Rustic Japan -A Guide to Rural Japan & Off-the-Beaten-Path Countryside- 日本語

Tohoku

Mt. Yudono: The Mysterious Mountain Whose Secrets You Must Not Tell

Yamagata Prefecture

Large vermilion torii gate of Mt. Yudono atop stone steps, flanked by stone lanterns under a cloudy sky
Where
Yamagata Prefecture
When
September 2026, 3 days, 2 nights
Route
Tokyo Station → (JR local trains, 4 transfers = 11 hrs 30 min) → Tsuruoka Station → rental car 60 min. *Faster: Tokyo Station → (JR Shinkansen, 2 hrs) → Niigata Station → (JR Limited Express Inaho, 2 hrs) → Tsuruoka Station → rental car 60 min
Cost
¥50,000

The café in front of the gate at the very bottom of Mt. Haguro, “Oyasumidokoro zuishinmon” (oyasumidokoro means a rest stop), is apparently run by local farmers. The soba I had here was juwari soba, made with nothing but buckwheat flour, and yet it was soft and chewy, and properly filling. It took me by surprise.

Exterior of the Zuisin-mon rest stop cafe near Mt. Haguro, with banners out front and a man sitting with his dog

Juwari soba (100% buckwheat noodles) on a bamboo tray with dipping sauce, green onion, wasabi, and pickles

I ate with one hand on a cat. This little one didn’t run off at all. Its tail kept thumping back and forth. I asked an AI, and apparently that’s what cats do when they have time on their paws. I see. So you’re bored. Well, I’m having a good time meeting you.

Gray and white cat with a collar sitting on a cafe window bench, a shrine gate visible outside

I got into the rental car and headed for Mt. Yudono. My head hurt a little, but I don’t get out this way often, so I gritted my teeth and drove. Probably heatstroke. Two thousand steps were too much for a body that never exercises.

I reached the parking lot at the foot of Mt. Yudono. According to the attendant at the toll booth, I might just barely make it before visiting hours ended. It was a little past 3 p.m.

Large vermilion torii gate and stone steps at the foot of Mt. Yudono under a cloudy sky, with green hills behind

I switched to the bus bound for the summit. Apparently you can’t take your car up.

Arrived. Beyond this point is sacred ground, and no photography is allowed. What’s more, the teaching goes that you must not tell anyone what you saw or heard there.

Green forested valley near Mt. Yudono under low clouds, with a distant snow-patched ridge peeking through

So I can’t tell you what I saw or heard in the sacred precincts at the summit. But I’m truly glad I went to Mt. Yudono. This might be where mountain worship began, I thought.

Which makes me wonder: can two people who have both been to the summit talk about what they saw with each other? Something about it feels wrong, so I think I’ll mostly keep quiet. And this, I suppose, is how that special Japanese ability, reading the air (sensing what goes unsaid), keeps getting stronger.

The fact that only those who go can know what lies in the sacred precincts struck me as something that strengthens the bond among believers, a secret shared only by the faithful. Not that I think anyone planned it that way.

Made it down safely. I hurried off in the rental car toward tonight’s lodging, Tamonkan.

Sunset over green rice fields and distant mountains, seen past a roadside guardrail

To be continued