Mount Yamizo

Mount Yamizo is a 1,022.2 m peak straddling Daigo Town in Kuji District (Ibaraki) and Tanagura and Yamatsuri towns in Higashi-Shirakawa District (Fukushima), the highest summit of the Yamizo Range and of Ibaraki Prefecture. It is listed in the Nihon Sanbyaku Meizan, the Kantō Hyakumeizan, the Utsukushima 100 Meizan, the prefectural-summits roster, the Nihon Hyakuteizan, and the Nihon Hyaku Reizan. The summit holds Yamizomine-jinja, an ancient sacred shrine, and a castle-style 16.5 m observation tower from which Bandai, the Nasu Range, the Nikkō mountains, Fuji, and the Pacific are all visible on clear days. The Yamizo-Gosui springs on the lower slopes — Kinshōsui, Ryōmōsui, and others — were named one of Japan's 100 Famous Waters in 1985, and Nichirinji, the 21st station of the Bandō pilgrimage, lies on the southwest flank. The standard ascent climbs the pilgrim's path from Daigo Sanrin-kōen or the Nichirinji trailhead, and the summit can also be reached by car via the road leading to a small parking area below the tower.