【О̄kura Shindо̄ Course】
The Ōkura Shindō Course is a gentle walking trail that begins at the Hoppo Onsen bus stop and can end at either the Ichinose Takamagahara Panorama Parking Lot or the Takamagahara bus stop. The first half of the course follows a ski run on Mt. Nishitate before splitting into two separate trails: the first takes a more level route around the base of the mountain, where fields of white soft wood anemones bloom in spring; the second takes hikers over the summit of Mt. Nishitate (1,756 m) and down to the Takamagahara bus stop. Each of the trails covers about 2.7 kilometers and takes 75 minutes to complete.
The Ōkura Shindō Course was commissioned on August 6, 1929 by Prince Chichibu (1902–1953), sometimes called “the sporting prince” for his love of skiing and other athletic pursuits. He often visited this area and, as an avid outdoorsman, wished there were more hiking trails near his accommodations.
The trail takes hikers through some of the area’s distinctive alpine wetlands, where the ground is covered with sasa bamboo grass. Like many bamboo species, sasa blooms very infrequently—just once every 10 to 50 years. Normally, sasa propagates via shoots, but occasionally, following some unknown natural cue, it produces seeded flowers and then dies. The subsequent year, the plant is reborn from the seeds.