Mount Haruna

Outline

Mount Haruna started to form more than 300,000 years ago and the last known eruption was c. 550. The volcano has a summit caldera containing the symmetrical pyroclastic cone of Mount Haruna-Fuji, along with a crater lake, Lake Haruna, along the western side. To the west of the lake is Mount Kamonga, the tallest of Mount Haruna's numerous peaks at 1,449 m high.

The lake and the area to its east, as well as the southern and southwestern slopes, lie within the borders of Takasaki city. The border of Shibukawa city (to the east) nearly approaches Lake Haruna. Both Shinto village and Yoshioka town are on the southeast slopes of the mountain. The northern and northwestern slopes lie within Higashi Agatsuma town, which also bounds Lake Haruna. The summit lies on the border of Takasaki and Higashi Agatsuma.

Mount Haruna, along with Mount Akagi and Mount Myōgi, is one of the "Three Mountains of Jōmō." (Jōmō is an old name for Gunma.)

In popular culture

The mountain is made famous in the manga series Initial D under the fictional name Akina (秋名), where the main character, Takumi Fujiwara, delivers tofu every day to a hotel uphill, using his father's (eventually gained full ownership) heavily modified Toyota Sprinter Trueno (AE86). It is also where Takumi won his first few races. It is the home course for the racing team called the Akina Speed Stars with which Takumi becomes closely associated. Later in the anime Takumi due to his unbeatable track records and for his downhill driving technique, is popularly referred to as 'Akina's 86'.

The mountain is featured in the PlayStation 2 games "Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift"and Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2. It is also featured in the PC games Race Driver: GRID and Blur, although not realistically.