Last Updated: Jun 9, 2024

Mt. Akagi & Akagi Shrine

One of the Three Peaks of Jomo

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium.

“Why the hell am I watching Initial D… On TikTok of all place!?!?” I was 45 minutes into a rather bad doom scroll, and the Algorithm Allfather had somehow decided that I was into an anime about car racing (I neither drive nor watch much anime, for the record). Unable to go back to sleep, I was continually bombarded by clips of Initial D as I mindlessly swiped through content. Watching the protagonist whiz down Mt. Akagi, I remembered something — I had yet to finish the Three Mountains of Jomo! Seeing as sleep wasn’t going to happen, I grabbed my trusty rucksack on a whim and headed out for Gunma.

While the story of how I ended up hiking much of Mt. Akagi is a bit of a comically random tale, the mountain itself is nothing to laugh at. Standing at over 1,800 meters tall, Mt. Akagi has long been considered a sacred site in Gunma Prefecture along with Mt. Haruna and Mt. Myogi. Together, these three mighty crags make up the Three Mountains of Jomo. Like its siblings, Mt. Akagi also has an important shrine in the upper reaches of its towering elevation. Luckily, you don’t need to hike Mt. Akagi to see it, as there is convenient bus access.

Speaking of hiking though, there are a number of great trails near the summit of Mt. Akagi. Most of…