Mount Haruna (Akina) Pass
33Ikaho to Lake Haruna · Gunma
The Ikaho to Lake Haruna climb that inspired Initial D's Mount Akina, the most mythologised touge in Japanese car culture.
Gunma Prefectural Route 33 climbs from the hot-spring town of Ikaho up to the caldera lake at the summit of Mount Haruna, and it is the real road behind Akina, home course of Takumi Fujiwara in Initial D. The defining stretch is a run of consecutive hairpins on the wooded slope, the inspiration for the manga's five-hairpin downhill, linked by short straights and tight switchbacks with steady elevation change. It is a public road, free, and open year round when weather allows, which makes it a pilgrimage for JDM fans, so expect company. The surface is good but the corners are genuinely tight and sight lines are short. Mind the heavy pilgrim and tourist traffic, the tight blind hairpins through forest, and winter ice near the lake.
Where it runs
Character
Elevation
998 m rangeKnow before you go
- Tight blind hairpins through forest
- Heavy Initial D pilgrim and tourist traffic
- Winter ice and snow near the summit lake
Sources
In these collections
Nearby roads
The closest great drives to Mount Haruna (Akina) Pass.
