Hakone's sulphurous valleys and cedar-lined lake have drawn Tokyoites seeking thermal refuge since the Edo period, when the Tōkaidō road carried feudal lords between Kyoto and the shogunate capital.
The five post towns of the Old Tōkaidō — Hakone-Yumoto, Tonosawa, Miyanoshita, Kowakudani, and Sengokuhara — evolved into a network of onsen inns and mountain shrines that remain the geographic spine of the region today. What began as a strategic mountain crossing is now a 120-square-kilometre wedge of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, where volcanic fissures and caldera lakes occupy the collapsed remnants of Mount Hakone, a stratovolcano that last erupted 3,000 years ago.
The Hakone Ropeway, completed in 1959 and rebuilt with seismic-resistant pylons in 2020, remains the most direct passage between the sulphur-streaked slopes of Owakudani and the shores of Lake Ashi. Its 4-kilometre aerial route crosses active fumaroles that exhale hydrogen sulphide at temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Celsius, a geothermal canvas visible only from gondola altitude. At the southern terminus, the lake — a caldera basin fed by mountain runoff — mirrors the symmetrical cone of Mount Fuji on clear mornings, a view that has anchored Japanese woodblock prints since Hiroshige's Fifty-three Stations series in 1833.
Hakone Shrine, founded in 757 during the Nara period, occupies a cryptomeria grove at the lake's southeastern edge, its vermilion torii gate standing fifteen metres offshore in water shallow enough to wade at low tide. The shrine served as a pilgrimage terminus for mountain ascetics and a protective site for travellers braving the Hakone Pass. Its architecture — rebuilt after a 1943 fire — follows the Shinmei style of unpainted cypress and copper roofing, a template that prioritises impermanence over monument.
Day tour from Tokyo to Hakone itineraries centre on three geographic nodes: the ropeway for volcanic terrain, Lake Ashi for caldera perspective, and the shrine for historical continuity. The Odakyu Romance Car, a limited-express service inaugurated in 1957, covers the 85 kilometres from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto in 75 minutes, half the time required by conventional rail. Return options include the Tōkaidō Shinkansen via Odawara, reducing travel to under 40 minutes and closing the loop between mountain retreat and metropolitan density.
10 hr
