"I commenced climb from Nakanosawa direction. I reached the starting point by walking up the roads from the 4th to last stop of bus #97. The path from here was quite overgrown and not well used. Due to the thick leafy foliage, tick protection measures are recommended. I took about 3.5 hours to summit Toishi-yama. It was a mixture of steep and easy sections, with one or two more very dense sections of foliage to push through on the way. It was a public holiday and I saw no more than a handful of other climbers during the walk. At the summit, there was a sign warning of bears sighted in the area recently. I myself took a slightly different route back, following the trail north-east up behind the Bankei ski area. Along this route I myself found and photographed a large, fresh bear scat in the middle of the trail. I had this confirmed as bear scat by an expert at Hokkaido University. So I highly recommend against walking in this region alone, and always wear a hiking bell. Preferably also carry some bear pepper spray as a last resort. Note: in the photos I have included, the annotation of "Koseki-yama" is incorrect, it is indeed Toishi-yama." — amedlin • Jul 15, 2013