Osaka is a big city where millions of people live and come to work and the downtown area is busy until the midnight. But actually the mountain area is just one hour from the city center and you can go there by public transportation.
Mt. Kongo is one of the most famous mountains in Osaka which is popular to visit for hiking.
The 1,125m high mountain was a training place for ascetic monks (Shugendo), and that may sound hard to hike, but the paths are really organized and it’s not too tough (Of course it’s better to have a hiking equipment more or less though).
From Osaka city, you can take Nankai Koya line to Kawachi-Nagano Station and from there you take a bus to the starting point.
There is a cable car going halfway up the mountain but now it’s out of service, so basically walking is the only and the best way to go up to the peak now.
The mountain was used as a fortress in the 14th century, and the ruin is still there with some stone walls and a shrine.
Castle ruin in the mountain
On the way to the peak, you meet some buddha saint statues and surely the different types of trees and flowers with chirp of birds and insects never make you bored.
The average duration is about 1 hour and half to the peak and you can have a great view from the peak (the actual peak is another place but for hikers this is the peak).
One of the main attraction of this mountain is that you can get a hiking record, which you can get a seal on every time you climb up to the peak (you can get it once a day). And they have a rewarding system that gives you a mountain-shaped badge at some point (the 1st time, 5th time, 10th time and so on).
And after you reach the 50th, you get an honor having your name on the signboard at the peak. The person who climbed the most has come up to the peak 15,000 times…!!!
Name of the hikers who climbed up the mountains 200 times.
You can take a rest with cup noodle if you like.
Cup noodle vending machine
And even on the peak there is a temple and shrine, which are worth visiting.
And when you come back to the starting point, craft beer is waiting for you (I recommend you have one after hiking, not before).
craft beer sold at the entrance of the mountain
There is only one bus going every hour between Kawachi-Nagano station and the starting point, so you must check the time table when you arrive at the place. When you miss a bus, just walk around the village, where you can find something different from cities with a relaxing atmosphere.
Once you get tired with busy cities, why not coming to the countryside and try hiking ! That would be another experience when visiting Japan !
tokie