Summit of Mt. Futatsumori
This 1,086-meter peak on the border of Aomori and Akita prefectures overlooks the core area of the Shirakami Sanchi World Heritage Site. Northeast of Mt. Futatsumori lies the untouched heart of Shirakami Sanchi’s old-growth beech forest: an 8,000-year-old ecosystem almost entirely free of human impact.
From the top of Mt. Futatsumori, Mt. Kodake (1,042 m) and Mt. Fujisato-Komagatake (1,158 m) can be seen in the east; and Mt. Shirakami (1,232 m) and Mt. Mukai-Shirakami (1,243 m), the tallest peaks in the region, are visible in the northwest. On clear days, visibility extends as far west as the Sea of Japan, and to the distinctive cone of Mt. Iwaki (1,625 m) in the northeast. Vegetation around the summit includes Erman’s birch (Betula ermanii), Chishima bamboo grass (Sasa kurilensis), and miyamanara (Quercus crispula var. horikawae), an alpine variety of oak tree.