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Tonodake by the Okura Ridge | Up and Down the "Baka-one" for a Clear Head, with Timings and the View from the Top

2024.05.18

"I'd like to start hiking, but going straight to something hard makes me nervous." "I want a day trip from Tokyo where I walk properly and come back with a clearer head." If that's you, Tonodake (1,491 m) in the Tanzawa range of Kanagawa is a good answer. This time I went up the famous Okura ridge from the Okura bus stop and came back down the same way — a straightforward out-and-back day.

The Okura ridge is known as "Baka-one," the relentless ridge: a long line of steps that simply keeps climbing. It's demanding, but the path is well maintained and hard to lose, and there are mountain huts scattered along it. Which is exactly why, if you keep an eye on the timings and walk at your own pace, it makes a fine first serious mountain. Here's what the route is like, roughly how hard it is, the view from the top, and the history behind the name — as I found it.

Timings, distances and ascent figures are approximate. Check official sources for current trail and transport conditions before you go.

The route in brief (Okura ridge, out and back, one day)

• Mountain: Tonodake (1,491 m), Tanzawa range, Kanagawa — the highest peak of the Omote-Tanzawa (front Tanzawa) area
• Location: on the boundary of Hadano City, Kiyokawa Village and Yamakita Town
• Route: Okura bus stop → Okura ridge ("Baka-one") → Horiyama-no-Ie hut → Hanatate Sanso hut → Kinhiyashi → Tonodake, and back
• Ascent: about 1,200 m from Okura (roughly 290 m) to the summit
• Distance and timing: around 14 km round trip; roughly 3 hours 30 minutes to 4 hours up, and about 6 to 7 hours for the day including breaks
• Access: about 15 minutes by bus from the north exit of Shibusawa Station on the Odakyu Odawara Line, to the last stop, Okura
• Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ to ★★★☆☆. Few dangerous rock or chain sections and the path is clear, but the climbing goes on and on, so it's a test of stamina. Watch the timings and take regular breaks

Starting at the Okura bus stop — onto the Baka-one

The great advantage of the Okura trailhead is how easy it is to reach from central Tokyo. A short bus ride from the station and you're standing at the start. My theme for this day was walking with the standard timings in mind — not ambling, but holding a sustainable pace against the published times.

The Tanzawa institution that is the Okura ridge begins almost immediately. Its other name is "Baka-one." In Japanese hiking slang the phrase describes a ridge that is nothing but a long, monotonous run of steps — climbing, as the name puts it, stupidly. It sounds intimidating, but the flip side is that there is very little genuinely difficult terrain: keep putting one foot in front of the other and the height comes. It was early-summer warm that day and I was sweating a little, but the path has plenty of shade, and we worked up steadily.

To Horiyama-no-Ie — a route with huts along it

The reassuring thing about the Okura ridge is that there are several mountain huts on it. For a rest, for water, and as somewhere to head for if something goes wrong, they matter. The trail is well maintained and obvious, so it's a ridge a first-timer can walk with confidence.

Not far up, signs began telling us how far we'd come — "Okura bus stop, so many kilometres" — which made a good pacemaker. Seeing your progress as a number gives you something to hold on to. Working up in that way, we reached Horiyama-no-Ie. Still only partway, but being able to think "right, we've got this far" at each hut is one of the kindnesses of this ridge.

Past Hanatate Sanso and Kinhiyashi to the summit

The steps continue beyond Horiyama-no-Ie. As you clear the forest and the view opens, from around Hanatate Sanso a big view starts to unfold behind you. From here it's one more effort to the top.

Past the junction at Kinhiyashi, where the ridge narrows, the summit comes close. My feet got lighter at the end of the long climb, as if the sense of achievement had arrived early. Because I'd walked to the timings, I got up without my pace ever collapsing.

Where the name comes from — "Otou" and a mountain of worship

Tonodake carries a history as a mountain of worship alongside its forest and its views. From the end of the Edo period into the early Showa era it is said to have been busy with local farmers praying for rain and for protection from crop pests.

The name comes from that history. There was once a huge rock at the summit, revered and known as "Otou" — the pagoda. That rock is said to be the origin of the mountain's name, and it was later also called Sonbutsu-iwa, the Buddha rock. It collapsed in the Great Kanto Earthquake, and a stone monument now stands where it was. It's a curious thing: knowing the background before you climb changes how the same summit looks.

The best viewpoint in Tanzawa

The summit at the top of the Okura ridge is a wide, open platform of a view, and it's the real reward of the day.

The Tanzawa range divides roughly into four areas — Omote (front), Higashi (east), Nishi (west) and Kita (north) Tanzawa — and Tonodake is the highest peak of the Omote-Tanzawa area. From the top you see the Tanzawa peaks including Tanzawasan, one of Japan's 100 Famous Mountains, and Hirugatake, the highest point of the range; in clear weather, Mt. Fuji and the Southern Alps; and beyond them the Boso and Miura peninsulas, Sagami Bay and Enoshima. A genuine 360-degree panorama, and it earns the description "the finest viewpoint in Tanzawa." After all those steps, this was the best possible reward.

Lunch at the top: Montbell's Risotta

The other thing to look forward to at a summit is food. My choice that day was Risotta from Montbell, the Japanese outdoor brand — an outdoor rice dish that's ready in about three minutes, which makes it ideal when you want a light pack.

It came out soft and easy to eat, going down well in a body tired from climbing, and it tasted genuinely good. Something hot with that view in front of you is in a different category — enough to make you feel you climbed up here in order to eat it. Easy and satisfying at once, and something I can honestly recommend for a summit lunch.

What I took away

Tonodake has very little in the way of dangerous ground; the question is how you handle the long climb of the Okura ridge. Which is precisely why, if you hold your pace against the timings and rest at the huts as you go, it has enough generosity in it to put a first-time hiker on a real summit.

To sum up:

• Excellent access: bus to Okura from Shibusawa Station; a day trip from central Tokyo
• Clear path, huts along the way: hard to lose, with plenty of places to stop
• Stamina and pacing are the key: the Baka-one is a long staircase. Use the timings and don't force it
• The reward is view and history: a 360-degree panorama out to Mt. Fuji, the Southern Alps, Sagami Bay and Enoshima, plus the story of the "Otou" rock

Walk hard, sweat, then let the summit view rinse your head out. Tonodake is exactly the right size of mountain for stepping out of ordinary life for a day. When you want more, there's a long route from the summit on to Tanzawasan, another of the 100 Famous Mountains. Start with this out-and-back on the Okura ridge and see what Omote-Tanzawa has to offer. Safety first, and I hope you have a good walk.

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