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Towada-Hachimantai NP, Akita
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Amidaike lies near the former summit of a volcano that collapsed about 11,000–13,000 years ago. The surrounding peaks are remnants of its old rim, enclosing a pool in the mountain’s caldera.
Nearby Medake erupted from September 1970 into January 1971, sending out lava and repeating small explosions. The activity was comparatively gentle, and many people gathered on nearby ridges to watch.
Around Akita-Komagatake, insect-catching mushitorisumire gets nutrients from tiny prey, while komakusa sends roots more than 1 m into shifting gravel. Their unusual habitats are part of what makes the mountain’s plant life special.
Akita-Komagatake’s alpine plant belt became a national Natural Monument on February 24, 1926. Its designation highlights the area’s distinctive northern Japanese alpine plants, including colonies of komakusa and insect-catching mushitorisumire.
Akita-Komagatake’s highest peak is 1,637 m—too low to have a true alpine zone by strict classification. Yet exposed summit conditions and volcanic disturbance help sustain a broad “pseudo-alpine” belt of mountain plants around Amidaike.
Lingering snow around Amidaike and the nearby Jōdodaira wetland delays the flower show. As it melts, chinguruma spread across the newly exposed ground; local records note late snowbeds melting around early August.
Spring arrives late on this high mountain: an Environment Ministry ranger photographed mountain cherry blossoms on Akita-Komagatake between June 13 and 18, while other alpine flowers were already blooming along the trails.
Behind Amidaike’s mountain hut, Jōdodaira wetland is known for great clusters of tiny hinazakura. Come autumn, the flowers give way to the delicate blue blooms of miyama-rindō gentian.
For historic worshippers, Amidaike was more than a mountain pool. They purified themselves at Shirataki, passed the rocky Five Hundred Arhats area, visited the pond, and continued to pray at the summit.
In 1924, local resident Chiba Chūichirō paid to open the Kinjūrō ridge trail up Akita-Komagatake. Just 2 years later, the mountain’s alpine plant belt—including the area around Amidaike—was designated a Natural Monument.
In 1968, Tazawako Town held its coming-of-age ceremony near Amidaike, about 1,530 m above sea level—a memorable local milestone celebrated high on the mountain rather than in town.
