In 1941, the Army Air Headquarters drew up a plan for a high-altitude engine test facility for aircraft at Tatamidaira, and began building a military road to reach it.
The planned width was three meters. Seiichi Ueshima, the first president of Nohi Bus, looked ahead to the tourism that could use the road after the war, and demanded that it be widened. The difference in cost, eighty thousand yen, he paid himself. The road became 3.6 meters wide.
In the autumn of 1942, the road was finished. At Tatamidaira stood the Norikura Aeronautical Laboratory. But the war ended before it was ever used for military purposes. Afterward the facility became Norikura Sanso, a mountain lodge of the Japanese National Railways, which closed in 2007 and was demolished in 2008.
The road turned into a tourist road. From Hirayu Pass, at 1,684 meters, to Tatamidaira, at 2,702 meters, it climbs more than a kilometer over 14.4 kilometers. It opened as a toll road on July 1, 1973. On the Gifu side, this road is called the Norikura Skyline.
The toll period ended in 2003, and from May 15 of that year private cars were barred. Only buses, taxis, and bicycles may pass.
In September 2022, a major collapse near Hirayu Pass closed the road, and it reopened on a temporary detour.
Buses and bicycles still climb to Tatamidaira on a road that a war set in motion, 3.6 meters across.
Timeline of the road
- 1941: The Army Air Headquarters planned a high-altitude aircraft engine test facility at Tatamidaira and began building a military road.
- 1942: The road was completed. It is said that Seiichi Ueshima, first president of Nohi Bus, paid the cost difference out of his own pocket to widen the planned 3 m to 3.6 m. The Norikura Aeronautical Laboratory was set up at Tatamidaira, but the war ended before it was used for military purposes.
- After the war, the facility became Norikura Sanso, a Japanese National Railways lodge. It closed in 2007 and was demolished in 2008.
- July 1, 1973: The road opened as a toll road. On the Gifu side it is called the Norikura Skyline.
- 2003: The toll period ended, and from May 15 private cars could no longer use the road. Buses, taxis, and bicycles may pass.
- September 2022: A major collapse near Hirayu Pass closed the road. It reopened on a temporary detour.
The road in numbers
- 14.4 km from Hirayu Pass (1,684 m) to Tatamidaira (2,702 m).
Keep listening
- Nature at the end of the road:
Beyond the Tree Line
- The observatory on the summit:
The Hut That Followed the Sun