Takeda Shingen, the warlord who dominated Kai province in the sixteenth century and remains a folk hero in Yamanashi, lies buried at Erin-ji, a Zen temple on the edge of Enzan. Its garden, laid out by the great medieval designer Musō Soseki, is a quiet masterpiece of pond, rocks and moss, and the temple is the spiritual heart of a town that now forms part of the city of Kōshū.
Enzan sits on the north-eastern rim of the Kōfu basin, and the slopes around it are covered with vineyards and peach orchards. This is the fruit bowl of Japan. In spring the peach blossom paints the valley pink, and in late summer and autumn roadside stands sell grapes, peaches and local wine; nearby Katsunuma is the centre of Japanese winemaking. On clear days, Mount Fuji rises to the south across the basin, framed by the Southern Alps to the west.
For riders, Enzan is the gateway to one of the great mountain routes of the region. National Route 411, the Ōme Kaidō, climbs north-east from the town over the Yanagisawa Pass, with steep grades, tight hairpins and views back over the basin, before dropping into the Okutama valley and the lake behind the Ogōchi dam. A side road leads up towards the Daibosatsu Pass, famous from an epic samurai novel. Traffic is light on weekdays, busy with bikes on weekends, and the upper road can be closed or icy in winter.
Enzan offers fuel, convenience stores and cheap restaurants. Try hōtō, the thick noodle stew that is Yamanashi's comfort food, before heading up into the mountains. The Bōsō coast lies far to the east, beyond Tokyo and the bay, a full day's ride from the vines.