Kirishima Hiking

Hi All,

I'm expecting the answer to be no - but I thought I'd ask first.....

At present, I'm planning to hire a car in early Jan for a couple of days down in Kagoshima Prefecture. My plan is to revisit Kirishima to visit the onsen and potentially complete some light hiking. I've already visited Kirishima Shrine (will be busy due to New Years - don't want to get stuck in that traffic again!) and Kirishima Open Air Art Park.

Is there any light hiking (weather and volcano dependent) that shows some spectacular scenery that people are aware of?

Any other suggestions on things to do will also be much appreciated....

The hike up Takachiho-no-mine is still open and is not too difficult. It starts at the Takachihogawara visitor center, passes the old torii and foundations of the original Kirishima Shrine, and then skirts the large Ohachi crater before heading to the summit. You get good views most of the way above the treeline. A longer and bit steeper approach is from Lake Miike on the east. If you take a secondary trail around the crater (to the right as you go up), there's a place on the rim that has gases venting and the rocks are hot. The main trail is up the left side of the crater and is about 5m wide from use. Besides the sword at the summit, there's a mountain hut to take shelter in if the weather turns bad.
https://www.env.go.jp/en/nature/nps/park/guide/kirishima/recommend/02....

The other trails with good views are now off limits or cut off. You can still get to Onami and Byakushi lakes from the Ebino Kogen area. The Byakushi trail goes through a lot of waist high bamboo and red-barked pines, but just gives a view of the crater lake when you get there. Onami is larger and has some rocky shorelines but you're looking up at Karakuni-dake and the crater lake walls are the main view.

There is also Senrigataki that's a short hike (400m?) down a bunch of steps that is nice but marred by a hydro pipeline and shack that makes its way down in front of the falls.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4629.html

There are some less used and more difficult to access trails up the north side, starting from Ikoma Kogen by Kobayashi, that lead up to Oohata Pond and a few cinder cones such as Maruokao-yama that give good views. I think these are just outside the 2km Shinmoedake exclusion zone.

https://www.env.go.jp/en/nature/nps/park/guide/kirishima/recommend/ind...

Thanks for the links. It will give me something to look at over the coming few days....