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Saikai NPKujukushima, Nagasaki
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In 2023, about 150 residents and firefighters burned Kawachi Pass’s 30-hectare grassland in roughly 3 hours. This annual blaze reduces fire risk and encourages fresh shoots to green the slopes in spring.
Local legend says a poor salt seller left a pinch of salt on a stone by Kawachi Pass and prayed for 99 ships; he became Ōwatari Chōja, a great merchant. Hirado’s museum cautions this is legend, not settled history.
Though it looks wild, this grassland is a human-kept habitat: left alone, it would gradually become woodland. Annual burns preserve open ground where the endangered Taiwan hairstreak butterfly has been confirmed.
In late April and early May, around 10,000 Hirado azaleas bloom at Kawachi Pass—a colorful spring contrast to the silver pampas grass that later blankets the slopes in autumn.
Under the old Hirado domain, travelers heading for Nakano crossed Kawachi Pass. Nearby place-names still mark the route: Kagotateba, where the lord’s palanquin rested, and Chayanotsuji, a tea-house stop.
Before the panorama drew visitors, Kawachi Pass was working land: farmers grazed draft cattle here by day and cut kaya grass for thatched roofs. Grass was also gathered for animal feed and fertilizer.
Under Kawachi Pass’s 30-hectare grassland lies a basalt lava plateau, formed from a flow that originated on mainland Kyushu. It’s an unexpected volcanic foundation for this soft, open landscape.
Poet Isamu Yoshii praised Hirado’s clear mountains and beautiful sea in a tanka inspired by Kawachi Pass. A stone monument bearing the poem was erected here in 1957.
