Mount Mikami (三上山)

Quick Facts

Type

Site

Prefecture

Shiga · Yasu

Nearest station

Yasu Station (JR Biwako Line)

From the station

Shiga Bus to the Mikami-jinja-mae stop, five minutes on foot to the shrine, then about 40 minutes to the summit

English signage

none

Opening hours and admission

See the official site · information checked on 2026-11-03

Hours, admission and closing days change, and this site does not list them. The link goes to the place's own page, with the date we last checked it.

What is there

Mount Mikami rises alone from the plain east of the lake, 432 metres high and so regular in shape that it is called the Fuji of Ōmi. The main path starts at Mikami Shrine at its foot, whose main hall is a national treasure of 1316, and climbs through woods and over a stretch of bare rock to the summit in about forty minutes. From the top the lake, the Seta river and the hills of Kyoto are in view. The mountain is a short bus ride from Yasu station.

Why here

The centipede of the tale wound itself seven and a half times round this mountain and crawled across the plain to the bridge at Seta, where the archer Hidesato shot it with an arrow wetted with saliva. The mountain is the creature’s body in the landscape, and the bridge, a few stations away, is where the tale ends.

Yokai you will meet

Ōmukade 大百足 — The mountain the great centipede wound itself around before crawling to the Seta bridge.

Getting there

Yasu Station (JR Biwako Line). Shiga Bus to the Mikami-jinja-mae stop, five minutes on foot to the shrine, then about 40 minutes to the summit.

Sources and further reading

Reliable secondary Yasu City Yasu City City site; Mount Mikami and Mikami Shrine are within the city.

Database Mount Mikami (三上山) Wikipedia (Japanese) The 432-metre mountain, the trails from Mikami Shrine and the centipede of the Tawara Tōda tale.

Database Mikami Shrine (御上神社) Wikipedia (Japanese) The shrine at the foot of the mountain and its main hall of 1316, a national treasure.

Mount Mikami