Mount Haku stands alongside Mount Fuji and Mount Tate as one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains, a distinction rooted in Shugendo mountain worship. In 717, the monk Taicho became the first recorded person to reach its summit, opening the mountain to centuries of spiritual pilgrimage. Today, approximately 2,000 Hakusan shrines across Japan trace their lineage to the Shirayama Hime Shrine at the mountain's base in Ishikawa Prefecture, with a branch shrine perched near the summit itself. The name Hakusan means "White Mountain," earned from the heavy snowpack that lingers on its slopes well into summer, giving the peak a gleaming pale silhouette visible from cities across the Hokuriku coast.

The park occupies a rare geographic position, spanning the borders of Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, and Toyama prefectures. This four-way meeting point reflects the mountain's role as a natural barrier and watershed in the Chubu region. Rivers born on its flanks flow in every direction -- north to the Sea of Japan, south toward the Pacific slope. The area first received quasi-national park designation in 1955, then full national park status in 1962. In 1980, UNESCO recognized the entire 480-square-kilometer park as a Man and the Biosphere Reserve, acknowledging the ecological importance of its intact forest-to-alpine gradient.

From the lowland valleys upward, the park's vegetation tells a story of altitude. Coniferous forests of Maries fir, pine, and Japanese cedar blanket the mountain's base. Higher up, deciduous woodlands of Mongolian oak and Japanese beech take over, their canopies turning brilliant gold each autumn. Above the treeline, open alpine meadows explode with wildflowers during the brief summer season. Golden eagles and mountain hawk-eagles patrol the thermals, while the forests below shelter Japanese macaques, Asiatic black bears, Japanese serow, and sika deer. The biodiversity here is so concentrated that Hakusan serves as a living laboratory for Japanese alpine ecology.

The mountain's trails have been worn smooth by thirteen centuries of footsteps. What began as routes for Shugendo ascetics evolved into paths for Edo-period pilgrims, and today they carry hikers seeking views that stretch from the Japan Alps to the distant shimmer of the Sea of Japan. The peak climbing season runs from July through early October, with mountain huts offering overnight stays near the summit. Many hikers time their ascent for a dawn arrival at Gozenga-mine, the highest point, where sunrise illuminates the snowfields and volcanic ridgeline. Despite its spiritual prestige, Hakusan sees far fewer visitors than Mount Fuji, giving it a quieter, more contemplative atmosphere that its monk founders might still recognize.