East Nagasaki · Mount UnzenNo.1226★★Open in map →

Nita Pass

— The lower station of the Unzen Ropeway

natureOff the trail — and worth it

A pass on the flank of Mount Unzen, and the point where a short ropeway lifts you onto the ridge of Myokendake. The lava dome of Heisei-shinzan, the highest ground in Nagasaki Prefecture, rises directly across the valley from the upper station.

FromIsahaya Station
~1 hr 45 minShimatetsu bus, then taxi
Get off atUnzen bus stop (Shimatetsu Bus)
From there
Nita Pass

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is a signposted national-park viewpoint with a car park and a cable car, not a hidden place. What thins the crowd is altitude and weather. Cloud sits on the ridge for much of the year, and both the circuit road and the ropeway close when conditions turn, so the clear hours are the ones worth aiming for.

Where it is

20 more notes in Nagasaki · open the map →

What to look for — in walking order

Nita Pass viewpointthe open deck beside the car park, facing Fugendake and the lava dome across the valley
Nita Pass stationthe lower ropeway station, set on the one-way circuit road at the pass
The gondolaa three-rope cabin with windows deep enough to show the slope falling away underfoot
Myokendake station deckthe ridge-top platform looking out over the Ariake Sea and the Amakusa islands
Myoken Shrinea small shrine on the 1,333-metre summit slope of Myokendake, a short walk from the upper station

How to actually get there

Isahaya Station → Unzen (Shimabara Railway bus, about an hour and a half).
Unzen → Nita Pass (taxi up the one-way circuit road, about 15 minutes; no scheduled bus goes to the pass).
Nita Pass station → Myokendake station (Unzen Ropeway, about three minutes).
Walk the ridge from the upper station to the decks and Myoken Shrine, then ride down before the circuit road closes.

Shimatetsu bus from Isahaya, then a taxi: Isahaya Station →(Shimabara Railway bus, about an hour and a half)→ Unzen, the onsen town in the middle of the massif. From there the pass is a taxi ride up the Nita Pass circuit road, which runs one way. A shared-taxi service that once linked the town to the pass is currently suspended, so plan on a regular taxi, a hire car, or the mountain path.
Down to Unzen, then the bus: The ropeway and the circuit road both shut in the late afternoon, and the road closes earlier in winter than in summer. Come down with time in hand, then take the Shimatetsu bus from the Unzen stop back toward Isahaya. Buses are spaced out rather than frequent, so photograph the timetable at the stop when you arrive.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Nita Pass sits inside Unzen-Amakusa National Park, on the one-way circuit road that loops around the Unzen massif. The car park at the pass doubles as the lower station of the Unzen Ropeway. The cable car covers about 500 metres of line and about 174 metres of height, and its cabins hang from a three-rope system with wide windows. At the top the ridge opens toward Fugendake and the lava dome beside it. Behind that, the ground falls away to the Ariake Sea and, in clear air, the Amakusa islands.

How to enjoy it

The circuit road is open from 8:00 to 18:00 in summer and until 17:00 from November, and the ropeway runs inside those hours, with the last cars up leaving well before the gates shut. Mid-May is when the miyama-kirishima azaleas colour the slopes; autumn brings the leaf colour the ridge is known for, and winter the rime. Go up in the morning, because cloud tends to build over the ridge as the afternoon warms.

Background & history

The ropeway opened in 1957 and has run from the pass to the ridge ever since. Myoken Shrine stands on the summit slope above the upper station, a place of worship long before the cable car arrived. The mountain itself changed shape in the 1990s, when an eruption of Fugendake pushed up a new lava dome. Nagasaki named that dome Heisei-shinzan, and it now overtops every other summit in the prefecture.

Before you go

Cash: Ropeway tickets, return and one-way, are sold at the counter in Nita Pass station; a return for an adult was 1,500 yen when checked. Parking at the pass is free, and the circuit road asks for a suggested 100 yen toward conservation at the entrance, so keep coins to hand.
Good to know: Fog and strong wind stop the cable car, and the ridge can be inside cloud while the town below is clear. In winter the ropeway becomes the main way up, because the path ices over; the rime that coats the trees then is called hanaboro locally. There is no lighting on the ridge, and the circuit road is gated outside its opening hours.
Another way: By car, the drive from Isahaya interchange up to the Unzen onsen town takes about an hour, and the circuit road climbs from there. Shimabara, on the east coast of the peninsula, is the other way in — the same Shimabara Railway line runs buses through Unzen between the two towns.
After you get off: The Unzen stop is on the main street of the onsen town, not at the pass itself. Taxis wait in the town. A mountain path also climbs from the town toward the pass, but it is a climb rather than a stroll, so most people ride up.