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Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan NP, Nagano
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Local legend says Kamaike was formed by the tears of a mythical serpent. It’s a story passed down about the pond—not its scientific explanation.
Environmental Ministry learning material says Kamaike is thought to fill a hollow left by a landslide about 1 km wide—a peaceful-looking pond born from a dramatic shift in the mountainside.
At the pondside Bunarintei rest house, the menu follows the seasons: the park guidebook highlights wild-vegetable soup in early summer, mushroom soup in autumn, and dandelion coffee.
Some beeches around Kamaike are about 300 years old. Their canopy surrounds the mirrorlike pond, so a still moment on the water reflects trees that were already growing here centuries ago.
Crucian carp and trout live in Kamaike, and Nagano’s tourism site adds a local-sounding twist: a particularly large koi is said to be the pond’s “master.”
In Kamaike’s beech forest, one tree can feed and shelter its neighbors: squirrels and birds eat the nuts, owls and flying squirrels use tree hollows, and woodpeckers forage on dead trunks.
Look low on some beech trunks: their bases curve because heavy snow pressed the young trees over. The bent wood is a natural clue to how deeply winter settles into this mountain forest.
Kamaike’s guided forest-therapy program includes an unusual invitation: lie down among the beeches. The village’s forest-therapy group describes this as a popular part of the experience.
The mountains around Kamaike were also a local pantry and workplace: woodcutters, hunters, and gatherers of mountain vegetables and mushrooms used them. Farther down, the Itoigawa Salt Road helped Otari’s post towns grow.
Kamaike means “Sickle Pond”: Nagano’s tourism site says its outline resembles the curved blade once used to cut grass. The pond’s crescent shape is written right into its name.
