is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

on the border of the city of

Minamibōsō is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 37,143 in 17,175 households and a population density of 160 persons per km2. The total area of the city is , making it the fifth largest c ...

, in southern

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

. The mountain is formed by two peaks. The north, called Konpira Peak, is , and the south, called Kannon Peak, is . Mount Tomi is one of the mountains of the Mineoka Mountain District of the

Bōsō Hill Range The is a mountain range on the Bōsō Peninsula of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The highest point in the Bōsō Mountain Range is at Mount Atago, with an altitude of . The hill range runs from roughly in a line from Mobara or Ōamishirasato to ...

Origin of name

The ''

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 ...

'' for Mount Tomi, 富, means '

wealth Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

' or ' abundance'. The name of Mount Tomi is said to be derived from the semi-mythical figure . According to tradition Ame-no-tomi-no-mikoto, historically associated with the Emperor Jinmu, developed the

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

region, and is now associated with the nearby Awa Shrine. The former town of Tomiyama, now absorbed as part of Minamibōsō, is named for the mountain.

Mount Tomi Prefectural Park

The area around the mountain has been designated as Mount Tomi Prefectural Park (富山県立自然公園). The western foot of Mount Tomi is rich with

broad-leaved tree A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with n ...

s, including

castanopsis ''Castanopsis'', commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 140 species, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia. The Engli ...

live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to o ...

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

, as well as large stands of

Japanese cedar ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeria japonica'' ( syn. ''Cupressus japonica'' L.f.). It is considered to be endemic to Japan, ...

In literature

Tomi-san is the setting for

Kyokutei Bakin , born , was a Japanese novelist of the Edo period, who wrote under the pen name . Later in life he took the pen name . Modern scholarship generally refers to him as , or just as n. He is regarded as one of, if not the, leading author of early ...

's 106 volume epic novel ''

Nansō Satomi Hakkenden ''Nansō Satomi Hakkenden'' (; ), commonly known as ''Satomi Hakkenden'' () or simply ''Hakkenden'' (), is a Japanese epic novel ('' yomihon'') by Kyokutei Bakin, originally published over the course of twenty-eight years ( 1814–42). Set in t ...

'' (南總里見八犬傳), published late in 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 ...

between 1814 and 1842. Mount Tomi appears in the novel as Toyama, the home of Princess Fuse.

Hiking

The mountain is popular as a

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

destination. The

viewing platform An observation deck, observation platform, or viewing platform is an elevated sightseeing platform usually situated upon a tall architectural structure, such as a skyscraper or observation tower. Observation decks are sometimes enclosed from we ...

on the north peak offers views of the surrounding area and

Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamak ...

.富山（南房総市）

Transportation

The hiking trail that leads to Mount Tomi is accessible by bus from the

Iwai Station is a passenger railway station in the city of Minamibōsō, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Iwai Station is served by the Uchibō Line, and is located 73.7 km from the western terminus ...

in Minamibōsō via the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Uchibō Line The is a railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) adjacent to Tokyo Bay, paralleling the western (i.e., inner) shore of the Bōsō Peninsula. It connects Soga Station in the city of Chiba to Awa-Kamogawa Station in t ...

References

{{Reflist Tomi