Okutama and Chichibu Mountain Loop
Cool forest, lake water and tighter mountain rhythm.
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Why this ride
Cool forest, lake water and tighter mountain rhythm. A 207 km loop that starts and ends near Ōme, about 3 h 59 of riding. The stops in between: Okutama Lake, Chichibu valley and Nagatoro river bends. The climb of the day is Daibosatsu high line. It tops out at about 1,150 m. It is a high-mountain day.
Roadbook
- Ome exit roads
fuel
At the end of a day in the mountains, the Tama valley delivers you back to Ōme like a conveyor belt. For a rider coming down from Okutama, it is the place where the road widens, the traffic thickens and the first petrol stations appear, a signal that the mountains are done for the day. Fuel here is no problem, with stations on every main road, and Fussa and Hannō are close.
Before you reach town, the valley has some good things to stop for. Mitake, a gorge of the Tama river, offers canoeing, riverside walks and small restaurants with terraces over the water. Mount Mitake, which rises above, has a shrine reached by cable car where wolves were once worshipped as protectors of the harvest, and wolf talismans are still sold. In Sawai, a famous sake brewery draws its water from the mountains, and visitors can taste the product in a beautiful setting.
In Ōme itself, the old centre keeps hand-painted film billboards and a museum devoted to retro culture, a charming reminder of the days when the town was a weaving centre. Ōme was also on the old route that carried lime to Edo. The streets are quiet on weekday evenings, and a short walk with a cup of coffee suits the end of a long ride. If you are in the mood, a bowl of hearty noodles in a little family restaurant completes the day.
The way back to central Tokyo is the main challenge. Route 16 and the Ōme Kaidō fill with returning traffic on Sunday afternoons, and tailbacks are common. If you can, leave the mountains early or stay for a late dinner and ride when the roads have emptied. The Chūō expressway offers a quicker way back, though it also jams. Keep your concentration up, as tired riders are most at risk in the last few kilometres, and enjoy the warm lights as you return to the city.
- Okutama Lake
swim
Few people riding beside Lake Okutama realise that they are looking at the roof of a drowned valley. The lake exists because of the Ogouchi dam, built across the Tama river in the 1950s to give Tokyo more drinking water, and when the gates closed, the rising water covered farms, a shrine and a handful of villages. Several hundred households were moved to higher ground, and old photographs show the fields and houses that vanished. It is a quiet piece of postwar history, and it explains the unusual stillness of the place.
The shoreline is irregular, with many arms and inlets where the original side valleys flooded, and the road runs high above the water through tunnels and across bridges, with views opening between cedar trunks. The water has a deep green-blue colour that changes with the weather, and on calm mornings the mountains reflect so exactly that the lake becomes a mirror. Walking paths lead along the shore, and a floating footbridge across one of the inlets, swaying gently underfoot, is a favourite stop for visitors.
The mountains around are the Okutama range, forested with cedar and cypress, and with beech and oak higher up, and they are home to deer, monkeys, boar and a few Asiatic black bears. The most dramatic part of the year is autumn, when the slopes burn red and gold, and the weeks around early November draw crowds. Spring brings fresh green and cherry blossom, and in winter, snow often dusts the upper slopes and ice forms in the shaded corners of the road.
This is remote country. Otsuki and Itsukaichi, the nearest larger towns, are about twenty kilometres away, and the lake has only small facilities: a few shops, restaurants and vending machines, with limited hours. Fuel is scarce, so fill up before you leave the plain, and bring a spare layer, since the air is chilly even in summer. The best riding is during the week, when traffic is light, and the best time of day is early, when mist hangs on the water and silence fills the valley. On a damp afternoon, the lake has an almost Scottish mood, with cloud low on the ridges and the smell of wet cedar.
- Daibosatsu high line
high
Daibosatsu, the Great Bodhisattva, gives its name to a pass, a lake and a ridge on the Yamanashi side of the Okutama and Chichibu mountains, and the high line here follows the ridge for much of the way, with broad views to the south and the great dark shapes of the Southern Alps on the western horizon.
The pass has a place in Japanese literature. Daibosatsu Toge, a long novel by Nakazato Kaizan, was serialised from 1913 and remained unfinished at the author's death, and it follows a violent swordsman through the last years of the shogunate, beginning with a murder on the pass. It is one of the longest novels ever written in Japanese, and has been adapted for film many times. The pass itself is a quiet trail crossing, but its name is known across the country.
