, is a

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

mountain located on the border of Nichinan,

Tottori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, least populous prefecture of Japan at 538,525 (2023) and has a geographic area of . ...

and

Shōbara 270px, Shōbara City Hall 270px, Bihoku-kyuryo Park 270px, Shobara city center area aerial photograph is a city in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 32,343 in 14984 households and a population density o ...

, Hiroshima Prefecture. The mountain has an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of . The name of Mount Dōgo in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

is formed from two

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

. The first, , means "

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

" and the second, , in this context means "behind" or "to the rear". Due to its scenery mountain is known as the "Queen of the Chūgoku Mountains."

Geography

Mount Dōgo is part of

Hiba-Dogo-Taishaku Quasi-National Park is a Quasi-National Park that spans areas of Tottori Prefecture, Shimane Prefecture, and Hiroshima Prefecture, in the western part of the island of Honshu, Japan. It was founded on 24 July 1963 and has an area of . As its name suggests, the Hi ...

, and is the second largest mountain in the park after Mount Hiba. Mount Dōgo offers a clear view of Mount Hiba to the west and Daisen and the Japan Sea to the north. On clear days the

Shimane Peninsula is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamagu ...

is also visible from the mountain. The Nariwa River, a prominent tributary of the

Takahashi River The is a Class A major river in the western part of Okayama Prefecture. It acts as the main drainage for the Takahashi River Drainage System, and is one of the three main drainage rivers in Okayama Prefecture (the others being the Yoshii River a ...

, originates at Mount Dōgo. The border of Tottori Prefecture and Hiroshima Prefecture is marked by a low long

stone wall Stone walls are a kind of masonry construction that has been used for thousands of years. The first stone walls were constructed by farmers and primitive people by piling loose field stones into a dry stone wall. Later, mortar and plaste ...

Alpine plain

High-elevation flatlands, particularly the broad area known as Noro on the Hiroshima Prefecture side of Mount Dōgo. The plain is used as pastureland for dairy farms and cattle.

Wagyu Wagyu (, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ''wagyū'', ) is the collective name for the four principal List of Japanese cattle breeds, Japanese breeds of beef cattle. All wagyū cattle originate from early twentieth-century cross-breeding between ...

cattle are farmed in this area.

Flora

Trees

Mount Dōgo features outstanding examples of numerous trees, including the: *''Shiba''

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

Kousa Dogwood ''Cornus kousa'' is a small deciduous tree tall, in the flowering plant family Cornaceae. Common names include kousa, kousa dogwood, Chinese dogwood, Korean dogwood, and Japanese dogwood. Synonyms are ''Benthamia kousa'' and ''Cynoxylon kousa'' ...

Alpine plants

Higher elevations of Mount Dōgo feature

alpine plant Alpine plants are plants that grow in an alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and above the tree line. There are many different plant species and taxon, taxa that grow as a plant community in these alpine tundra. These include perennial g ...

s. Warabi (''Pteridium aquilinum''), a

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that undergo alternation of generations, having both large plants that produce spores and small ...

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

used in Japanese cuisine, are collected in early spring around Mount Dōgo.

Flowers

Mount Dōgo is known for its various species of flowers. *Forested areas of Mount Dōgo are home large clusters of the ''Rhododendron kaempferito'' species of

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

. *Taniutsuji (''Weigela hortensis''), a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

of the honeysuckle family flowers in late spring. *Rengetsutsuji (''

Rhododendron japonicum ''Rhododendron japonicum'', the Japanese azalea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to Japan. A deciduous shrub reaching but usually half that, it is found in grasslands and open scrub, never in dense thickets or woo ...

''), known as the Japanese

azalea Azaleas ( ) are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Rhododendron sect. Tsutsusi, Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and ''Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate ...

, blanket Mount Dōgo in June. *

Lily of the valley Lily of the valley (''Convallaria majalis'' ), sometimes written lily-of-the-valley, is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native throughout the cool temperate No ...

(''Convallaria majalis'') is found in the area around Dōgo Kogen Kuro Park in Shōbara, Hiroshima Prefecture.

Japanese giant salamander

Mount Dōgo is one of the remaining homes of the

Japanese giant salamander The Japanese giant salamander (''Andrias japonicus'') is a species of fully aquatic giant salamander endemic to Japan, occurring across the western portion of the main island of Honshu, with smaller populations present on Shikoku and in northe ...

(''Andrias japonicus''), the second largest salamander species in the world. The species,

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Japan, is closely related to the

Chinese giant salamander The Chinese giant salamander (''Andrias davidianus'') is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world.near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

Hiking and ski resort

Hiking

Mount Dōgo can be accessed on the Hiroshima Prefecture side from Dōgoyama Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

Geibi Line The is a railway line operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) in the mountainous area of the Chūgoku region in Japan. It begins at Bitchū Kōjiro Station on the west side of Niimi, Okayama Prefecture, connecting through Miyoshi S ...

. Access on the Tottori Prefecture side is via

Shōyama Station is a passenger railway station located in the town of Nichinan, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Lines Shōyama Station is served by the Hakubi Line, and is located 95.4 kilometers from t ...

on the

Hakubi Line The is a railway line operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) in the mountainous area of the Chūgoku region of Japan. It begins at the south end of Okayama Prefecture at Kurashiki Station in Kurashiki, passing through Niimi Station ...

, then by bus to a stop in the Niiya district of Nichinan. From these points the hike to the summit of Mount Dōgo takes approximately three hours. Mount Dōgo is known for its fall foliage.

Dōgo Kogen Kuro Park

Mount Dōgo is home to . The park, at an elevation of , has a broad, flat area 44 times the size of the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium (whose former site is now occupied by the Tokyo Dome Hotel and a plaza for this stadium). In Japan, it is often us ...

. The recreational facilities of Dōgo Kogen Kuro Park are maintained by the town of

Cross country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

is popular, and the town hosts an annual

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

in the park. The stadium in the park is home to

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

matches and

in-line skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

and

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

competitions.

Mountain & Ski Resort Dogoyamakogen

The is open from approximately December to March for

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

and

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralym ...

, and is accessible from the

Chūgoku Expressway The (part of Asian Highway Network ) is an expressway in Japan, which extends from Suita, Osaka to Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi. It connects Kansai and Chūgoku regions in western Honshu, Japan's main island. Other major cities along the express ...

via

Japan National Route 183 National Route 183 is a national highway of Japan connecting Naka-ku, Hiroshima and Yonago is a Cities of Japan, city in western Tottori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 146,139 in 68,534 households and a population ...

.Mountain & Ski Resort Dogoyamakogen
/ref> The resort features three

slopes In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a Line (mathematics), line is a number that describes the direction (geometry), direction of the line on a plane (geometry), plane. Often denoted by the letter ''m'', slope is calculated as the ratio of t ...

, as well as a snowboarding and skiing school.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Dogo

Dogo Dogo may refer to: Dogs * Various molossoid dogs breeds originating in Spanish-speaking regions, including ** the Dogo Argentino ** the Dogo Canario, now known as Presa Canario ** the Dogo cubano, extinct ** the Dogo Español or Alano Español * ...

Tourist attractions in Tottori Prefecture Tourist attractions in Hiroshima Prefecture

Nichinan, Tottori