located in

Minato-ku, Osaka is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan. It has an area of 7.9 km2, and a population of 84,961. Literally translated, Minato-ku means "Harbor Ward". Landmarks * Kaiyukan (Osaka Aquarium) * Port of Osaka * Tempozan Harbor Village * Modern T ...

is currently Japan's second lowest mountain. (The lowest mountain title is now held by Mount Hiyori in

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

- like Mount Tenpo, Hiyori is a man-made structure, and gained its title as the shortest mountain following subsidence after the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

.) The definition of a "mountain" used here is any elevation described as a mountain on a

topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...

published by the

Geographical Survey Institute of Japan The , or GSI, is the national institution responsible for surveying and mapping the national land of Japan. The former name of the organization from 1949 until March 2010 was Geographical Survey Institute; despite the rename, it retains the same ...

, though it is disputed that the mountain lacks credibility because it is not a natural part of the landscape. The mountain's peak is 4.53 meters above sea level, and will bear more resemblance to a hill than a mountain to the casual observer. A small port is located nearby, and much of the mountain's surface has been converted into a park.

History

Mount Tenpō was formed in 1831 ( Tenpō year 2) as the deposit for earth dug up from

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

the Ajigawa river to allow easier access to Osaka for large ships and to prevent floods. The mountain had an elevation of about 20 meters at the time, and served as a marker for ships entering the Ajigawa river to head to the city of Osaka. Cherry blossom and pine trees were planted on the mountain as people began to set up shops in the area, and the mountain gradually became the visitor attraction that it is now. Images of children playing in this area were sketched in

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

Utagawa Hiroshige or , born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format landscape series '' The Fifty-three Stations ...

and other artists. Part of the mountain was leveled to set up an artillery unit to protect the river pass after the fall of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. As industrialization progressed in the Taishō and Shōwa periods, overuse of

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

resulted in

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

, lowering the mountain's elevation even further. This caused the mountain's name to be erased from topographic maps until it was reinstated due to fierce protests from local residents.

Location

The mountain is located about 400 meters north of the

Ōsakakō Station is a train station on the Osaka Metro Chūō Line (Osaka), Chūō Line in Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is the stop that serves the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan aquarium. This station is not to be confused with the unrelated of the located a few hund ...

stop of the Chūō Line.

Mount Tenpō Park

The mountain's surface is currently known as . Surrounded by a large

levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...

, the park itself contains large hills (the deposits for earth dug up in constructing underground train tunnels) which have much higher elevations than the actual "peak" of the mountain. A stone memorial of the Meiji Emperor's first sea-borne military parade in 1876 is located next to the triangular peak of the mountain. The park's clock-tower was originally a prop for a television show produced by the

Kansai Telecasting Corporation JODX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is the Kansai region key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and Fuji Network System (FNS), owned-and-operated by the . Its studios and headquarters are located in Osaka and the broadcaster is an affil ...

, but was later donated to the prefecture. The park contains several art depicting the area during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Surrounding area

The mountain is located near several leisure and amusement facilities, including the

Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan The is an aquarium located in the ward of Minato in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, near Osaka Bay. When it first opened, it was the largest public aquarium in the world. It is a member of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and ...

and the Suntory Museum. It is also a short ferry ride away from

Universal Studios Japan is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Destinations & Experiences, Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operat ...

on via the Tempozan Ferry Terminal. The

Hanshin Expressway The is a network of expressways surrounding Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, Japan. History Operated by , it opened in 1962. Portions of the Hanshin Expressway about east of Fukae Station collapsed during the Kobe earthquake on 17 January 1995 ...

also has an exit named after Mount Tenpō.

Mount Tenpō Mountaineering Club and Rescue Team

In 1997, in reaction to Mount Tenpō being listed as a mountain on the topological maps in 1996, two citizens founded the ''Mount Tenpō Mountaineering Club'' with the goal of establishing Mount Tenpō as a tourist attraction. The club held annual "climbing events" on new year's day and April 5th (in reference to Mount Tenpō's 4.5 meter elevation) which by 2000 drew the attendance of around a thousand people as well as newspaper and television coverage. In the spirit of いちびり (ichibiri, an Osaka dialect term meaning "taking a joke to the extreme") they issued commemorative "mountain climbing certificates" at these events and also to anyone who would apply and pay the issuance fee of 10 Yen. The club also formed a ''Mount Tenpō Rescue Team'', staffed by two members. In 2005, the club ceased its operation out of a café in the vicinity of Mount Tenpō. The reopening of the club was announced for 2010, but their website since closed and current operations are unknown.

References