Funagata · JP

Sabaneyama Observation Deck

High on a small hill above the town of Funagata in Yamagata's Mogami basin, the Sabaneyama Observation Deck (猿羽根山展望台) opens onto one of the prefecture's most beloved panoramas: the Mogami River making a long, lazy S-curve below, and a far wall of mountains—Gassan, Hayato-san and, on the clearest days, Chokai—lifted against the sky. At just 160 metres it is the gentlest kind of summit, part of the '100 Mountains of Yamagata' and reachable by road, which makes it a favourite of families, photographers and passers-by looking for a quick, rewarding stop. What gives the view its soul is the history behind it. This was once the crossing of Sabane-toge, the notorious steep stretch of the old Ushū highway between Obanasawa and Shinjō, walked by the poet Matsuo Bashō, the tanka master Saitō Mokichi, the traveller Isabella Bird and the reformer Kiyoura Hachirō—all of them moved enough to leave words about the scene. A viewpoint here is as much a literary shrine as a lookout.