Mt Iwate: hiking Morioka's mountain

Mt Iwate (岩手山, iwate-san) is the tallest mountain in Iwate prefecture at 2038m. In many respects it feels like the Iwate version of Mt Fuji, and is sometimes called "Nanbu Fuji", named for the Nanbu clan that once ruled the area. It is still an active volcano, and only recently reopened its trail in July of 2026 after being closed for all of the 2025 hiking season. Mt Iwate is also one of the Hundred Famous Mountains of Japan and considering how remote some hyakumeizan can be, I was quite surprised by how easy to access it was - it's only a 30 minute drive from the city centre of Morioka. We also spent a bit of time sightseeing in Morioka, and I was quite chuffed by how visible of a mountain this is from the city. Considering it's an 8-hour roundtrip hike, we decided to kick things off nice and early with a 6:30am start at the Umagaeshi trailhead. There's a huge stack of split logs in a shelter here - actually you can volunteer to carry them up to the mountain hut at the 8th station.…