Kintarō: The Golden Boy of Mount Ashigara

The story of the Golden Boy begins in many places, and the Kintoki Shrine in Oyama, Shizuoka, tells one version. Here Kintarō was born in May 956 to Yaegiri, who had returned to her home village to give birth. When the boy's father, Sakata, died, she stayed there instead of going back to the capital and raised Kintarō herself. Other legends give him other mothers and other birthplaces, so every telling puts him somewhere slightly different.

Location precision: Several places claim to be Kintarō's birthplace; this shrine's version is one of them and the route has no exact pin for it.

Yuhi Falls drops 23 metres through woods in Minamiashigara, about 500 metres above sea level. Tradition says this is the waterfall where baby Kintarō had his first bath. In one version of the legend, he was born in the village of Jizodo, near Mount Ashigara.

Location precision: The waterfall is only traditionally linked to Kintarō's first bath; the legend gives no firm site.

Mount Kintoki, also called Mount Ashigara, is the legendary birthplace of Kintarō and the heart of his story. Here the plump, ruddy toddler ran around in only a haragake apron with the kanji for "gold" on it, carrying a hatchet. His friends were the mountain's animals. He beat bears at sumo and helped local woodcutters fell trees. You can climb the mountain from the Hakone side in about 90 minutes from the Sengoku bus stop.

Visitor guidance: From the Sengoku bus stop on the Hakone side it is a 90-minute walk to the summit.

At Ashigara Pass, 759 metres up on the border of Kanagawa and Shizuoka, the boy's life changes. In the Oyama version, Minamoto no Yorimitsu comes over the pass in 976, sees Kintarō's strength and takes him on as a retainer. Kintarō goes to live with him in Kyoto and studies martial arts there. A checkpoint was built at the pass in 899.

Visitor guidance: The pass is on the Kanagawa-Shizuoka border and is also a starting point for the hike up Mount Kintoki.

In Kyoto, a large number of missing people were being reported. Kintoki had become chief of Yorimitsu's Shitennō, the "four braves", and in the legend Yorimitsu and his four braves disguised themselves as mountain priests and went to Mount Ōe, lair of the ogre Shuten-dōji. Mount Ōe keeps three ogre-slaying legends. Some argue the original mountain was a different Mount Ōe, on the western edge of the city of Kyoto.

Location precision: Two mountains named Ōe are proposed for the ogre's lair; the pin marks the Ōeyama range, not the Mount Ōe on Kyoto's western edge.