Akaishi Mountains
| Akaishi Mountains | |
|---|---|
| Southern Alps (南アルプス) | |
| File:Mount Kita from Mount Komatsu 1997-1-1.jpg | |
| Highest point | |
| Peak | Mount Kita |
| Elevation | 3,193 m (10,476 ft) |
| Coordinates | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 120 km (75 mi) |
| Width | 40 km (25 mi) |
| Naming | |
| Native name | 赤石山脈 (Japanese) |
| Geography | |
Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 411: Malformed coordinates value.
| |
| Country | Japan |
| Prefectures | |
| Range coordinates | Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| Parent range | Japanese Alps |
The Akaishi Mountains (赤石山脈, Akaishi Sanmyaku) are a mountain range in central Honshū, Japan, bordering Nagano, Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. They are also called the Southern Alps (南アルプス, Minami Arupusu), as they join with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Kiso Mountains ("Central Alps") to form the Japanese Alps.
Origin of the name
[edit | edit source]There are a lot of red stones (赤石 Aka-Ishi) around the Akaishi River, a tributary of the Ōi River in the southern part of Southern Alps. Then it was said that the mountain of red stone came to be called Mount Akaishi. The mountain represents the mountain range and the name Akaishi is used for the whole range mountain range, Akaishi Mountains.[1]
Major peaks
[edit | edit source]Almost all major peaks of the Akaishi Mountains are in Minami Alps National Park that was established on June 1, 1964.[2] The range is the source of two rivers, Ōi River and Tenryū River, which flow to the Pacific Ocean.
Panorama
[edit | edit source]
Flora and fauna
[edit | edit source]Alpine plants, such as Siberian dwarf pine can be seen above the tree line. Rock ptarmigan and spotted nutcracker also live in the alpine zone. Japanese serow and sika deer live in the forest belt on the mountain slopes. Callianthemum hondoense (北岳草, Kitadake-sō) is endemic to Mount Kita.
-
Callianthemum
hondoense
Walter Weston in the Japanese Alps
[edit | edit source]Englishman Walter Weston introduced the Western world to the Japanese Alps in his book Mountaineering and Exploring in the Japanese Alps. During his visits to Japan, he climbed Akaishi Mountains. Several monuments in his memory have been set up in several places in the Japanese Alps.
He climbed the following peaks:
- 1892 Mount Akaishi - The first non-Japanese to climb this mountain
- 1902 Mount Kita
- 1903 Mount Kaikoma
- 1904 Mount Hōō and Mount Senjō
See also
[edit | edit source]- Japanese Alps
- Hida Mountains (Northern Alps)
- Kiso Mountains (Central Alps)
- Minami Alps National Park
- Minami-Alps Biosphere Reserve
- 100 Famous Japanese Mountains
- Walter Weston
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Name dictionary of Japanese Mountain (日本山名辞典), Shōbunsya(昭文社) in 1992, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)., P4
- ^ Minami Alps National Park Archived 2011-03-22 at the Wayback Machine(home page of the Ministry of the Environment)
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Books
[edit | edit source]- Mountaineering and Exploring in the Japanese Alps -by Walter Weston (1896)
