Kitakami Mountains, Hayachine Quasi-National Park

Kitakami Mountains is a mountain range in northeastern Honshu, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. The range extends for 250 kilometres from the southern border of Aomori Prefecture in the north to the northern border of Miyagi Prefecture in the south, and are bordered by the Kitakami River valley in the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east, with an average width of around 80 kilometres.The Kitakami Mountains are thus mostly located within eastern Iwate Prefecture. The range is largely an eroded plateau with a thick granite bedrock, thus accounting for its other name: Kitakami Plateau. In the north, the mountains are characterized by marine terraces at an altitude of around 300 meters, whereas in the south, the mountains are drowned to form a deeply indented rias coast. ()