Kuruma-yama is a 1,925-meter-high mountain located on the border between Chino City and Suwa City in Nagano Prefecture. It is the highest peak of the Kirigamine Highlands and one of the most popular destinations in the area for hiking, sightseeing, and nature observation.
With its gentle slopes and expansive grasslands, Kuruma-yama is accessible to a wide range of visitors, from beginner hikers and families to experienced outdoor enthusiasts. In summer, the highland is covered with colorful alpine flowers, while winter transforms the mountain into a snowy resort where visitors can enjoy skiing and snowshoeing.
The area surrounding the mountain is known as Kuruma-yama Kogen, or the Kuruma-yama Highlands. Its broad grasslands provide a habitat for small animals and alpine plants, while various recreational facilities make the area a place where nature and leisure come together.
Parks, museums, restaurants, tennis courts, and sports grounds are scattered throughout the highlands. Because of its high elevation and favorable winds, the area is also popular for aerial sports such as hang gliding and paragliding.
From spring into summer, the hillsides become especially beautiful as Nikko-kisuge, or daylilies, burst into bloom. Around July, vast stretches of yellow flowers cover the grasslands, creating a spectacular landscape reminiscent of a golden carpet.
The flower-covered highlands have also been designated as a destination under Japan’s Lovers’ Sanctuary Project, adding a romantic atmosphere to this already scenic mountain landscape.
The summit of Kuruma-yama offers an impressive 360-degree panorama. On clear days, visitors can see the Yatsugatake Mountains, as well as distant peaks including Mount Fuji, the Central Alps, the Northern Alps, the Southern Alps, and Mount Asama.
This sweeping view is one of the defining attractions of Kirigamine. Standing above the open grasslands, with mountains extending across the horizon in every direction, gives visitors a powerful sense of the scale and beauty of the Japanese highlands.
A weather radar observation facility operated for meteorological observation stands near the summit. The area therefore offers an interesting combination of natural scenery and scientific observation, where visitors can experience the movement of clouds and winds across the highlands.
At the summit stands Kuruma-yama Shrine, a small shrine surrounded by four sacred Onbashira pillars. The shrine originated as a “Ski Shrine” established during the development of the Kirigamine ski area in the early Showa period. It originally enshrined Oyamatsumi-no-kami, a deity associated with mountains.
As development of the Kuruma-yama Highlands progressed, the shrine was moved to its present location. The deities Takeminakata-no-kami and Yasakatome-no-kami, the principal deities associated with the Suwa Grand Shrine tradition, were subsequently enshrined together with the original deity.
The four Onbashira pillars surrounding the shrine are connected with the famous Onbashira Festival of the Suwa region. In years when the main Onbashira Festival is held, a local Komiya Onbashira Festival is also conducted here.
Because the pillars are transported from the foot of the mountain to the summit, they are known as the “Onbashira of the Sky.” A traditional religious ceremony held at an elevation of more than 1,900 meters, it represents the enduring connection between the mountains, local communities, and the spiritual traditions of Shinshu.
Kuruma-yama can be enjoyed by both beginners and experienced hikers. During the summer season, lifts at the Kuruma-yama Kogen Ski Resort operate toward the upper part of the mountain, making it possible to approach the summit without a long climb.
This makes Kuruma-yama an attractive choice for visitors who want to experience a high mountain environment without undertaking a demanding ascent. From the upper area, the surrounding grasslands and distant mountain ranges unfold into a magnificent highland panorama.
For those looking for a longer hike, a popular route begins at Yashimagahara Wetland and passes through Chochomi-yama and Omekura-yama, also known as Zebra-yama, before reaching Kuruma-yama.
The route follows broad grasslands and gentle ridgelines, allowing hikers to enjoy the refreshing highland breeze and the characteristic openness of the Kirigamine landscape.
During winter, Kuruma-yama becomes the Kuruma-yama Kogen Ski Resort. As the principal peak of Kirigamine, one of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains, the mountain offers a high-elevation ski environment where low temperatures help maintain stable snow conditions, supported by both natural snowfall and artificial snowmaking.
The ski slopes provide views toward Mount Tateshina, Lake Shirakaba, and Utsukushigahara. From higher elevations, visitors can also enjoy distant views of Mount Fuji and the major Alpine ranges.
Winter activities extend beyond skiing and snowboarding. Snowshoe trekking has become increasingly popular, allowing visitors to explore the quiet, snow-covered landscapes of Kirigamine.
Walking through the white highlands surrounded by the sound of the wind and the sparkle of fresh snow offers a completely different experience from visiting Kuruma-yama in summer.
Kuruma-yama is also associated with traditional stories about Tengon-sama, a local name for a tengu, the supernatural mountain beings found throughout Japanese folklore. Stories such as “Ohan-onna-sama,” “Tengon-sama no Nejiri-gi,” and “Fukuji-are” have been passed down through generations.
These legends often interpret sudden changes in mountain weather and unusual natural phenomena as manifestations of the tengu’s power. They reflect an older way of understanding the mountains, in which unpredictable natural forces were treated with both respect and caution.
One traditional tale tells of a charcoal burner named Fukuji who ignored a warning from a tengu and was subsequently caught in a violent storm. The story serves as a reminder of how quickly weather can change in the mountains and expresses the traditional belief that the mountain should not be treated lightly.
Another story tells of a young girl who was carried away by a tengu. According to the legend, she eventually rode upon the clouds and became an attendant of Tengon-sama. The mysterious tale captures the imaginative relationship between people and the mountains that appears throughout the folklore of the Shinshu region.
One of the best-known legends associated with Kuruma-yama is the story of Nihei Tengu. Nihei, a young man who loved playing the traditional board game Go, encountered a tengu on the mountain and began playing with him.
What seemed like a short time in the mountain world passed as three years in the human world. When Nihei eventually returned, he had lost the woman he loved. In the end, he is said to have taken on the form of a tengu and disappeared into the mountains, leaving only black and white beans in his former lover’s palanquin.
This bittersweet tale represents the boundary between the human world and the supernatural realm, and is one of the distinctive mountain legends that have shaped the cultural imagination of Shinshu.
Kuruma-yama is much more than a scenic mountain. Its gentle grasslands, alpine flowers, panoramic views, winter activities, traditional shrine, Onbashira rituals, and ancient mountain legends come together to create a destination where nature and culture are closely intertwined.
Spring brings fresh greenery and flowers, summer fills the highlands with blue skies and alpine plants, autumn adds warm colors to the landscape, and winter covers the mountain in snow. Each season reveals a different character of Kuruma-yama.
From the summit, visitors can look across the mountains of central Japan while learning about the beliefs and stories that have long been associated with this landscape. A visit to Kuruma-yama offers an opportunity to step away from everyday life and experience the open skies, quiet nature, and enduring traditions of the Shinshu highlands.