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How many steps to the top of Mount Haguro stone stairway?

Steps to the top of Mount Haguro stone stairway
2,446
Reaching the Sanjin Gosaiden shrine at the summit, through cedar forest · open to climb

A 1.7 km stone stairway of 2,446 steps laid in the seventeenth century, climbing through an avenue of roughly 350 cedars, some more than 500 years old, past a five-storey pagoda that is a National Treasure. It is the pilgrim route of the Dewa Sanzan and is walked by yamabushi ascetics in white. Thirty-three carvings — sake cups, gourds, lotus flowers — are hidden in the stone treads, and finding all of them is said to grant a wish. The staircase is open all year and lit in winter.

The numbers

Steps
2,446
Reaches
the Sanjin Gosaiden shrine at the summit, through cedar forest
Public access
Open to climb
Where
Yamagata, Japan
Height climbed
414 m — 1,358 ft
Average rise per step
169 mm

What the climb is like

60-90 minutes. Uneven old stone, slippery when wet, with three long flights and a teahouse partway.

Published counts for the same structure routinely disagree by five to ten per cent, and nearly always for one of three reasons: whether intermediate landings count as steps, whether the final platform step counts, and where the climb is deemed to start. The figure here says what it reaches.

How it compares

Only the ones marked open to climb can actually be walked.

Burj Khalifa 2,909 steps
Tokyo Skytree 2,523 steps
Mount Haguro stone stairway 2,446 steps
One World Trade Center 2,226 steps
Willis Tower 2,109 steps
Taipei 101 2,046 steps
Mount Haguro stone stairway ranks 3 of 56 here by step count.
Structure Steps Reaches Access
Burj Khalifa 2,909 the 160th floor, via the emergency stairwell — no public access Not climbable by the public
Tokyo Skytree 2,523 the upper observation deck at 450 m, via the emergency staircase — no public access Not climbable by the public
Mount Haguro stone stairway 2,446 the Sanjin Gosaiden shrine at the summit, through cedar forest Open to climb
One World Trade Center 2,226 the 102nd floor Restricted — events or permit only
Willis Tower 2,109 the 103rd floor Skydeck Restricted — events or permit only
Taipei 101 2,046 the 91st-floor outdoor observatory Restricted — events or permit only

Common questions

How many steps to the top of Mount Haguro stone stairway?
2,446, reaching the Sanjin Gosaiden shrine at the summit, through cedar forest.
Can the public climb Mount Haguro stone stairway?
Open to climb. 60-90 minutes. Uneven old stone, slippery when wet, with three long flights and a teahouse partway.
How high is that climb?
414 m, about 1,358 ft, which averages 169 mm per step.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked