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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Yamanashi
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On 18 April 1956, sixth-grader Shingo Sakamoto found a 2-cm algae ball; his principal named it Fujimarimo. Another pupil’s summer-project specimen survived 52 years in his family’s care, and DNA confirmed its Yamanaka origin.
For about 4½ months, the setting sun meets Fuji’s summit from different spots around Lake Yamanaka. The viewing route travels along the shore, then reverses direction after the winter solstice.
Wakasagi weren’t native to the Fuji Five Lakes: in 1919, eggs from Lake Kasumigaura were stocked in Yamanaka and Kawaguchi. Today, Yamanaka’s fish are eaten whole and simmered into sweet-savory kanroni.
Resident mute swans descend from 4 birds brought from Ube in 1968. Wild whooper swans are separate winter visitors; Yamanakako village describes the lake as their highest and southernmost regular wintering site.
Lake Yamanaka is the only Fuji Five Lake with a natural river outlet. Its Katsura River becomes the Sagami in Kanagawa, flows 113 km to Sagami Bay, and helps supply about 60% of Kanagawa’s water.
A 16th-century text attributed to Fuji-worship founder Hasegawa Kakugyō lists Lake Yamanaka among the waters where he performed ritual ablutions. It became a lasting stop on the Inner Eight Lakes pilgrimage.
For the annual Anzan Festival at Yamanaka Suwa Shrine, local tradition says Toyotama-hime crosses Lake Yamanaka to visit the shrine. Women praying for safe childbirth join the procession, holding onto the mikoshi-bearers as they circle and chant.
At the 2026 Ice Candle Festival, Tama Art University students arranged about 5,000 candles into a giant whale—a nod to a local way of seeing Lake Yamanaka’s outline.
Lake Yamanaka is the largest and highest of the Fuji Five Lakes, at 980.5 m above sea level, yet also the shallowest: its maximum depth is about 13.3 m. In severe winters, its entire surface can freeze over.
Some local histories say Fuji lava split a vast ancient Utsu Lake into Lake Yamanaka and a lake in the Oshino basin. Yamanashi researchers’ core study instead found separate histories for the old basins, rejecting the shared-lake theory.
