The hill where Japan learned to ski.
Run it without skis.
50km of Joetsu.
Every hiker you meet gets two hellos: one from 10 metres out, one as you pass. It's in the race rules.
Joetsumyoko is a station most travellers pass through on the way to somewhere else. Walk 150 metres off the platform and you are standing at the start, in Kamabuta Iseki Park. The course climbs into the hills around Mt. Aota-Namba and onto the Kuwadori-michi, an old road that carried people and goods between mountain villages long before anyone was timed on it. It passes the Kakuma terraced rice fields, cut into the slope by generations of farmers, and crosses Mt. Kanaya, where Major Lerch gave Japan its first formal ski instruction in 1911, taken here in the snow-free season. Kasugayama, the fortress Uesugi Kenshin built straight into the ridges and valleys, stands in the same hills. Fifty kilometres, 2,650 metres of climbing, and a hot spring two minutes from the finish that stays open until eleven at night.
Ten hours, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and 2,650m of climbing.
Two checkpoints govern the day: Kuwadori Yuttari-mura at about 18km, closing at 4 hours (11:00), and the Mt. Kanaya aid at about 44km, closing at 9 hours 15 minutes (16:15), six kilometres from the finish.
ITRA gives the course two points, finalized after the race. 500 places.
Starting at 9:30 AM, this is the distance you can reach from Tokyo on race morning: the 6:28 AM Hakutaka arrives at 8:27.
35km, 1,800m of climbing, seven and a half hours. Three cutoffs: Kuwadori Yuttari-mura at 4 hours 30 minutes (14:00), the third aid at 5 hours 45 minutes (15:15), and the 29km point at 6 hours 30 minutes (16:00).
ITRA two points. 400 places.
Eleven o'clock start, five hours for 14km and 500m of climbing.
The course closes at 4:00 PM, before the longer distances come home. No head torch required.
Open to junior high school age and above, the only distance that is. 300 places.
Kamabuta Iseki Park, 5-6 Yamato, Joetsu City, Niigata 943-0861 — directly in front of JR Joetsumyoko Station, about a 2-minute (150m) walk from the platform.
Open in Google MapsHokuriku Shinkansen "Hakutaka" direct to JR Joetsumyoko Station — e.g. depart Tokyo 6:28 AM, arrive 8:27 AM, or depart 7:52 AM, arrive 9:54 AM.
Hokuriku Shinkansen "Hakutaka" direct to JR Joetsumyoko Station — e.g. depart Tsuruga 6:11 AM, arrive 8:22 AM.
The organizer's own pitch is that the venue is the station: start and finish are in front of JR Joetsumyoko Station, and the station area has the hot spring, hotels and places to eat.
From Tokyo, the first race-morning Hokuriku Shinkansen departs 6:28 AM and arrives 8:27 AM, ahead of the 7:00 AM start.
Parking at the venue park, at Kamabuta-no-Yu and at the coffee shop next door is not allowed on race day — use the paid city lots around the station.
Entries are taken by the organizer, on their own site. Prices below are the organizer's own.
The entry period ran from May 31, 2026 to October 4, 2026 (Japan time). This page stays up so you can plan for the next edition — check the organizer's site for dates.
Organizer's siteThis English guide is written and maintained by Go Race Japan, not by the organizer. Entries go through the organizer's own site, in Japanese.
Questions in English? Go Race Japan will answer: contact@goracejapan.com