The country below, on the Yamanashi side, is fruit land. The slopes around Enzan and Katsunuma are covered with vineyards, and the wine from the local koshu grape, a pale, delicate white variety grown here for centuries, is the pride of the region. Peaches and grapes ripen in summer and early autumn, and roadside stalls sell them at fair prices. A glass of koshu with a plate of local mushrooms is a fine way to end a day, though not if you are riding.
The roads in this area are rewarding, with a mix of tight bends and fast, open sections, and the scenery changes from dark cedar forest to open farmland. Surfaces are usually good, though occasional rockfalls and wet leaves call for care. There are very few services on the high ground, so fill up in Otsuki or Enzan beforehand, and take food and water. Weather changes fast, and fog and cold can arrive within minutes, even in summer, while snow and ice may close the high roads from December to March. On a clear day, however, the view of Fuji from the ridge, floating above the clouds, is one of the best in Japan.
- Chichibu valley food
food
If Chichibu has a signature dish, it is waraji katsudon, a pair of large, flat pork cutlets laid across a bowl of rice and glazed in a sweet soy sauce, named for the straw sandals, waraji, that they resemble in shape. It is a big meal, enough for any hungry rider after a morning in the mountains, and restaurants in the town centre serve it with miso soup and pickles. The portion is generous, and a small amount of sauce and a lot of appetite are all you need.
The town offers more besides. Chichibu soba, made from buckwheat grown in the mountains, is served cold on a bamboo tray with a dipping sauce and grated radish, and in winter in a hot broth. A local snack, miso potato, is a boiled potato skewered, grilled and brushed with sweet miso, sold at roadside stalls and from small shops. Shops sell cured meats, pickles and sake from the valley breweries, and the local water, which runs clear from the surrounding hills, is considered good for brewing.
Chichibu has about fifty-eight thousand people and sits in a bowl of mountains, so that every street seems to end in a ridge. The old streets around the station are a good place for a walk, and the nearby Chichibu Shrine, with its carved wooden panels of dragons and tigers, is a surprise in the middle of town. On Hitsujiyama hill, a slope near the town is planted with moss phlox, which flower in pink, white and purple carpets in April and May, drawing large crowds.
Fuel and groceries are easy to find, and the roads out of town lead in many directions: north to Nagatoro and the Arakawa gorge, west to the mountain passes, and south toward the high peaks. For a late lunch, aim to be at a restaurant before two, since many close for a break in the afternoon, and they may stop serving before the stated closing time when the day's rice runs out. Parking for motorbikes is usually free, but ask before leaving your helmet and gear. In winter, the valley is cold, and a hot meal is welcome, so plan to enjoy the experience at leisure.
- Nagatoro river bends
sight
Nagatoro is a small town of seven thousand people in Saitama Prefecture, at the point where the Arakawa River squeezes through a gorge of layered rock, and it has been a day-trip destination for Tokyoites for more than a century. The name means something like long rock bed, and it describes the scene accurately: the river runs over broad shelves of crystalline schist, worn into smooth steps and pools, with cliffs of dark green stone along the bank. In the nineteenth century, geologists came to study the rock; now people come to float on it.
The river bends are the draw. In season, flat-bottomed boats carry passengers down the rapids, steered by boatmen with long poles, and the shouts and splashes echo off the gorge. Above the town, Hodosan, a sacred mountain, has a shrine that can be reached by walking path or a ropeway, and the views over the valley and the Chichibu mountains are excellent. In April the cherry trees along the river bloom in clouds, and in autumn the maples turn red.
The riding in the area is fun without being demanding. The roads follow the river and climb into the hills, with a mix of straight sections, gentle curves and old bridges, and the traffic can be heavy at weekends in good weather. Nagatoro itself has a station that looks like a country railway halt, and a main street of shops selling grilled rice cakes, shaved ice and local sake. The town is a convenient place to park, take a break and watch the boats.
Fuel is available in Nagatoro and in the surrounding villages, though stations are small and close early, so fill before the late afternoon. Try the local delicacy, a kind of sweet-and-savoury miso-flavoured skewer, and the cold noodles that are sold at many stands. Watch out for gravel and damp patches under the trees, and take care on the river bridges, which can be slippery after rain.
- Back to Ome exit roads
finish
The route ends here after 207 km.