Mt Shibutsu and Mt Hiuchigatake are two peaks that lie at either end of the Oze Marsh in Gunma. I’ve hiked both of these peaks as separate day hikes, but they can be combined into one long hike taking you 2 or 3 days. I’ve mentioned doing Oze as a multi-day hike a couple of times on other posts, and recently had a reader ask me about it, so here’s a quick note on how you can do it.
When can you do this hike?
You can do this hike from early July to the middle or end of October. It’s mostly impossible to do outside of this season, as the buses stop running, and the mountain is entirely closed off in May - June to protect the vegetation as the snow melts. The Oze website provides information about when the mountain re-opens each year in summer, which you should be able to find by Googling “尾瀬山 開山”.
The first snowfall varies year-on-year, so I can’t say with 100% certainty that there still would be no snow at the end of October, so you may have to play it by ear. But if you are looking to plan a hike in early to mid-October, Oze can be a better pick than the Japanese Alps, since they tend to be around 3000m in elevation and the snow sets in earlier.
The other great benefit of an Oze hike is the middle portion of the hike takes you through the marsh. The marshland is not too far from public transport options, and there are plenty of daytrippers that come to the marsh just to enjoy the scenery. So it can make for an easy escape route if you find that after climbing Mt Hiuchigatake, you are too tired to do Mt Shibutsu.
In comparison, if you are hiking up in the Japanese Alps, there can be a bit more of a remote feel - once you hike up to a mountain peak or stop at a hut, the only way back out is generally through a proper descent, so there’s a bit more of a commitment there.
The hiking course
When hiking in Japan, I recommend that you use YAMAP, which provides offline GPS maps. There is a 2-day course route available here which starts at the Ichinose (一ノ瀬) trailhead and then finishes at the Hatomachitoge bus stop (鳩待峠バス停). You can also do the same course over 3 days.
Starting at the Ichinose trailhead and hiking Mt Hiuchi
Like I did in my Mt Hiuchigatake hike you can get an overnight bus from Tokyo to Oshimizu (大清水) and then either wait for a shuttle bus or walk 3.3km to Ichinose up a road. If you are wanting to summit Mt Hiuchigatake on day 1, arriving at the trailhead very early (i.e. overnight bus or drive) is a must, since it will take you at least 8 hours.
Alternatively if you want a later start, you can get a train to Numata station (沼田駅) and then a local bus to the trailhead.
Passing by Lake Ozenuma
The start of the hike will take you past Lake Ozenuma (the big blue lake on the map). If you don’t mind turning this into a 3-day hike, you can spend an extra night at one of the huts near the lake here.
If you’re looking for an activity log example of a 3-day hike, here’s one on YAMAP.
Hiking Mt Hiuchi
Climbing Mt Hiuchigatake includes about 1300m of elevation gain, and you can look at my Mt Hiuchigatake hike post for some pictures and general information. From memory there are some steeper bits, so be prepared!
Spending the night at the marshland
After hiking Mt Hiuchigatake, you will descend down to the Oze Marsh. If you’re looking to camp, there is the Miharashi camp site (見晴キャンプ場) which seems to be run by the Hiuchigoya mountain hut (燧小屋). Campsites generally accept walk-ins but if you want a hut stay you will need to book.
Hiuchigoya only seems to accept reservations via phone call, but if you zoom in on the YAMAP course map you can see there seems to be quite a few huts in that area and some provide online booking systems e.g. Ozegoya or Yashirogoya. I have heard rumours that some of the huts even have an onsen (!) which is a pretty unheard of luxury for Japanese mountain huts generally so that might be worth checking out.
If you’re looking for an idea of what a hut stay might be like, I have a separate post on Japanese mountain huts.
Hiking up to Mt Shibutsu
On your final day (day 2 or day 3, depending) you will start at the marsh, make the hike out up to Mt Shibutsu, and then finish at the Hatomachitoge bus stop (鳩待峠バス停) which is where I started/finished for my Mt Shibutsu hike. If you are feeling super tired, Mt Shibutsu is also optional - you can skip it and just head from the marsh straight to the bus stop.
From the bus stop, there are shuttle buses running back to Oze-Tokura (尾瀬戸倉). The final return bus is around 15:30 or 16:30. Once at Oze-Tokura, you will then need to get another bus back to Numata station.
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