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Hakusan NP, Ishikawa
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A 2022 survey found a miniature wasp neighborhood in 5 holes in the center’s wooden wall, thought to have been pecked by birds: 169 wasps from 30 species and 10 families were recorded around them.
A 1934 flood buried Ichinose’s homes and hot springs under debris reportedly up to 30 m deep. The visitor-center site was rebuilt on that deposit; its parking-lot poplar grew only after the disaster.
The old Echizen pilgrimage route to sacred Hakusan ran through Ichinose. A record says Yūki Hideyasu, founder of Fukui Domain, bathed at its hot spring in 1606; later pilgrims lodged here.
Shiramine’s nutty tochimochi uses horse-chestnut seeds gathered in the Hakusan foothills. Their bitterness takes careful ash-alkali processing to remove—a demanding skill now kept by only a few specialist shops.
The “Million-kan Rock,” on the road between Shiramine and Ichinose, was carried downstream by the 1934 flood. It weighs about 4,800 tonnes—roughly 1.29 million old Japanese kan—hence its name.
Ichinose villagers once grew millet, buckwheat and beans on slash-and-burn fields, and carved beech and oak into hoe handles and snow shovels. When the road arrived in 1924, charcoal-making replaced silk raising.
On Hakusan, Japan’s westernmost alpine zone, over 100 plants reach the western edge of their range. The center’s flower exhibit explains that Hakusan-named plants were first discovered here—not found only here.
At Ichinose, invasive goldenrod sprouts on disturbed ground, so conservation teams track and remove it. Across Hakusan, volunteers had pulled about 9.4 tonnes of non-native plants by 2024, after 20 years of work.
