Mt. Fuji's 2026 season (Reiwa 8) brings a mandatory 4,000-yen entry fee on all four routes and splits the paperwork between the Yamanashi side (Yoshida) and the Shizuoka side (Subashiri, Gotemba, Fujinomiya). Show up with the old habit of driving to the 5th station and just walking up, and you will be stopped at the gate. This guide lines everything up in the order you will need it: opening dates, payment, choosing a route, the rules on bullet climbing, and how to reach the trailheads. Every figure is for the 2026 season, but opening dates are 'scheduled' and can slip if snow lingers, so reconfirm with each official source right before you go.

Start with the opening dates (they differ by route)

Opening dates in 2026 are staggered by route. On the Yamanashi side, the Yoshida route opens on Wednesday, July 1, as does the Subashiri route on the Shizuoka side. The Gotemba and Fujinomiya routes, both on the Shizuoka side, open on Friday, July 10. All four close on Thursday, September 10, and only Yoshida's descent trail stays open until the morning of September 11. The Ohachi-meguri summit loop is scheduled from July 10, but that can shift with the remaining snow.

Subashiri's July 1 date is earlier than its usual July 10. Because Subashiri merges with the Yoshida route at the 8th station, many descending climbers used to take the wrong fork toward Yoshida, so Shizuoka Prefecture aligned the schedule to ease the flow. On Fujinomiya, the July 10 opening applies above the 6th station; the section between the 5th and 6th stations opens earlier, on June 23. This is easy to confuse, so if you plan to go above the 6th station, treat July 10 as your reference.

Opening 'times' also cause misunderstandings. Gotemba and Fujinomiya are officially gated to open at 9:00 a.m. Yoshida and Subashiri, by contrast, have no fixed opening time and run as 24-hour gates. You will still see old notices saying 'Yoshida opens at 9:00' — that does not apply to Yoshida in the 2026 season.

  • Yoshida (Yamanashi): Jul 1 (Wed)–Sep 10 (Thu); descent trail open until the morning of Sep 11
  • Subashiri (Shizuoka): Jul 1 (Wed)–Sep 10 (Thu)
  • Gotemba (Shizuoka): Jul 10 (Fri) 9:00–Sep 10 (Thu)
  • Fujinomiya (Shizuoka): Jul 10 (Fri) 9:00–Sep 10 (Thu); 5th–6th station section opens Jun 23
  • Ohachi-meguri summit loop: scheduled Jul 10 (Fri)–Sep 10 (Thu), snow permitting

Paying the 4,000-yen fee: two different systems

For 2026, every one of the four routes charges a 4,000-yen entry (toll) fee per person, per climb — double the 2,000 yen of 2025. The catch is that 'where and how you pay' differs by prefecture. On the same mountain, the Yamanashi and Shizuoka sides use entirely separate systems.

On the Yamanashi side, the Yoshida route uses the 'Yoshida Route Passage Reservation System' (operated by ASOVIEW, with English, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese support), where you normally pay in advance by credit card or PayPay. You can also pay on the day at the 5th station window, but only in cash — card and PayPay are reserved for advance bookings. Reservations opened at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, April 27, 2026. Booking is not mandatory, and walk-ups are possible as long as the daily cap has not been reached, but a reservation lets you pass the gate by QR code, which moves faster.

The three Shizuoka routes (Subashiri, Gotemba, Fujinomiya) use an app/system called 'Shizuoka FUJI NAVI,' which adds an extra step. You must complete an e-learning module on rules and manners and pass its short test, register your climber details, pay the 4,000 yen, and receive a QR entry pass — all of which is required at each trailhead. Registration opened at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 8, 2026. You can pay in the app (card or e-money) or on site (cash or cashless).

In short: the Yamanashi side is 'reserve and pay,' while the Shizuoka side is 'learn, register, and pay.' Even if your plan crosses routes, the system you use is decided by which prefecture's trailhead you enter from.

How to choose among the four routes

Choose a route by weighing crowds, the number of mountain huts, and elevation gain. The Yoshida route has the most huts and the strongest rescue presence, which makes it the easy pick for first-timers and overseas visitors — but it is also the most crowded, with congestion forming just below the summit on sunrise-season weekends. If you want a calmer timetable, stay one night in a hut on a weekday and start in the afternoon, so you climb against the grain of the crowd.

On the Shizuoka side, Fujinomiya has the highest 5th station of the four routes; it is shorter but steeper. Gotemba has the lowest 5th station, the greatest distance and elevation gain, and the fewest people — a route for the experienced. Subashiri sits in between, threading through forest and known for its 'osunabashiri' sand run on the descent. Remember it as 'short but steep' for Fujinomiya and 'long but quiet' for Gotemba, and the choice gets easier.

One thing differs across the routes: the daily cap. Only Yoshida has a per-day limit — once it reaches 4,000 climbers, the gate closes (hut guests excepted). The three Shizuoka routes have no cap. For anyone who puts avoiding crowds first, that gap is the deciding factor.

