The ancient castle peak of Mt Shiro (Shiroyama)

alastairbourne
2 days ago
2 min read

Hike date: September 5, 2026

I’d never heard of this mountain until I found it on a map. Anything involving castles looks interesting and was only 25 minutes drive from my other climb this day so I decided to give it a go.

After easing my car through the impossibly narrow streets of Kiso Fukushima I crossed the river and soon found the trailhead. Here the path forked in two, and carefully following the GPS I found myself in somebody’s garden and looking into their open front door. Fortunately I made it onto the correct path before they called the police and I was soon climbing up a narrow trail through a spectacularly green forest beside a fast flowing mountain stream. Taking care walking some narrow traverses I found myself in front of the beautiful Gongen waterfall. Unfortunately there was no one else there to enjoy it, and I rang the bells set at convenient intervals along the path to warn the neighbourhood bears that I was in town. After Gongen the path became more overgrown and the mountain seemed increasingly deserted. There were no views from the summit nor even from the so-called Mt Ontake viewpoint. Despite this it was a pleasant hike in some amazing picturesque forest. I took a steep loop course down the other side of the mountain calling at the site of the former Fukushima castle, which must have once dominated the valley. There was nothing left of the castle except three small flattened hills that once hosted the buildings and some dry moats, now heavily overgrown.

The trail emerged near a temple and I followed the narrow streets of this beautiful little town back to my car.

Check here for my information about Mt Shiro.