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Aso-Kuju NP, Oita
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More than 20 volcanoes stretch about 15 km across the Kuju range. Mt Naka, at 1,791 m, is the highest summit on mainland Kyushu; eastern and western peaks face each other across the Bogatsuru grassland.
On October 11, 1995, a steam-driven eruption on Mt Hossho sent ash as far as Kumamoto City, about 70 km away. The eruption opened a chain of new vents along the mountainside.
Designated a Natural Monument in 1962, the Kuju lingonberry colony marks the plant’s southern limit in Japan—and is its only known growing place in Kyushu.
Mt Ofune’s Miyama-kirishima azaleas were designated a Natural Monument in 1961. The colony spreads across the ridges and western slopes, growing above roughly 1,000 m.
The paired Bogatsuru and Tadewara wetlands together cover 91 hectares. Set at about 1,200 m and 1,000 m, respectively, they form one of Japan’s largest areas of intermediate mire.
After spring burning stopped at Bogatsuru in the late 1960s, it resumed in March 2000—with 150 local and volunteer participants, after a 32-year gap. The burns help maintain the wetland landscape.
Oka domain lord Nakagawa Hisakiyo is buried at about 1,400 m on Mt Ofune. Taketa City preserves a special saddle thought to have been used when attendants carried him up the mountain.
Of Mt Ofune’s crater remnants, Oike alone still holds water. In autumn, the lake reflects the red foliage of maples and dodan azaleas growing around its rim.
Kuju’s last large magma eruption occurred about 1,700 years ago, sending lava from the volcano that formed Kurodake. The range’s many peaks were shaped by volcanic activity over time.
A year-round pool near Mt Naka, called Mii-ke, was once a focus of water-source worship in the range. The Ministry of the Environment describes this mountain faith as part of Kuju’s early history of climbing.
