Bandaisan, Oguniyama, Akahaniyama

Fukushima

Mount Bandai (Bandai-san) is a stratovolcano located in Inawashiro-town, Bandai-town, and Kitashiobara village, in Yama-Gun, Fukushima prefecture. It is sometimes called “Aizu Fuji” and “Aizu Bandai” and is one of the hundred most famous mountains in Japan. It is an active stratovolcano located to the north of Lake Inawashiro. The altitude of a triangulation station “Bandai” installed in 1904 had been employed as the official altitude of Mount Bandai, but the station disappeared due to erosion, because of this it was re-measured in October 2010 and now is 1,816.29m. The name “Mount Bandai” is used to refer to the main peak “Bandai” and several other peaks including Akahani (1,430m) and Kushigamine (1,636m). Mount Bandai, including the Bandai heights, belongs to the Bandai Asahi national park. Mount Bandai was originally called “Iwahashi-yama” which means “a rock ladder to the sky.” The south foot is called Omotebandai and the north foot is called Urabandai. When seen from Omotebandai, the mountain looks very tidy, but when viewed from Urabandai the mountain shows a wild shape, due to its collapse. In 2007, the mountain was selected as one of the top 100 geographic landmarks in Japan. Additionally, in 2011 the mountain was certified as a geo park of Japan.