the ear, so there's no trapped heat — welcome in a sweaty season.
• Small things that matter outdoors: they don't clash with sunglasses, and the controls are physical buttons rather than touch, so you can feel the press while walking and mis-taps are rare.

While actually hiking I want to hear the mountain itself, so there were stretches where I wore them with nothing playing — and barely noticed them. Rather than erasing the sound of the mountain, they let you quietly add something when you want it. That distance is what makes them pleasant. If you're curious, have a look alongside the video description (Amazon → https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0GLGJTQ7C?tag=ysm07-22 — mine are the beige).

The view from the top, and a bowl of noodles

Climbing on past the cliffs brings you to the summit. It feels far more open than 139 m has any right to, with a view over the houses all the way to the sea. That sense of a big view continuous with ordinary life is something only a low mountain gives you, and it's oddly comforting.

Then the part I look forward to: food. Hot ramen today. Why is a bowl of noodles after walking, climbing and sweating so much better than it should be? Eating with the view as a side dish, steam and all, is the best reward a hike has.

An 8 m Buddha, carved into the rock

The other thing Takatoriyama is known for is its magaibutsu — a Buddha image carved directly into a natural rock face.

This one was made over about a year, starting in 1960, and stands roughly eight metres tall. It was carved by Shigeru Fujishima, a sculptor from Yokosuka. Because it uses a wall created by quarrying, it stands as a symbol of the mountain's own history.

Up close it's larger than you picture. Coming upon it suddenly in a quiet stretch of forest, I found myself holding my breath. People cut into the mountain, people carved a Buddha into what was left, and now hikers and climbers come — the whole sequence seems to be recorded in a single face of rock.

What I took away: a place people and the mountain made together

After a moment at the Buddha, we followed the ridge down toward Oppama station.

What stayed with me is that Takatoriyama is a natural mountain and, at the same time, a mountain built up out of human work. A wall left by stone-cutting became a climbing destination, a great Buddha was carved into it, and at the foot a temple hall has stood quietly since 1598. One small mountain, that much story.

One hundred and thirty-nine metres — a number that tells you nothing about the richness of it. Takatoriyama contradicts the phrase "low mountain" in the best possible way. It's easy to reach and gives you history and views in a single day, so consider it for your next day off. Rather like the UU2, it's a day spent properly listening — to the sounds of the mountain and to its history alike.

※ This article is based on a video produced with product provided by SOUNDPEATS.

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