Japan · Akita

Yakushiyama Ski Area

薬師山スキー場
Off season
Official site

No snow yet. Not open yet for 2026/27. We have not yet found an official opening date. Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear once snow is on the ground or forecast.

Typical snowfall
160cm

A weather-model figure, worked out the same way for every ski area, and lower than what actually falls. Use it to compare ski areas, not against the resort’s own totals. How we measure →

Elevation (est.)
15–132 m
Across
0.7 km

Elevation range is estimated by sampling points across the ski area.

The local Imaizumi residents' association runs this city-owned hill under contract with Kitaakita. The night-skiing floodlights were switched to LED in 2024, and the hill hosts the city ski championships. It stands beside National Route 7 in the Imaizumi district, on the border with Noshiro. Sources: city.kitaakita.akita.jp (sources read 13 Oct 2026; an AI draft the site operator has not yet checked)

How much snow it gets

Modelled from weather data the same way at all 3,069 ski areas we cover. These are not the resort’s own published figures.

Seasonal snowfall
160cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
91cm
The middle winter of the 12: 157 cm. The best: 272 cm.
World rank
1541
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
306
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
387
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 69 m, 697 m below the national median.
Quality rank
370
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
−1.1°C
Japanese median: −3.6°C
Rain days
31%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
8%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
21km/h
Average daily peak, 10 m above ground across a model grid cell; not the wind on ridges or lift tops
Dryness 22
Frequency 23
Freedom from rain 35
Calm when snowing (model grid) 93

The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.

The quality score leaves out how much snow falls (it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind).

Compared with what is nearby

Within 50 km in a straight line. Ski areas in the same weather-model cell (about 30 km across) get the same figure.

Ski areaDistanceSeasonal snowfallWorld rank
Ani Ski Resort (Mt. Moriyoshi)34.0 km370 cm226
Owani Onsen Ski Resort International Area41.0 km233 cm844
Hanawa Ski Area47.0 km263 cm657
Iwakisan Hyakuzawa Ski Resort47.0 km324 cm387
Taiheizan Ski Area Opus47.0 km216 cm988

Compare side by side with Ani Ski Resort (Mt. Moriyoshi) and Owani Onsen Ski Resort International Area →

Runs and lifts

Counted from the marked runs and lifts on the map, within 2.5 km of the centre of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.

Marked runs
0
Lifts
2

Lift types

  • Rope tow2

Source: OpenStreetMap (ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Difficulty uses the European grades, which do not map onto North American green / blue / black.

When it falls, and how winters differ

Month by month

The most snow falls in January. March brings 37% of January’s snowfall. That is a steeper fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%): the snow here is concentrated early in the season. In amount, March brings 20 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.

47cm
Dec
54cm
Jan
39cm
Feb
20cm
Mar
Average snowfall by month, last 12 winters

Winter by winter

Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 160 cm, and 7 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019/20 with 91 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 272 cm (3.0 times as much). For 63% of the 397 ski areas in Japan the leanest winter was 2015/16; here it was a different one.

219
159
155
167
127
91
100
193
132
117
272
188
14/1515/1616/1717/1818/1919/2020/2121/2222/2323/2424/2525/26

Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.

How these figures are made

Live cameras

This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. The nearest live view is the road below.

Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.

What was actually measured nearby

Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 鷹巣 weather station — 8.2 km from this ski area, 44 m below its mid-slope.

Three-season average353 cm
2023/24179 cm
2024/25452 cm
2025/26428 cm

The figure calculated on this page is 192 cm.

A weather station is not a ski slope. We picked one at a similar elevation, but it stands in a valley or a village. More snow falls on the mountain above it. We have not tried to guess how much more.

Source: Japan Meteorological Agency historical records

Hot springs nearby, as analysed

2 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 14 °C).

Show the sources
SourceDistanceTemperaturepHType
湯の沢1.5 km14℃ cold8.6 alkaline—
長重2.3 km9.6℃ cold6.4 neutralsimple

These are analyses of hot spring sources, not a list of baths you can visit. They date from 1910 to 2005, many from decades ago, so today’s temperature and chemistry may differ. Names are as recorded in Japanese. Temperature and pH bands follow Japan’s standard for analysing hot springs.

Source: processed from the hot spring analysis data in the Geothermal Information Database (GRES-DB), Geological Survey of Japan, AIST

Worth seeing nearby

Within 20 km in a straight line, nearest first. Some lie over a pass that is closed in winter.

Show the list
PlaceTypeDistance
Kimimachizaka Prefectural Natural Parkきみまち阪Nature2 km
Isedōtai Site伊勢堂岱遺跡Historic site6.2 km
Akita Prefectural Hokuou-no-mori Park秋田県立北欧の杜公園Park9.3 km
Garōkyō峨瓏峡Nature12 km
Subari Dam素波里ダムLandmark14.2 km

Chosen from the places most read about on Wikipedia, favouring those with an English article. Based on the Japanese Wikipedia lists of sights in each prefecture, as compiled in travel-log-data (CC BY-SA 4.0). English names from Wikidata (CC0). The content of this section is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Map

The weather map, and where it sits among nearby ski areas.

Official piste map ↗

We have not yet checked the family facilities (kids’ area, childcare, parking, rental) on the official site. See the official site ↗

Places to stay on the map

6 places within 12 km of the slopes, as mapped on OpenStreetMap, many of them small inns and pensions. Many are not on booking sites — open the name for the website or the map.

Nearest: 4.9 km

Show the nearest places

Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap

Other booking sites: Booking.com ↗ · Agoda ↗ · Rakuten Travelad ↗

“ad” marks links that pay us a commission if you book. Links without it are not affiliated.

Guides covering Akita

← Ski areas in Akita Compare with other ski areas →