Mt. Ryumonzan

Mt. Ryumon (Ryūmonzan, 756 m), the main peak of the Ryūmon range in Kinokawa City, Wakayama Prefecture, is called “Kishū Fuji” for its Fuji-like shape and is one of the 100 Famous Mountains of Kansai.
Around the summit are the “magnet rock” Jishaku-iwa and wind caves, and a colony of Kii-shimotsuke, a plant endemic to Wakayama, blooms white in May–June. From the summit there is a wide view of the Kinokawa River and the Wakayama Plain, and it is known as a habitat of the Gifu butterfly seen in spring. It is a station-side mountain you can climb on foot from Kokawa Station on the JR Wakayama Line, with the central course round trip taking about 4 hours.

Typically you follow roads through fields and orchards from Kokawa Station onto the trail, and at Ipponmatsu it splits into the central course and the Tashiro Pass course up to the summit.
The central course is the easier to walk, and near the station is Kokawa-dera, the third temple of the Saigoku Thirty-Three. The best time is from spring, with Kii-shimotsuke and the Gifu butterfly, to the autumn colours; it is hot in summer and the orchard roads are exposed to the sun. The traverse from Tashiro Pass to Mt. Iimori is about 6 hours for strong hikers, and this article describes the round-trip course from Kokawa Station.

*Information last checked: unverified

1. [Outbound & return] Kokawa Station → Mt. Ryumon (central course)

1. [Outbound & return] Kokawa Station → Mt. Ryumon (central course)

By public transport, walk onto the trail from Kokawa Station on the JR Wakayama Line and do a round trip to the summit of Mt. Ryumon on the central course (the round trip from the station is about 4 hours). From the station to the trailhead you walk on paved roads, so check the route on a map as you go; by car, use the parking around Tashiro Pass or the central-course trailhead. Kokawa Station is reached on the JR Wakayama Line from Wakayama and Hashimoto, and in front of the station is Kokawa-dera, the third temple of the Saigoku Thirty-Three.

Reference: [Kinokawa City — Mt. Ryumon hiking course]

Relief map: GSI Japan