Tsuruoka
鶴岡市38°44′ N 139°50′ ECityPop. 121,371Tohoku
Tsuruoka suits travellers who want Dewa Sanzan's shrines, temple food and the Sea of Japan coast, with Gassan's spring skiing across the mountains in Nishikawa. The trade-off is the journey, about three and a half hours from Tokyo with a change at Niigata.
Photo さかおり · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 and others, credited in the gallery
Who should base here
Stay in Tsuruoka if you want to visit Dewa Sanzan with care, eat Shonai's food and pair it with a spring ski day on Gassan.
The name
Tsuruoka
鶴岡The name joins tsuru, crane, and oka, hill. Mogami Yoshiaki gave it to the castle town of Daihoji after he took Shonai in 1601.
japanese
The encyclopedia records the renaming and gives no reason for the choice of name.
Things to do in Tsuruoka
Tsuruoka is the old castle town of the Shonai domain, which the Sakai family ruled from 1622 until the Meiji Restoration. It sits on the rice plain between the Sea of Japan and the three peaks of Dewa Sanzan: Haguro at 414 metres, Gassan at 1,984 metres and Yudono at 1,504 metres. Pilgrims have long walked the three as a journey of rebirth, with Haguro for the present, Gassan for the past and Yudono for the future, and the mountains remain places of living worship tended by the Dewa Sanzan Shrine and the yamabushi, the mountain ascetics.
Haguro has 27 shukubo and inns, pilgrim lodgings that take ordinary guests too, and the yamabushi's plain vegetable cooking, shojin ryori, is served there. The cedar avenue on Mt. Haguro is a special natural monument. In December 2014 Tsuruoka became Japan's first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, and its farmers keep more than 60 heirloom crops in the ground.
The city's everyday noodle is mugikiri, a thin wheat noodle often served half and half with soba. Its old spa towns, Yunohama on the coast, Atsumi by a river and Yutagawa among bamboo and plum trees, each claim a thousand years or more of bathing.
Worth knowing
- Dress modestly and follow the shrine's signs and closures on Mt. Haguro, which is a place of worship first.
- Book a shukubo ahead if you want to eat shojin ryori on Haguro.
Quick answers about Tsuruokaよくある質問
How do you get to Tsuruoka from Tokyo?
Take the Joetsu Shinkansen to Niigata and change to the Inaho limited express. On 16 October 2026 that took 3 hours 31 minutes for ¥14,960 in cash.
What are the three mountains of Dewa Sanzan?
Mt. Haguro (414 m), Mt. Gassan (1,984 m) and Mt. Yudono (1,504 m). Tradition holds that Prince Hachiko opened them to worship about 1,400 years ago.
What does the name Tsuruoka mean?
Tsuruoka comes from the local name Tsuruoka, meaning the name joins tsuru, crane, and oka, hill. Mogami Yoshiaki gave it to the castle town of Daihoji after he took Shonai in 1601. The encyclopedia records the renaming and gives no reason for the choice of name.
Is Tsuruoka a good place to stay?
Stay in Tsuruoka if you want to visit Dewa Sanzan with care, eat Shonai's food and pair it with a spring ski day on Gassan.