Ikaho, Mizusawa & the Haruna Highlands: A Heritage Two Days — Gunma

The spine of Ikaho is a stone stairway of 365 steps climbing straight up the mountainside, lined the whole way with wooden inns, public bathhouses, sweet-shops, shooting galleries and old-fashioned games halls. Laid out in its present form in the late sixteenth century to organise the flow of the town's hot water, it is one of Japan's classic retro spa streetscapes, especially atmospheric in the evening when the lanterns come on. The 'golden water' runs in a glass-covered channel beside the steps, and small footbaths invite a pause on the climb. The number 365 was chosen so the town's fortunes would thrive 'every day of the year'.

Open and free at all hours; most atmospheric in the late afternoon and evening. In Ikaho-machi, Shibukawa City, reached by bus from Shibukawa Station in about 25 minutes. The climb is steep — pace it with the footbaths. Allow about 75 minutes including the shrine at the top.

At the top of the 365 steps stands Ikaho Shrine, the town's guardian shrine and the reward for the climb. Founded over a thousand years ago and long associated with hot-spring healing and with matchmaking and safe childbirth, it is a small, well-worn shrine in a stand of trees, with views back down the stairway and out over the valley. It is the natural turning point of the climb — a moment of quiet at the head of the busy steps before you carry on to the ropeway or back down for lunch.

Open and free at all hours. At the very top of the stone steps. Allow about 15 minutes; included in the stone-steps walk above.

From near the top of the steps a short cable car rises to the Mihara hilltop, where an observation deck looks out over Ikaho, the Haruna massif and, on clear days, far across the Kanto plain. The ride is brief and the view broad — a quick way to set the town in its mountain landscape before you descend. The hilltop also has a small park and, in season, cherry and autumn colour. It is an easy add between the shrine and the run down to Mizusawa.

Open daily, roughly 09:00–17:00; round trip around ¥830 adult (approx., 2026). The lower station (Fujokitei) is near the top of the steps. Allow about 30 minutes including the deck.

A few minutes below Ikaho, Mizusawa-dera — known to everyone as Mizusawa Kannon — is the sixteenth temple of the Bando pilgrimage of thirty-three Kannon temples, said to have been founded some 1,300 years ago. Its grounds hold a fine two-storey gate, a main hall enshrining a Kannon of mercy, and an unusual hexagonal rotating sutra hall: a six-sided structure whose central column of scriptures you turn for blessings as you circle it. The temple draws a steady stream of pilgrims, and the cedar-shaded approach is calm even when the udon houses below are busy.

Open daily, roughly 08:00–17:00; free to enter the grounds. At 214 Mizusawa, Ikaho-machi, Shibukawa, about 10 minutes by car below Ikaho. Allow about 40 minutes.

Mizusawa udon, eaten by pilgrims to the Kannon for centuries, is counted among Japan's three great udon: thick, glossy, hand-cut noodles with a firm, springy bite, traditionally served cold with two dips — a soy-based sauce and a sesame one. Tamaruya, which traces its founding back some four hundred years, is the senior house of the cluster along the temple road, a handsome old building where you eat the noodles cold and the tempura hot. It is the proper Mizusawa lunch after the temple: simple, regional, and very good.

Open for lunch, typically from around 10:00; closed Wednesdays (approx., 2026 — reconfirm; the neighbouring Shimizuya closes Tuesdays). An udon set runs roughly ¥1,200–2,200 (approx., 2026). On the temple road in Mizusawa. Allow about an hour.

A long-established inn on the Ikaho stone steps, Hotel Kogure draws abundantly on the town's springs, with large baths of both the iron-brown 'golden water' and the clear 'white water' and views over the valley. As the night's base it puts you on the lantern-lit stairway itself, a few steps from the evening atmosphere of the town, with a kaiseki dinner of Gunma produce. Check in, bathe in both waters, and walk the steps after dark. Note a private-dining renovation is scheduled for part of early 2026.

On the Ikaho stone steps; rates vary by season and room with two meals. Note a private-dining renovation is planned roughly January–March 2026, and the town occasionally suspends the spring supply on scattered maintenance dates — reconfirm at booking. Listed here as the night's sleep anchor. Allow about an hour to check in and bathe.

Founded more than 1,400 years ago on the flank of Mount Haruna, Haruna Shrine is one of the great power spots of the region: a long approach winds half a mile up a wooded gorge past waterfalls, weathered rock formations and seven small halls before reaching the main shrine, dramatically set against a towering pinnacle of rock. The buildings, richly carved and many of them Important Cultural Properties, have just emerged at the end of 2025 from an eight-year restoration, so the colours and carving are freshly renewed. The cryptomeria-lined walk in is as much the experience as the shrine itself.

Open daily, roughly 07:00–18:00; free. The approach is about a 15–20 minute walk uphill each way. An anniversary festival runs about April 1–8, 2026. In Haruna-san-machi, Takasaki, about 30 minutes by car from Ikaho. Allow about 75 minutes for the full approach and shrine.

Lake Haruna fills the caldera at the heart of the Haruna massif, a still sheet of water ringed by peaks with the symmetrical cone of Haruna-fuji rising from its shore. At around 1,100 metres it is a cool highland retreat in summer — rowing boats, a lakeside path and pleasure craft — and a quiet, frozen world in winter. The drive around the shore is short and lovely, and the lake makes the natural pause between the shrine and the ropeway: somewhere to walk a little by the water and take in the volcano reflected in it.

Open and free at all hours; rowing boats and a lakeside café operate in the green season. In Harunako-machi, Takasaki, about 10 minutes by car from Haruna Shrine. Allow about 45 minutes including a short lakeside walk and lunch by the water.

From the lakeshore the Mount Haruna Ropeway lifts in a few minutes to the summit of Haruna-fuji, the volcanic cone at the centre of the caldera, where two observation decks look out over the lake below and, on clear days, across to the Japanese Alps, Mount Asama and the distant peaks of Nikko. A small shrine sits near the top. It is the high finish to the day: stand above the lake, take in the ring of the caldera and the plain beyond, and ride back down for the road home.

Open daily, roughly 09:00–17:00 (seasonal variation); round trip around ¥1,100 adult (approx., 2026). A roughly one-week maintenance closure usually falls around February–March. The lower station (Harunakogen) is by the lake. Allow about 45 minutes including the decks.