Kagamiike Pond was added to Your Favorites!
Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan NP, Nagano
Claim this place to tell your story your way.
Although it looks timeless, Kagamiike was built from 1969 to 1974 as a warm-water irrigation pond; its official pond-register name is Nishihara Pond. It stores cold mountain water so it can warm before reaching highland rice fields.
Before rice farming took hold in cold, high Togakushi, fields followed a different calendar: hemp grew through spring and summer, then buckwheat after the harvest. That autumn crop helped shape the area's famous soba tradition.
The national-park sign beside Kagamiike features a shell-fossil design—a clue to the jagged Togakushi Range across the water. Its rocks formed beneath an ancient sea, and marine fossils can still be found in the mountains.
A trail near Kagamiike passes a memorial to a radio first: on June 5, 1933, NHK broadcast Togakushi birdsong nationwide for the first time. The broadcast helped make the area's bird-rich forests famous across Japan.
A mirror needs upkeep: on October 10, 2024, a park ranger worked with Nagano City and the Togakushi Tourism Association to remove spreading water plants that could eventually cover the pond's reflective surface.
Kagamiike's bird life has its own calendar: hawks pass during spring and autumn migration, and kingfishers are among the birds spotted here. The pond's reflections can come with wings, too.
