Hasetsune Course: Sengen Pass to Maruyama

Distance	4.9K
Elevation Gain	455m
Elevation Drop	228m

Trail Jizo, a water spot, and a mountain pass with an alias

The trail from 浅間峠 – Sengen Pass to 丸山 – Maruyama starts up a short hill. You then head down for a good 200 meters and the familiar up and down starts again. After dipping a couple times, there is a 100m steady ascent over 750 meters.

Hinohara Pass – Jizo and Water

At the top of the climb, you arrive at a 地蔵 – Jizo statue in the middle of the trail marking 日原峠 – Hinohara Pass. To be honest, the pronunciation of this place is confusing. It could read as ひばら – Hibara, ひのはら – Hinohara, にっぱら – Nippara, maybe even ひはら – Hihara. I tend to think of it as a homonym with the name of the village on the 東京都 – Tokyo side of the ridge – 檜原村 – Hinohara

If you take the trail on the Hinohara side of the trail, after a couple minutes you will see a makeshift pipe extending from the side of the mountain providing fresh water from a spring.

Finding Water on the Route
Pro Tip #1: while preparing your route, always look for places you can replenish your supplies (eg water)
Pro Tip #2: Assume these places are unable to support your needs. Bring enough supplies to last for your trip and ration wisely
Check out our checklist on what to bring to the Tokyo mountains.

Climb to Mt Dohyo

Continuing on the trail, there is a 20m drop and then another climb of about 100m over 500 meters to the nondescript peak of 土俵岳 – Mt Dohyo, at 1003m above sea level. From there you dip back under 1000m for the last time until you reach 御岳山 – Mt Mitake near the end of the race.

What Is This Place Called?

At the 4K mark of the trail from Sengen Pass to Maruyama, you come to 小棡峠 – Koyuzuri Pass. There is an interesting sign indicating that this mountain pass is also known by a different name: 大立峠 – Odachi Pass. On all the maps I have seen, it is only referred to as Koyuzuri. It is even on the border of 棡原村 – Yuzurihara in 山梨県 – Yamanashi Prefecture. It is common for mountain passes to refer to the places they connect. I don’t see any relation to a place named 大立 – Odachi. Even the small wire fixing the plaque to the post looks suspicious.

Mt Maruyama

When you arrive at 丸山 – Mt Maruyama, there is a sign showing the direction to the top and an arrow to the right for the makimichi. Look near the base of the sign for the Hasetsune navigation post. In the past couple years, the Hasetsune posts indicated the route climbed the short distance over the top. It now points to the makimichi.