Chichibu-Tama-Kai

Chichibu-Tama-Kai was declared in 1950 and occupies a mountain massif shared between the prefectures of Tokyo, Saitama, Yamanashi and Nagano, barely a few dozen kilometres from the centre of the capital. That proximity to the largest urban agglomeration in the world, combined with a rugged and thinly populated interior, defines its character and its function: it is Tokyo's mountain.

The park protects the headwaters of two important rivers, the Tama, which supplies water to much of the capital, and the Arakawa, and that hydrological function is one of the reasons for its protection. The relief alternates summits above 2,000 metres, such as Kumotori, the highest point of the Tokyo metropolis, with deep valleys, gorges cut into limestone and karst cave systems. The forest cover is dense, with deciduous woodland of beech, oak and maple at mid-altitude, planted conifers of cryptomeria and Japanese cypress over large areas, and subalpine forest on the summits.

The wildlife is that characteristic of the mountains of central Honshu: Japanese serow, macaque, Japanese black bear, sika deer — whose overabundance has become a conservation problem through browsing of the understorey — and a rich forest bird community. The Japanese giant salamander survives in the park's clean rivers. The name took in the element Kai, the old province corresponding to Yamanashi, in a revision after the original declaration as Chichibu-Tama.