Hikes in Japan: The Fuji-Yoshida Trail (富士山 吉田 トレイル)

BASIC INFORMATION

• Name: The Fuji- Yoshida Trail (富士山 吉田 トレイル)
• Location: Mt. Fuji, Japan
• Distance: 10.3 miles (16.5 km)
• Max Elevation: 12,141 feet (3,700 m)
• Elevation Gain: 4,929 feet (1,502 m)
• Time: 10-12 hours
• Difficulty: Hard
• More Information: 30 Day Hikes Near Tokyo

GOOGLE EARTH MAP OF THE HIKE

MT. FUJI ELEVATION MAP

DIRECTIONS

For people who take the train to Kawaguchiko or Mt. Fuji Stations, transfer to a bus that takes hikers to the Fuji-Subaru Line 5th Station.

PARKING

For those driving you can park at the Fuji-Subaru Line 5th Station if parking there is allowed.  If the 5th station is closed to private vehicles you will need to park in the Fuji-san Parking Lot below the mountain and take a bus up to the 5th Station.  It is a 1,000 yen to park and the round trip bus ticket costs 2,500 yen.

NARRATIVE

Climbing Mt. Fuji is one of the most iconic hikes in all Japan and because of its fame it means the trails can be absolutely packed with people trying to reach its summit.  By far the most popular trail is the Fuji-Yoshida Trail that in the past saw about 70% of Mt. Fuji’s climbers.  I avoided this trail on my first two hikes up Mt. Fuji, but for the 2024 climbing season, Yamanashi prefecture where the Yoshida Trail is located started a new trail reservation system.  Now hikers have to go online and pay a 3,000 yen fee to reserve one of 4,000 permits per day to hike up Mt. Fuji.  This permit restriction lasts from July 1st to September 10th.

Due to the new permit system I decided now is probably the best time to hike up Mt. Fuji using the Yoshida Trail.  So I made the drive from the Toyko area over to the city of Fujiyoshida.  I arrived at the Fujisan Parking lot in Fujiyoshida at 5:00 AM in the morning to catch the shuttle bus up to the Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station to access the trailhead.  However, at the Fujisan Parking Lot I did not see anyone there and read a sign that the shuttle bus service was not available.  I had planned my hike so early in the climbing season that the shuttle bus service had not started yet.  This allowed me to drive up Mt. Fuji to the 5th Station on my own which was kind of nice.  After paying the toll to drive up the road it took me about 30 minutes to reach the 5th Station.  At the 5th Station I parked in the large lot of up there and walked over to the village area:

At the village area I found the place very quiet.  It appeared that not a whole lot of people had gotten up yet from the hotels at the 5th station to start their hike up the mountain:

With Mt. Fuji’s elevation being 3,776 meters (12,388 feet); starting at the 5th station which is at 2,305 meters (7,562 feet) saves a significant amount of elevation gain on this hike:

Below is a picture of the bus station located across the street from the main village area that was still closed the day I hiked the mountain:

At the end of the village area is a check in counter where you show the person your online reservation on your phone or a print out from the website:

If you don’t have a reservation, here is where you can pay the fee if they have spots available.  After checking your reservation the park worker will then issue a bracelet I was told to wear through out my hike.  Below is a picture of the trail map at the start of the hike:

There is also a picture nearby warning hikers of not making a wrong turn on the descent down the Subashiri Trail.  This is an infamous spot where tired hikers not paying attention descend down to a totally different trailhead:

At the start of the trailhead for the Yoshida Trail a gate has been installed that is manned by two personnel checking bracelets to make sure only permited hikers are entering the trail.

This gate is also closed from 4:00PM to 3:00AM to prevent what the Japanese call “bullet hikers” from leaving early in the morning to catch the sunrise on top.  Supposedly this category of hikers causes the majority of the rescues on the mountain.  From the gate, the trail passes through a really nice forested section that traverses horizontally across the slopes of Mt. Fuji:

During this section of the hike there were some amazing views of the sunrise over nearby Lake Yamanako:

I have previously kayaked on this lake which provides some amazing views of Mt. Fuji which I highly recommend checking out:

After the passing through the forested area the trail reaches an intersection where it begins to ascend up Mt. Fuji:

Fortunately all along the Yoshida Trail there are plenty of signs in both Japanese and English to tell hikers which way to go; it is pretty much impossible to get lost on the mountain as long as hikers pay attention to the signs:

Eventually the trail reaches the 6th station that intersects with a trail that begins down in the city of Fujiyoshida for those that want to hike from the mountain’s base.  It is at the 6th station where the real elevation gain of Mt. Fuji begins on the Yoshida Trail:

Before heading up the mountain I made sure to take some time to enjoy the views from the 6th station:

Looking East I could also see the small ridgeline down below where I had previously hiked up Mt. Sankodai:

Mt. Sankodai is another location with some great views of Mt. Fuji:

Above the 6th Station is when the trail becomes increasingly more rocky in various sections:

There are ropes or chains installed to help people up these rocky areas:

The higher up Mt. Fuji I got, the better the views became:

Something else I saw the higher up I went was a number of mountain huts for hikers to stay in overnight.  Besides providing simple overnight accomodations, these huts also sell food, drinks, snacks, and oxygen bottles to hikers.  I think they probably make the most money from burning stamps in people’s hiking sticks which cost anywhere from 200-500 yen.