Bullet climbing is effectively off the table in 2026

A 'bullet climb' (dangan-tozan) means going up through the night without staying in a hut to catch the sunrise. In the 2026 season, this is effectively blocked on all four routes. As a shared rule, entry between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. is allowed only for people with a hut reservation. Yamanashi phrases it as 'reservation holders may pass the gate' and Shizuoka as 'night entry requires a hut stay,' but the result is the same: there is no path to climb through the night without sleeping.

The reason is risk. Gaining altitude in one push without sleep makes altitude sickness more likely, and the summit drops to around 0°C before sunrise, so the longer you wait, the greater the danger of hypothermia. On a dark trail, falls and rockfall are harder to see, and the area near the top gets congested. The authorities recommend sleeping and resting in a hut and planning with margin. Altitude sickness itself is a deeper topic we only touch on here, but the single rule worth keeping is simple: don't climb without sleeping.

As a measure of how much the rules bit, overnight climbers fell from about 14,500 to 708 — roughly a 95% drop — and first-aid and consultation cases dropped about 40%. But those are figures from the summer of 2024 (versus the prior year), not 2025 or 2026. The 2026 season has no record yet because it has not started. In a past year, the Shizuoka side saw 24 mountain accidents and 4 deaths in the first 18 days after opening. Read those as 'past trends' and prepare for the current situation as a separate matter.

Don't overlook the gear check, either. On the Yoshida route, the 5th-station gate checks whether you are carrying three items — warm clothing, separate top-and-bottom rain gear, and footwear suitable for climbing — and you cannot pass if any is missing. A helmet is recommended rather than one of the three required items, but given the mountain's history of serious rockfall accidents, it is worth bringing.

Getting to the 5th station (no private cars in summer)

An easy thing to miss: during summer you cannot drive your own car up to the 5th station. Each route's toll road comes under a private-vehicle restriction, so the assumption is park-and-ride — leave the car in a parking lot at the base and transfer to a shuttle bus.

For Yoshida, the Fuji Subaru Line is restricted from 6:00 p.m. on Friday, July 3, to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 10. Park at Fujisan Parking in the northern foothills (1,000 yen per vehicle, valid 24 hours) and take a shuttle about 45 minutes to the 5th station. The shuttle is 3,400 yen round trip / 1,700 yen for children (valid two days) and 2,000 yen one way for adults, running every 30 minutes. By public transit, a direct highway bus from Busta Shinjuku reaches the 5th station in about 150 minutes for roughly 3,500 yen one way (reservation required, seasonal service). By rail, take the Fuji Excursion from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko Station, then a bus from Kawaguchiko Station to the 5th station, about 50 minutes (2,300 yen round trip, for the bus segment only).

For Fujinomiya, the Fujisan Skyline is restricted from 9:00 a.m. on Friday, July 10, and you transfer from the Mizugatsuka Park lot (1,500 yen weekdays / 2,000 yen weekends) to a shuttle of about 35 minutes (1,320 yen one way / 2,400 yen round trip). Arriving by shinkansen, the climbing bus from Mishima Station to the Fujinomiya 5th station is 2,840 yen one way for adults and takes about two hours. For Subashiri, the Fuji-Azami Line is restricted from 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 1, and you transfer to a shuttle from the Subashiri multipurpose lot (one way is reported at roughly 1,370 yen, but that is secondary information, so confirm it against the 2026 timetable). On the Shizuoka side the road itself is free; you pay only the 4,000-yen entry fee and the shuttle fare.

Some shuttle fares and the round-trip prices from Mishima do not yet have confirmed 2026 figures. Checking each bus operator's latest timetable for fares and operating dates before you leave will save you from getting caught out on the day.

Pitfalls to clear before you arrive

Finally, here are the points overseas visitors trip over most. Each is avoidable if you know the system, and costly in time and energy if you don't.

Sort out booking and payment before you leave. The trailhead you enter from decides which system you use, and trying to finish the Shizuoka e-learning on site will reliably slow you down. Don't take the three gate-checked gear items lightly. And build the fact that the 5th station is shuttle-only into your itinerary. These alone change how the day flows.

  • Bullet climbing is effectively impossible on all four routes (entry 2:00 p.m.–3:00 a.m. is for hut guests only)
  • Yoshida is not a true free-for-all walk-up: advance booking plus the 4,000 yen is recommended, though you can still climb with cash on the day if the cap isn't reached — 'reservation absolutely required' overstates it
  • Light clothing gets stopped at the gate: warm wear, separate top-and-bottom rain gear, and climbing footwear are essential
  • No private cars to the 5th station in summer — a base parking lot plus shuttle is the assumption
  • Different systems for Yamanashi and Shizuoka (Yamanashi = passage reservation / Shizuoka = FUJI NAVI plus e-learning)
  • Opening dates are 'scheduled' and can slip with snow, and many huts close before September 10 — reconfirm with each official source right before you go