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Towada-Hachimantai NP, Iwate / Akita
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A tiny hunter hides in the moss: sundew grows in Hachimannuma Wetland, where its red, sticky leaf hairs catch insects. A visitor-center ranger recorded it flowering here in July.
This isn’t one uniform bog. Surveys describe snowbed plant communities on Hachimannuma’s north side, while the south has thick mats of sphagnum moss—two different wetland worlds around one lake.
At the heart of the wetlands, Hachimannuma is a volcanic crater lake formed about 7,300 years ago. Its shoreline stretches roughly 1.5 km, with a boardwalk tracing the surrounding marsh.
Among the wetland blooms is hinazakura, a small white primrose characteristic of Tohoku’s alpine snowbeds. It has been recorded flowering around Hachimannuma as the snow clears.
Visitor trampling left 3,770 m² of Hachimannuma’s marsh bare. Restoration sowed seeds from local plants; a 10-year review reported marked recovery, with species including hinazakura among the plants thriving again.
On the adjacent summit trail, Kagami-numa’s “Dragon Eye” is made by snowmelt: the pond’s rim clears while ice remains in the center, creating the look of a giant eye in late spring.
The summit ponds are insect habitat too. Japan’s Environment Ministry lists Hachimannuma among high-altitude pools where mountain dragonflies and aquatic bugs are abundant, including the white-faced darter.
The southern boardwalk around Hachimannuma is nicknamed Kisuge Street. The name comes from the masses of Nikko daylilies that flower there in late July and early August.
Since 2016, the Hachimannuma wetland has been tracked in Japan’s Monitoring Sites 1000 program. Researchers revisit fixed plant plots and measure groundwater, air and soil temperatures.
