PHOTO SPOT GUIDE
Hangetsuyama Observation Deck — The Short Time When the Sun Touches the Ridge
On the south shore of Lake Chuzenji, thirty minutes or so up a mountain path, there is an observation deck. Below you lies brocade — reds, oranges and yellows laid over one another many times. As the sun sinks past ranges that fold away in layers, every ridge takes on a golden edge at once. Madder, then violet. The light at the end of autumn is there for a few minutes only.
The ridges take on a golden edge
Of all the viewpoints in Oku-Nikko, Hangetsuyama is the one that gives the greatest sense of depth. Below you is brocade, reds and oranges and yellows layered over one another. Beyond it the ranges fold away in layers, and in the furthest valley the headwaters of a river catch the light in silver. On a clear day each of those layers wears a thin blue in proportion to its distance, and you get a perspective that looks painted.
Everything turns on the short time when the setting sun touches the ridge. As the sun catches the edge of the mountains, the slopes in front still hold their autumn colour while the ridgeline alone takes on a rim of gold. Then the sky turns madder, then violet, and it is dark almost at once. For a place with a sense of scale among the finest in Japan, the window in which you can release the shutter is a matter of minutes. Only after going back again and again did I learn to read how those minutes arrive.
Hatchojima, and Mt. Nantai
The Ministry of the Environment describes the Hangetsuyama observation deck as commanding the principal sights of Oku-Nikko, Lake Chuzenji and Mt. Nantai among them, and says that in the autumn season the many-coloured scene of Hatchojima jutting into Lake Chuzenji is particularly worth seeing. The Nikko City Tourism Association likewise says you can take in Hatchojima reaching out into the lake with Mt. Nantai standing boldly behind it, and see as far as Senjogahara and Mt. Shirane beyond.
A lake, a peninsula, a volcano and a marsh, all inside a single frame. There are not many places like that. Commit to the sunset, or photograph the layers of the distance in the clear air of the middle of the day — the same deck gives you an entirely different photograph depending on the hour you choose.
Brocade in front, gold on the ridge alone.
A few minutes of light at the end of autumn.
Planning your visit — season
Within the autumn of Oku-Nikko, this is one of the later seasons.
The Nikko City Tourism Association gives late October to early November for the autumn colour at the Hangetsuyama observation deck. In the same association's foliage information, Lake Chuzenji runs mid to late October and Irohazaka late October to early November, which puts Hangetsuyama at roughly the same time as Irohazaka. That is nearly a month away from the golden marsh grass of Senjogahara, which peaks from late September to early October, so you cannot catch both at their best on the same day.
The season shifts from year to year. Please check the latest information with the Nikko City Tourism Association or the Ministry of the Environment's Nikko-Yumoto Visitor Center before you set out.
Getting there
The way to the Hangetsuyama car park is Prefectural Route 250, the Chugushi-Ashio line, formerly the Lake Chuzenji Skyline. Two restrictions apply to this road. The first is a night closure that runs all year: the Tochigi Prefecture Nikko Civil Engineering Office closes the stretch from the gate beyond the Aseigata junction up to the Hangetsuyama car park overnight. The second is the winter closure — in the most recent year, a seven-kilometre section was shut at the gates from 28 November until 10 April. The dates move with the weather and the prefecture publishes them each year.
If you are here for the sunset, keep that night closure firmly in mind. Stay on for the afterglow once the sun is down and your descent will run into the restricted hours. It is safer to plan the shoot as finishing at sunset and leave it there. Please check the exact times with the Tochigi Prefecture Nikko Civil Engineering Office.
The deck itself, according to the Nikko City Tourism Association, is about a thirty-minute climb up a mountain path from the Hangetsuyama car park. The circuit from the car park to the deck, over the summit of Hangetsuyama and back to the car park is given as about one hour and ten minutes, and rated for beginners. Parking at Hangetsuyama is free. Tobu Bus runs a seasonal service on the Chuzenji Onsen – Tachiki Kannon and pleasure-boat pier – Hangetsuyama line, generally from around early October to early November. Please confirm in advance whether it is running, and on which dates.
Tips for photographers
The layers of the distance are the subject here, so a long lens earns its place. Cutting out nothing but the overlapping ridgelines conveys the depth of this place better than taking everything in wide. If instead you want the near slope of autumn colour large in the frame, choose the spot where the colour is deepest and cut away as much sky as you can.
The moment when the sun touches the ridge is brief and the brightness changes fast, so keep revisiting the exposure. To hold the gold on the ridgeline, meter from the brightest part of the sky and go a little darker; to hold the colour of the autumn slope in front, go brighter. Where you want both in one frame, taking several at different exposures will save you regret later. A tripod is reassuring, but the deck is thirty minutes up a mountain path — lightness is part of choosing what to carry. The cold highland air is clear a long way out and renders the colours of the distance sharply. Dress warmly.
While you're in the area
If you are covering ground in a single day, the shore of Lake Chuzenji and Akechidaira above it are both close. From the Akechidaira viewpoint you can take in Lake Chuzenji, Kegon Falls and Mt. Nantai at once. A month earlier in the season, the golden marsh grass of Senjogahara and "The Lady", the single white birch standing in Odashirogahara, are waiting instead. Go back with different combinations of altitude and date and the autumn of this mountain country begins to show itself in three dimensions.
A sunset sky of madder and violet, ranges folding away in layers, and below them brocade in red, orange and yellow. We deliver this sense of scale — among the finest in Japan — as a silver-halide print on FUJICOLOR's finest photographic paper, shipped worldwide.
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