Yakurai Garden Ski Area is a ski area in Miyagi, Japan, on slopes between roughly 203 and 364 m. Its mapped area is about 0.8 km across, with 1 marked run and 1 lift (about 0.5 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 139 cm of snowfall a season, 335th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. Its winters are fairly steady; even the leanest, 2015/16 (98 cm), reached 71% of the average. January is usually the snowiest month, with about 50 cm. Snowfall days average −1.1 °C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 377th of 397 in Japan.
Below are links to 2 official live cameras.
Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
Elevation range is estimated by sampling points across the ski area.
How much snow it gets
Measured by us across 3,069 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
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 deliberately excludes how much snow falls — it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind. Snowing a lot and snowing well are different things.
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km straight line. Measured the same way, so the ranks compare directly. Ski areas a few kilometres apart share a weather grid cell and can return the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Valley Izumi Kogen | 17 km | 146 cm | 1714 |
| Uenono Ski Area | 18 km | 178 cm | 1335 |
| Hanagasa Kogen Ski Area | 19 km | 321 cm | 401 |
| Izumigatake Ski Resort | 20 km | 146 cm | 1714 |
| Kurobushi Kogen Snow Park Jangle Jungle | 21 km | 302 cm | 472 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 42% 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 21 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 139 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 98 cm; the biggest was 2021/22 with 175 cm (1.8 times as much). For 63% of the 397 ski areas in Japan, the leanest winter was the same 2015/16: bad winters tend to hit a whole region at once.
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
Runs and lifts
Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Run map
The shape of the mountain
Which way the slopes face
100% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. Those slopes get the least sun, so the snow lasts longer.
By difficulty
Lift types
- Chairlift1
See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗
Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.
Live Cameras
This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. The nearest live view is the road below.
Road conditions decide whether you can get there at all. Check before you leave.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Hot springs nearby, as analysed
1 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 66.5 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 薬莱 | 2.8 km | 66.5℃ hot | 7.2 neutral | — | — |
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
Places within 20 km of this ski area, for a day off the slopes or an evening. Chosen from those most read about on Wikipedia, favouring places with an English Wikipedia article, and listed nearest first.
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Yakurai Gardenやくらいガーデン | Park | 0.4 km |
| Mount Yakurai薬萊山 | Mountain | 0.8 km |
| Ushino Dam牛野ダム | Nature | 13.6 km |
| Yūbikan有備館 | Historic site | 15.8 km |
| Ginzan Onsen銀山温泉 | Hot spring town | 16 km |
| Naruko Dam鳴子ダム | Nature | 19.9 km |
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
Where it sits relative to nearby resorts. For a piste map, see the official site.
Official piste map ↗Places to stay nearby
5 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| やくらい山荘 | ¥3,735 | 3.78 10 reviews | 2.0 km | JR古川駅から車で約45分。東北自動車道・大衡ICから車で約50分。 |
| ペンション ＫＡＭＩＦＵＪＩ | ¥4,950 | 4.33 16 reviews | 0.8 km | 古川駅よりお車にて約３０分／仙台駅よりお車にて約１時間 |
| たびの邸宅 やくらいコテージ | ¥5,400 | 3.75 54 reviews | 1.2 km | ＪＲ東北新幹線 ・陸羽東線 古川駅から車で約４０分 |
| たびの宿 やくらい林泉館 | ¥11,400 | 3.80 21 reviews | 1.4 km | 東北新幹線 古川駅よりお車にて約40分 |
| ホテルやくらいウエスト | — | — | 2.1 km | ＪＲ 古川駅よりお車にて約４０分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
4 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Nearest: 1.3 km
Nearest first
- Yakurai Rinsenkan Hotel 1.3 km
- 農家民宿 花袋天王 Guest house 1.5 km
- Kuroda Ryokan Hotel 5.9 km
- 陶芸の里 ゆ〜らんど Hotel 6.5 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52