A big difference from the Fujinomiya and Gotemba Trails that I had previously hiked up Mt. Fuji on, is the amount of mountain huts on the Yoshida Trail.  It seemed about every 500 feet of elevation gain there was another mountain hut to pass through.  I guess we will see if the limitations on hikers will impact these businesses negatively or not:

Below is a picture of another rocky section on the upper slopes of Mt. Fuji:

Eventually I reached a mountain hut that was above the 3,000 meter elevation limit.  I was pretty happy with myself that above 3,000 meters I was not really feeling any effect from the decreased oxygen in the air:

From the mountain hut I had a really nice view of Lake Yamanakoko and the Tanzawa Mountains in the distance:

From this mountain hut I had another steep rocky section to climb up to get to the next mountain hut:

This next mountain hut had a torii gate to mark its entrance:

The torii gate was at 3,250 meters (10,662 feet) of elevation:

From this mountain hut I had a view through the clouds of the city of Fujinomiya down below:

As I continued to ascend up the mountain I found myself at another mountain hut that was 3,400 meters (11,154 feet) in elevation which meant I was nearing the summit:

Just above this mountain hut I could see the final two torii gates I needed to pass through to reach Mt. Fuji’s summit crater:

It is in these upper reaches of Mt. Fuji where some snowfields can still be seen:

Below is a wider angle photo of the snowfield on Mt. Fuji:

I soon passed under the second to last torii gate before reaching the summit crater of Mt. Fuji:

The very last torii gate has two lion statues guarding it.  Unfortunatley by the time I reached the final torii gate a cloud bank rolled in:

As I got to the summit of Mt. Fuji I saw a few people resting in front of the Shinto temple.  Since it was so early in the climbing season the temple was still closed:

In front of the temple is a marker designating the summit of Mt. Fuji from the Yoshida Trail:

After taking a short break to eat some snacks I then proceeded to walk around and explore the summit area around the Yoshida Trail.  I was looking forward to eating some ramen on the summit, but found every business on the summit had not opened yet:

I was able to read this sign though explaining the vegetation on Mt. Fuji:

I next walked over to explore the crater.  Without the protection of the buildings the wind made the temperture very cold near the crater.  Inside of the crater was still filled with a lot of snow.  Across from me I could see the true summit of Mt. Fuji known as Kengamine Peak which stands at 12,388 feet or 3,776 meters:

I had previously hiked up this peak before and decided to do it again on this hike.  However, I found that the trail to walk around the crater was closed off.  This was because the week prior to my hike four people were found dead on top of Mt. Fuji and the investigation was still ongoing.  So instead took my summit picture from the crater:

After taking my summit picture I then headed back to the crater rim to begin my descent back down the Yoshida Trail:

During the initial descent the trail is shared with people ascending the trail.  This slowed my descent down a bit since I had to periodically make way for people going up the trail:

After passing through the Fuji-san Hotel area I kept my eyes open for the descent trail:

The descent trail was well marked and passes under the below pictured torri gate:

The descent trail is very different from the steeper and rockier ascent trail.  The descent trail features many switchbacks that descentds down a volcanic ash slope:

The slope is not very steep to descend, but the many switchbacks gets quite monotonous to descend after a while:

The next thing I had to keep my eyes open for was to intersection between the Yoshida descent trail and the Subashiri Trail.  This intersection is located at the mountain hut pictured below and just below the clouds you can actually see the parking lot for the Subashiri Trai:

The Subashiri Trail is actually the last one I need to hike to complete all four trail up Mt. Fuji.  Having now hiked the Yoshida Trail I now know that it shares a good portion of its route with the Yoshida Trail.  Once I reached the mountain hut I found that the trail intersection is well marked and someone would have to be totally not paying attention to miss it.

I made the left at the intersection and followed the trail in front of the mountain hut:

At this point the trail was now mostly traversing the side of Mt. Fuji back to the Fuji-Subaru Line 5th station:

This meant I found myself back in the forest, but not away from the hazards of Mt. Fuji.  Along this section of the descent trail concrete shelters are built to shield hikers from landslides of falling volcanic rock:

This next picture shows the various shelters along the trail as well horses that visitors can ride on along this section of the trail from the Fuji-Subaru Line 5th Station:

This section of the hike was a nice pleasant walk back to the trailhead where I enjoyed the surrounding views and look forwarded to get back to my vehicle.  By this point of the hike my toes were pretty sore from being jammed against the front of boots from the constant descent:

Eventually I could see the Fuji-Subaru Line 5th Station ahead of me:

Eventually the trail widened and knew I would soon be back at the trailhead:

Once I got back to the Fuji-Subaru Line 5th Station, I found it to be totally different from what I experienced in the morning.  It was now packed with people and a bustle of activity in all directions:

I did not hang out too long in the village, the friends I was with walked back to my vehicle and drove back into Fujiyoshida to get a well deserved meal after a long, but successful day of hiking up Mt. Fuji.  In total we hiked 10.3 miles (16.5 km) with 4,929 feet (1,502 m) of elevation gain.  In total the round trip hike took 11 hours.  It took us 7 hours to reach the summit and 4 hours to descend. My friends had never hiked Fuji before so our climbing time included stopping to get all the stamps on their hiking sticks and extra breaks.  Experienced hikers can definitely complete the Yoshida Trail quicker than we did.

Conclusion

The Yoshida Trail is the most popular trail up Mt. Fuji for good reason. The trail is in great shape and features a wealth of amenities for hikers throughout the hike.  The new reservation system is not that inconvenient to register for and it has decreased the amount of hikers on the trail thus making this a more pleasurable hike.  For non-experienced hikers looking to hike up Mt. Fuji this is definitely the trail to take.  For experienced hikers that want to get away from the crowds I recommend checking out the longer and more difficult Gotemba Trail.  With that said no matter which trail you take up Mt. Fuji, the experience of being on this legendary mountain’s summit is worth the effort.