[rc]

There's quite a few mentions of Mitake (nr Tokyo, Japan) on the web, but nothing too specific. If you ever find yourself in Tokyo, needing to get out for the day, hope this will help.

Mitake is about 90 minutes on the chuo-line train due west from Shinjuku - the massive insane station on the west side of Tokyo. The guys at the climbing wall had told me I could rent a pad from the convenience store in Mitake just over the bridge from the station. The store was pretty empty, a few sad packets of biscuits and some beer in the fridge - but strangely did have some bouldering pads. A few shouts of 'sumimasen' and a guy popped in from next door. I got a large fat newish metolius pad for the day. £4 (1000 yen). The guy didn't even want a deposit.
The river is beautiful: fast flowing clear blue-green water. Admittedly, quite a lot of ramblers and fishermen but a gloriously long way from the daily insanity of Tokyo. Some guys were warming up on the first set of blocs, nods were exchanged and I wandered over to have a go.
The bouldering is pretty small scale - I'd say five spots along the river that are ok, each with one or maybe two decent blocs. The in-between problems look like nothing more than fillers, some on pretty damn small boulders. It takes only 15 mins or so to walk end to end, all the problems shown in the guide. They are spread about equally up and down stream of the bridge, on both sides of the river but there are several convenient bridges to cross over. The polish is rivalled only by the likes of minus ten: river-worn granite (I think - my appreciation of geology is appalling) plus a lot of traffic. However, given the small number of blocs, there's a cool variety of styles, desperate near-frictionless rounded grovelling and pedalling up little slabs, and some steeper crimpy body tension problems. The area's centre piece is the (v. rough translation) "ninja can't climb" bloc which is a respectable size and kicks off at about Font7a. If only there had been enough mats I would have jumped on to show up the locals (see photo)!
All in all, a great escape from the city. The blocs are in a beautiful setting; sitting by the river is already worth the day trip. Although it was fairly busy on a sunny saturday, the locals were really friendly, very encouraging and amused both by my attempts to climb and to speak japanese; I displayed about equal ability in each discipline... It is by no means a world class venue, but cheap and easy to get to from Tokyo, and a nice change from the gym.

rc

Cost about £4 each way on the train from Shinkuku to Mitake direct (through Kokubinji where the bouldering gym is and then through Ome). About 90 mins if you get the limited stop express train. Walk from Mitake station to the boulders is 5mins.
Map showing the station and the river
Guide from the climbing gyms in Tokyo - covers mitake and ogawayama. It is in japanese but lets you find the blocs and the grades.
Train info from/to Tokyo
The shop in Mitake (get google to translate the webpage). Go out the station, straight over the bridge and it is the very first shop on the right.
Other stuff to see in Mitake






Ninja Cant Climb bloc

[jwi]

Thank you for the write up/trip report rc! I've never been to Mitake myself, but I may go if I have business in Tokyo. 

Btw. are you based in Japan?  Are you going somewhere for golden week?  I will take Wednesday & Thursday off next week, and go to Ogawayama/Mizugaki from this Saturday to next Sunday.  I will probably be traveling solo from Sat.-Thur.

Oh, and for the name of the bloc., 忍者返しの岩, "The ninja-rejector boulder" perhaps?

[Tom de Gay]

Going to try and attempt to post a picture of Mitsumine, let's see if it works...

[Tom de Gay]

View downstream.


View upstream:


Very aesthetic. Arete is about english 6a to jump into it, proper 6b to start properly. Groove is 6aish.


Brilliant arete. 5c on the right, 6a on the left

[Tom de Gay]

Mitsumine is a small but excellent area near Tokyo. It has a good circuit which isn't too hard and a couple of classic problems. There are a couple of harder problems, including an 8A crack (!) and a wall marked as a project in the guide, which looks brick but do-able (might post a pic of this later).

It's relatively easy to get there by public transport from Tokyo. From Ikebukuro station in Tokyo, take the Seibu line to Chichibu. An express train takes about 90mins and costs Y1500. A short walk from the Seibu Chichibu station is the Tetsudo line station, where you can catch a train to Mitsumine-guchi (25 mins, about Y400). From here catch a bus from the station direction Chichibu-ko and get off at the third stop outside a primary school (15mins, about Y350). Check the last bus times when you get off. Head down the steep bank towards the river and the boulders are obvious.

I went in the middle of April and it was getting pretty hot. The rock is a beautiful smooth schist with some very sculptural blocks. I went on a weekday and had the place to myself, apart from the resident macaques...

You could do this as a daytrip from Tokyo, but I stayed on to do an excellent walk described in the Lonely Planet Hiking in Japan guide. From the climbing I caught the bus to Chichibu-ko and walked up the hill and eventually found the youth hostel, which I also had to myself. Other accommodation options include an onsen and the shrine Mitsumine-jinja, though these could be difficult to get to. Next day I walked to Mitsumine-jinja and along the ridge in heavy snow to Kumotori-sanso, the mountain hut where I stayed the night, climbing Kumotori-san at dawn then heading down to Oku-tama. From Oku-tama, Mitake is only a few stops away, if you still have the energy...

View of Fuji-san from Kumotori-san: