(男体山) Mt. Nantai Hike

A mountain called a "man's body", wikipedia says it's because it provides water to the rice paddies below, and has the shape of the phallic stone rods found in pre-agricultural sites.

Budget: JPY5,600 (~USD55)

• JPY4,600. Nikko Pass, covering all transport from Tokyo to Nikko, and within Nikko. 
  JPY1,000. Entrance fee, paid at the shrine. 

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 2,486m / 8,156ft)

• June 9, 2019
• Difficulty: 3 out of 5
• Route below is around 8.0kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,291m/ ▽1,291m (4h35m)

When to Go
The official website of Futara-san Shrine says that the mountain can only be hiked from April 25 to November 11, and hikes outside of that season is prohibited. 

Special Notes

• Weather forecast. English / Japanese. English more detailed, Japanese more accurate. 
• Trailheads. 
• Sanbonmatsu (三本松) Bus Stop. Google maps pin.  
• Easily accessible via bus from Nikko Station. Just use google maps. 
• For those with a car, there's a parking lot a bit further in the trail at 梵字飯場跡, which will save 45 minutes. Google maps pin. 
• Futara-san Jinja (二荒山神社前) Bus Stop. Google maps pin.  There is a required donation of JPY500 per person (somebody told me that it has increased to JPY1,000 as of 2021)
• Easily accessible via bus from Nikko Station. Just use google maps. 
• Mountain huts. 
• Paid. None. 
• Free. None. 
• Camping. None. 

Itinerary

• 08:00am ish. Arrived at Futara-san Jinja. There's a restroom before going to the shrine, no toilet paper. :( We went to the, er, counter at the shrine entrance and paid the JPY500 entrance fee (or required donation, whichever you want to call it). 
• 11:49am. Arrived at the summit! We ate lunch and took a lot of pictures.
• 01:00pm. Started our descent. 
• 04:00pmish. Back at the shrine. 

The trail was mainly stairs for the first part. 

And surrounded by a lot of trees. 

With a small section of road. 

Then back to stairs - which was muddy when we were there. 

Beautiful vegetation though. 

The last push to the summit was this ascent up with loose soil. 

That's the summit. 

The summit was pretty big. This is the shrine at the end of the trail. 

The the highest point - the sword on top of a rock. 

See the marker for the summit (男体頂上) ? And see the sword behind it? 

One of the prettier markers for the surrounding mountains. 

Back down. 

Almost back at the shrine!