Mount Takao Autumn Leaves 2026 Confirmed

高尾山の紅葉 — Hachioji, Tokyo (Kanto)

Mount Takao is Tokyo's own foliage mountain — 599 meters of maple-lined trails less than an hour from Shinjuku, which makes it both wonderfully convenient and famously crowded. Peak color runs mid-November to early December, later than most of Japan because of its low elevation. A cable car and chairlift shorten the climb, the Yakuoin temple sits near the summit, and on clear days Mount Fuji floats above the ridgeline. The Takao Momiji Festival animates the mountain from late October to mid-December with stalls and events.

Background

Takao has been a sacred mountain for over a thousand years, home to Yakuoin, a temple associated with mountain ascetics and the long-nosed tengu spirits whose statues guard its halls. Its forests were protected for centuries as temple land, which is why old-growth trees survive this close to Tokyo.

Getting there

Take the Keio Line from Shinjuku directly to Takaosanguchi Station — about 50 minutes on the limited express, no transfers — and the trailhead and cable-car base are steps from the station. On November weekends the cable car queue can exceed an hour each way; the hiking trails are often faster.

Tips

• Skip the weekend cable-car line by hiking up Trail 6 along the stream or the Inariyama ridge trail — both reach the summit in about 90 minutes.
• Start before 9am on November weekends; by late morning the summit plaza feels like a Tokyo train platform.
• The best maple concentrations are around the cable-car summit station and Yakuoin's approach, not the summit itself — budget time for the temple stretch.
• Warm up afterward with tororo soba, the mountain's signature grated-yam noodle dish, at one of the historic teahouses along the lower approach.

Last verified against the official source: Mon, July 6, 2026