On weekends and holidays you can’t drive up to Takaya Shrine, so the real question is whether to pay for the shuttle bus or walk the trail with your kids.
We took the trail on foot with four children instead of the bus. This is what the climb actually feels like, how long it takes, and whether it’s worth doing before breakfast.
Walk or pay for the shuttle?
Private cars aren’t allowed past the base of Mount Inazumi on weekends and holidays. Your choice is the shuttle bus or your own legs. The shuttle runs ¥1,500 per adult and ¥700 per elementary-age child, with one preschooler free. For a family of six that’s a real number before you’ve bought anything else that day. We walked instead.
The trail starts steep and stays steep. There are no switchbacks, just a continuous climb from the base. If your kids are used to walking and you’re not in a rush, this is a straightforward call: walk.
What the climb is actually like with four kids
We started at 6:50 AM. Our youngest set the pace, the way she always does on hikes. Our second daughter finds climbs the hardest and her mood drops when she’s tired, so we slowed down for her rather than pushed. Our eldest didn’t say much beyond “I’m hungry” but kept walking without complaint. It took us fifty minutes to reach the top.
No one else was there when we arrived. We had the torii and the whole view to ourselves.
The kids said the view made the rice taste better.
We sat on the stone steps and ate onigiri we’d made in the van that morning. Before that, the youngest suggested we all shout together, six voices out across the valley. Hunger probably helped the rice taste as good as it did, but the view didn’t hurt either.
When to go if you want it empty
We stayed at the summit long enough to take photos without rushing, and by the time we started down, other groups were only just arriving. Anyone who starts later than us will share the torii with other visitors. If an empty mountaintop is the point of the trip, early morning before 8 AM is the difference.
INFO ・ Takaya Shrine (Tenku no Torii)
- Shuttle bus: weekends and holidays only. ¥1,500 per adult, ¥700 per elementary student, one preschooler free (published price)
- Hiking time: 50 minutes up, 40 minutes down (our time, with four kids)
- Trail: steep, continuous climb, no switchbacks. Proper shoes required
- Best time: before 8 AM if you want the torii to yourself
Is the descent harder than the climb?
We were back at the van by 9 AM, so the round trip including our time at the summit was about two hours. The descent surprised us. It’s harder than it looks on the way up, because the steep sections get slippery underfoot. We had dry ground and it was still a place to watch your footing with kids. If it had rained the day before, we’d have expected mud on top of the slope, and that changes the calculation for smaller children.
Who this is for
This is for families who’d rather walk fifty minutes and save the shuttle fare than ride up in ten. It works if your kids can manage a steep, unbroken climb and you’re willing to go slow for the one who struggles. It’s worth doing at dawn specifically for the empty summit, not just for the torii itself. If your children can’t handle a sustained climb, or you’re arriving mid-morning on a weekend when the shuttle crowd is already up there, the bus is the more sensible ¥1,500.
