Nara’s Odaigahara Mountain Area, the “Roof of Kansai,” is a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve with an elevation topping out at 1,695 meters (5,561 feet). It’s also one of the wettest places in Japan receiving up to 5 meters of precipitation per year! The abundance of water, the extremity of the geography, and some well developed hiking trails make the Odaigahara a wonderful place to escape the city and get out into nature.
Odaigahara is a broad volcanic caldera straddling the border between Nara and Mie Prefectures less than 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Pacific Ocean. The remote location and the ruggedness of the terrain have spared the area from the effects of logging and other human activities. A road to the heart of the broad table lands at the top of the mountain, and the approximately 20km of hiking trails looping their way around the highland area, make it one of the most fun and easy places to hike in Kansai. A car is the most convenient way to visit, but a bus service (one round trip per day during the week, 2 on weekends and holidays) from Yamato Kamiichi Station on the Kintetsu Line is available.
Odaigahara is divided into an east and west area. Access to the west area requires a permit from the local village office, but the east area is free and open to the public. There are 2 hiking loops in the east area. Both are about 9km in length with a maximum elevation change of about 225m (738ft). Either loop takes around 4 hours to complete (though shorter routes are available), and both loops start and finish at the Odaigahara’s parking lot. Two highlights of both hiking trails are the summit of Mt. Hidegatake, Odaigahara’s highest point, and the Daijakura, Odaigahara’s most popular and photographed spot. Mt. Hidegatake’s summit offers unobstructed views of the surrounding mountains, the Pacific Ocean, the Mie Coastline, and, on extraordinarily clear days, Mt. Fuji and the Southern Japanese Alps! The Daijakura is a bare rock cliff jutting out into the 1,000m deep valley separating Odaigahara from it’s neighboring mountains. A hiking trail extends all the way to end of the cliff and nothing but a chain separates visitors from the cliff edge or the epic adventure movie-inspiring view. Fresh greenery in the spring, cool mountain air in the summer and fiery foliage in the fall add to the "Odaigahara experience".
Works consulted:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_%C5%8Cdaigahara
http://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?code=JPN+02&mode=all
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/multimedia/photos/mab-2016/japan-mt-odaigahara-mt-omine-osugidani-biosphere-reserve-extension/
http://vill.kamikitayama.nara.jp/kanko/tanoshimu/odaigahara/ (Japanese)
http://kinki.env.go.jp/nature/odaigahara/about/nature/kikou.html (Japanese)
http://k-kabegami.com/oodai/19.html (Japanese)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8F%B0%E3%83%B6%E5%8E%9F%E5%B1%B1
大和大峰研究グループ著『大峰山・大台ヶ原山 －自然のおいたちと人々のいとなみ－』築地書館 2009年 81ページ (Japanese)
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奈良県吉野郡上北山村大台ケ原山頂から見える景色 Flickrから転載, created by Merec0, Wikipedia and Flickr Creative Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odaigahara_Yama.jpg
大台ケ原 Flickrから転載, created by Merec0, Wikipedia and Flickr Creative Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odaigahara_Shiokara_Dani.jpg
Fallen Tree at Hidegatake at Odaigahara, created by coniferconifer, Flickr Creative Commons, https://www.flickr.com/photos/conifer/26565984133/in/photostream/
Odaigahara Hidegatake Observation Platform and Hikers, created by conifer conifer, Flickr Creative Common, https://www.flickr.com/photos/conifer/27125099711
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大台ヶ原山の白骨林, created by KENPEI, Wikipedia Creative Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Odaigahara2.jpg
大台ヶ原山の日出ヶ岳展望台, created by KENPEI, Wikipedia Creative Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Odaigahara1.jpg