Five Shinto shrines belonging to Togakushi Shrine cluster at and around the base of the mountain, each enshrining deities connected to the Amaterasu cave legend. The most revered, Okusha, sits on the mountain itself, reached by a two-kilometer path lined with over 200 Japanese cedars -- some more than 400 years old -- designated as Natural Monuments of Japan. The avenue of ancient cryptomeria creates a corridor of green silence, the massive trunks rising like columns in a roofless cathedral. Just below Okusha stands Kuzuryusha, dedicated to a nine-headed dragon deity. The remaining three shrines -- Chusha, Hokosha, and Hinomikosha -- are spread through the village below. At Hinomikosha, two 500-year-old cedars known as the "husband and wife cedars" stand guard, and a cherry tree named after the wandering poet Saigyo blooms each spring. Mount Togakushi has been a sacred site for Shugendo, the mountain-based ascetic tradition that blends Shinto and Buddhism, for centuries.

Hiking Mount Togakushi is not a casual afternoon. The seven-to-eight-hour circuit from the shrine parking lot to Togakushi Campground traverses terrain that the Nagano Trail Guide rates with unsparing honesty: difficult rocky ridges, unstable scree slopes, sections requiring ladders and chains, thickets to push through, and -- the guide's blunt assessment -- many dangerous sections with possibility of falling and sliding down. The most notorious passage bears the name Ant Tower and Sword Blade, a knife-edge ridge at 1,842 meters where the trail narrows to a razor-thin rock spine. Hikers grip chains bolted into stone, feet planted on rock barely wider than a boot. Below the summit, the route passes through Happounirami at 1,900 meters before reaching the 1,904-meter peak. The descent follows a different path through Kuzuryuyama and past the Ichifudo Emergency Hut, eventually dropping to the campground at 1,175 meters. From Ichifudo, a spur trail leads to Mount Takatsuma, itself one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains.

In the 12th century, a samurai named Daisuke Nishina fought on the losing side of the Genpei War between the Minamoto and Taira clans. Fleeing defeat, he escaped from his home village of Togakure to the mountains of Iga, where he learned the arts of stealth and survival. He returned to Nagano and founded the Togakure-ryu, one of Japan's three major schools of ninjutsu alongside the Iga and Koga traditions. The school thrived in the remote forests around Mount Togakushi, where the rugged terrain provided natural training grounds for practitioners of concealment and endurance. Today, the Togakure Ninpo Museum near the entrance to Okusha displays weapons, tools, and artifacts of the ninja tradition, while the Kids Ninja Village near Chusha Shrine lets children throw rubber shuriken and navigate obstacle courses. The mountain that hid a goddess also hid generations of shadow warriors.

Mount Togakushi belongs to the Five Mountains of Northern Shinshu alongside Mount Myoko, Mount Kurohime, Mount Iizuna, and Mount Madarao -- peaks that form the backbone of the landscape where Nagano and Niigata Prefectures meet. It is part of Myoko-Togakushi Renzan National Park and holds a place on the list of 200 Famous Mountains in Japan and among the 100 most famous mountains in Nagano Prefecture. The Togakushi Ski Field sits on facing Menou Mountain, and Togakushi Campground and Togakushi Farm operate at the mountain's base, all owned by a company founded by local residents to promote the area's natural beauty. From JR Nagano Station, hourly buses make the 60-minute journey to Togakushi, or the Togakushi Bird Line road covers the distance from central Nagano City in about 20 minutes by car. The hiding door is not hard to find -- it is the approaching it on foot that tests you.