Qualla: Japanese Alps https://qualla.com/japanese-alps en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:40 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Japanese Alps https://qualla.com/japanese-alps Japanese Alps: Introduction https://qualla.com/japanese-alps/ An English archaeologist looked up at the jagged ridgeline of the Hida Mountains in the 1880s and thought of home. William Gowland saw in these peaks the same grandeur he knew from the European Alps, and the name he gave them stuck. But the Japanese Alps were never waiting to be discovered. Buddhist monks had practiced austerities on these slopes since ancient times, Shugendo ascetics had traced their pilgrim routes along the high ridges, and samurai officers of the Kaga domain had spent two centuries mapping every valley, ridge, and stand of timber deep in the Hida range. Gowland simply gave the Western world a frame of reference for mountains that already held centuries of Japanese devotion.

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/japanese-alps-wp/xn66-japanese-alps-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Japanese Alps: A Spine of Stone and Snow https://qualla.com/japanese-alps/ The Japanese Alps form the backbone of central Honshu, three parallel ranges running roughly north to south and dividing the island into its Pacific and Sea of Japan watersheds. The Northern Alps, the Hida Mountains, stretch through Nagano, Toyama, and Gifu prefectures, crowned b...

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/japanese-alps-wp/xn66-japanese-alps-a-spine-of-stone-and-snow.mp3 0:06 2 full Japanese Alps: The Warlord's Winter March https://qualla.com/japanese-alps/ In the winter of 1584, daimyo Sassa Narimasa attempted what most considered suicidal. Desperate to reach Tokugawa Ieyasu and persuade him to continue their war against Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Narimasa led his forces over the Hida Mountains in midwinter, crossing Zara Pass and Harinok...

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/japanese-alps-wp/xn66-japanese-alps-the-warlords-winter-march.mp3 0:06 3 full Japanese Alps: Two Englishmen and a Mountain Guide https://qualla.com/japanese-alps/ Gowland coined the name, but Walter Weston made it famous. A Christian missionary who arrived in Japan in 1888, Weston spent years climbing the same ranges Gowland had traversed, ascending Mount Shirouma, Mount Jonen, Mount Kasa, and Mount Hotaka with the help of Kamijo Kamonji, ...

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/japanese-alps-wp/xn66-japanese-alps-two-englishmen-and-a-mountain-guide.mp3 0:06 4 full Japanese Alps: Ice That Should Not Exist https://qualla.com/japanese-alps/ For most of the twentieth century, geographers stated flatly that Japan had no active glaciers. The Japanese Society of Snow and Ice proved them wrong in May 2012. By studying surface flow velocities and perennial snow patches on Mount Tsurugi in the Northern Alps, researchers fo...

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/japanese-alps-wp/xn66-japanese-alps-ice-that-should-not-exist.mp3 0:06 5 full Japanese Alps: Ropeways to the Sky https://qualla.com/japanese-alps/ The mountains that once demanded weeks of approach on foot opened to the wider public in a single transformative decade. The Komagatake Ropeway began carrying visitors skyward in 1967. The Shinhotaka Ropeway followed in 1970, offering dramatic two-stage ascents into the heart of ...

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/japanese-alps-wp/xn66-japanese-alps-ropeways-to-the-sky.mp3 0:06 6 full