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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Shizuoka
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On a Hacchoike slope, 60% of beeches at least 1 m across have their first branches below 3 m. Researchers link these low limbs to open woodland shaped by Edo-era charcoal cutting.
Izu wasabi’s story begins in Amagi: in 1744, forest warden Itagaki Kanshiro reportedly brought home seedlings in thanks for teaching shiitake growing. Springs from Amagi’s forests still nourish Izu’s wasabi fields.
Amagi’s shogunal forest supplied charcoal under contracts from 1759. By about 1817, many sites were depleted; resting them before reopening let charcoal-making continue on the mountain through at least 1863.
At nearby Hacchoike, forest green tree frogs lay white, foamy egg masses on branches above the water. When the eggs hatch, tadpoles drop from their treetop nursery into the pond below.
Beech and hime-shara grow together in an unusual community around Hacchoike. Forestry officials say this distinctive beech-forest type has no counterpart in forests managed by other regional forestry bureaus.
Though often called a crater lake, nearby Hacchoike is a fault lake: movement along a fault created a hollow at the head of a valley, where water collected beside the beech and hime-shara woods.
The nearby pond’s name suggests an 8-cho circumference—about 870 m—but Izu City says the actual rim is only about 560 m. Because suzudake bamboo once surrounded it, it was also called Aosu Pond.
Late spring brings Amagi rhododendron, a flower endemic to the Izu Peninsula. The Ministry of the Environment calls it a signature flower of Amagi, and its blossoms draw hikers to the mountains.
Hime-shara, a companion of the beech, has smooth bark that feels cool to the touch. An Environment Ministry ranger explains that the tree’s water-conducting tissues lie close beneath its outer bark.
In monitored Amagi beech plots, plant variety within individual plots tended to rise as deer-browsed sasa bamboo declined. Yet different plots became more alike as favored plants disappeared and common, less-palatable species remained.
Emperor Showa visited Hacchoike in 1930. In 1978, the forest around Amagi Pass was designated “Showa no Mori” in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his reign.
In winter, Hacchoike can freeze over; locals have even used it as a natural skating rink. It’s an unexpected bit of community life beside the beech woods.
