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Daisetsuzan NP, Hokkaido
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Two butterflies that visit Daisetsuzan’s alpine flower meadows—the Eversmann’s Parnassian and Freija fritillary—occur nowhere else in Japan. These cold-loving survivors of the ice age are now confined to high mountains.
Kamuy Mintara, the Ainu name for Daisetsuzan, is often translated as “the gods’ playground”—a fitting name for its flower-covered heights. Each year, an Ainu ceremony at Asahidake’s foothill prays for visitors’ safety.
About 250 alpine plant species are recorded in Daisetsuzan’s high country—roughly 40% of Japan’s alpine flora. Many likely reached these slopes from North Asia, the Okhotsk–Bering region, or Honshu.
Around Sugatami, exposed slopes and wind-sheltered snowbeds form a botanical mosaic: different plants suit each patch, and late-melting snow delays flowering. Nearby spots can therefore be blooming at different stages.
After its cream-colored flowers fade, chinguruma develops feathery seed heads shaped like a tiny cart wheel—hence its Japanese name, “child’s cart.” Plants on rocks can produce more flowers and seeds because rocks thaw early.
Aerial-photo mapping found Chishima bamboo had doubled across Asahidake’s 1,300–1,800 m slopes between 1977 and 2012. In 2022, local conservationists began testing bamboo cutting near Sugatami to protect wet meadows.
