(朝日岳) Mt. Asahi Hike

We intentionally stayed at the summit to see the morning sun (朝日, get it?), and it was utterly worth it. It turned a meh-hike to a WOW THAT WAS AWESOME hike.

Budget: JPY14,433 (~USD96)

JPY7,500. Share in tolls and gas. (JPY22,500 divided by 3)
JPY533. Parking. (JPY1,000 parking at trailhead, JPY600 at hotel, divided by 3)
JPY2,000. Stay at the hut
JPY300. Onsen.
JPY4,100. Hotel the night before (coz I'm old now)

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 1,871m / 6,138ft)

August 26-27, 2023
Difficulty: 3 out 5. Nothing technical nor are there any rock scrambles.
Route below (backtrail to Kotera-kousen) is around 16.6kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,833m/ ▽1,833m (11h40m)
Map Link

When to Go
July 23 to August 17 if you don't have a car. Otherwise, early July to late October.

Looking at the emergency mountain hut though with the ladder to the second floor makes me think people hike here in outside of those months.

Special Notes

Weather check: Japanese.
Trailheads. There's quite a lot of them, and here's a rundown of each and the access to each. But if you don't have a car, the only realistic option really, is Asahi-kousen. Yet as the bus departs at 1pm, the start of the hike is 2:20pm at the earliest. A possibility is taxi to Kotera-kousen, then descend via Asahi-kousen, or, just rent a car. Or hitchhike.

Awataki Dam (泡滝ダム) / Ootori-tozanguchi (大鳥登山口). This trailhead means a 14 hour, 23.5km, ▲3,064m/ ▽1,683m hike to the summit.

Bus from Tsuruoka Station (鶴岡駅) to Ootoriguchi, details here. JPY1,430 one way. This is not running for 2020, and will have to update for 2021.

From Otori-tozanguchi to Awataki Dam, you'll have to hire a car, call 0235-53-2121.

Asahi-kousen (朝日鉱泉). Bus from Aterazawa Station (左沢駅), JPY3,500 one way, runs from July 23 to August 17, details here.

Kotera-kousen (古寺鉱泉). Google maps pin. No public transport, closest station is Aterazawa Station (左沢駅), 50 minutes by taxi (JPY11,000ish). If you have a car, this might be the best stop.

Parking lot requires JPY1,000 deposit (as of August 2023). Make sure you have the exact amount as there will be no change.
Restrooms at the parking lot are only those emergency ones.

Hara Bus Stop (原バス停) / 障子ヶ岳登山口. There seems to be a bus from Yamagata Station (山形駅), but I just can't find it.
Rifure (りふれ) / 五味沢登山口. This trailhead means a 13 hour, 21.5km, ▲2,687m/ ▽1,161m hike to the summit.

From Koguni Station (小国駅), there's a bus that goes direct to Rifure (りふれ), at about JPY520 one way. Details here. Bus runs throughout the year.

Bus Schedule for Koguni (小国駅) -> Rifure (りふれ).

07:22am -> 08:00am
12:12pm -> 01:00pm
03:52pm -> 04:30pm
06:02pm -> 06:40pm

Bus Schedule for Rifure (りふれ) -> Koguni (小国駅).

07:10am -> 07:53am
08:10am -> 09:02am
01:10pm -> 01:48pm
04:40pm -> 05:18pm

祝瓶山荘. No public transport.
Higuresawa-koya (日暮沢小屋). No public transport.

Mountain Huts.

There's one right at the summit: Ooasahi-koya (大朝日岳)

Free... somewhat. You get the same thing as a free hut, but a person will be manning them from mid-June to mid-October, and you'll have to pay JPY2,000 per night during that period. Outside of that period, it's free.
No reservations, first come, first served.

Torihara-koya (鳥原小屋), check the map above.

Itinerary
Friday

Head out from Tokyo. I left around 5pm for our meetup location in Saitama, and arrived at our hotel in Yonezawa around 9:30pm.

Satuday

07:00am. Left our hotel.
09:10am. Arrived at the Kotera-kousen trailhead. Got ready, registered at the hut (need to wrap the application paper around JPY1,000 and put it in the box)
09:30am. Start hike.
12:23pm. Arrived at Kodera-yama, 小寺山
01:05pm. Arrived at Koasahi-dake, 小朝日岳
02:47pm. Arrived at the free hut. We decided against summiting as there was no visibility.

Sunday

04:00am ish? We woke up, got ready and headed out tot he summit.
04:41am. Summit.
06:00am. Started heading back down to the hut.
10:00am ish? We got back to the parking lot.

So apparently our hotel does not allow... ladies of the night. Too bad for Dan.

The view in our drive.

We filled up this form, folded it, put JPY1,000 in and put it inside the box.

The hike starts! Yey!

Some gentle ascent up.

The first fork.

This is the second water source, which I think can also be a spot for wild camping.

Hike continues.

The scenic portion of the hike starts!

From the summit of Kodera-yama, 小寺山, we can see the rest of the hike. To the left is Koasahi-dake, to the right is O-Asahidake.

Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy on day 1.

And the clouds were messing up the colors. Pictures were generally meh.

Summit of Koasahidake.

Just need to cross this ridge and we're done. We can even see the mountain hut. The little dot at the center, right below the summit (which is the left peak)