Hinoematagoya

Mountain lodge sleeping 100 at Miharashi (Shimotashiro), the eastern end of the Ozegahara marsh, in Hiuchigatake, Hinoemata Village, Minamiaizu District, Fukushima Prefecture. There is a fireplace indoors, and its own cafe, Higekuma, serves wild-vegetable soba and udon, ramen, curry rice, oden, home-made amazake and draught beer to day walkers as well as guests. The owner, Hagiwara Hideo, known as Higekuma, has kept a hut lit in Oze for sixty years. Rooms are taken with two meals or without, and either way a room charge of 2,000 yen per room is added. Reservations are by telephone only; huts in Oze work on a reservation basis. At about 1,400m on the Ozegahara marsh, it is roughly three hours on foot from Hatomachi Pass on the Gunma side by way of Yamanohana, or about four hours from Numayama Pass on the Fukushima side by way of Numajiri. Skunk cabbage from late May into early June, day lilies from mid-July and the russet marsh grass and autumn colour from mid-September to mid-October are the seasons to aim for. The area is a special protection zone, so stepping off the boardwalk and taking away plants or animals are strictly forbidden.