Nasu Heisei-no-Mori Field Center was added to Your Favorites!
Nikko NP, Tochigi
Claim this place to tell your story your way.
A 1997–2001 survey of 3 areas of the former Imperial Villa grounds recorded 3,492 species. At the time, 25 were first records for Japan and 23 were still undescribed.
Snowy-season surveys found hares that turned white and others that stayed brown. Researchers tentatively identified them as Tohoku- and Kyushu-type hares, suggesting Nasu may lie near the boundary of their ranges.
A small animal bridge helps tree-dwelling wildlife cross the road that divides parts of the forest. Just after it was completed on October 22, 2011, a camera caught a Japanese dormouse crossing after midnight.
Reviewing camera images, a ranger inferred that 2 black-bear families were raising cubs in the forest at the same time. Cubs were recorded in 3 successive years—a revealing glimpse, not a population count.
This is not untouched old-growth forest: before becoming Imperial Villa land, much of it was used for pasture or coppiced for firewood. Some areas have been left to recover naturally for nearly 100 years.
Across 15 year-round cameras, normalized photo detections rose from 2015 to 2023 about 3.5-fold for wild boar and 9-fold for deer—not a literal headcount. Boar images plunged during the 2021 swine-fever outbreak, then rebounded.
About 560 hectares—roughly half the Nasu Imperial Villa grounds—was transferred to the Environment Ministry in 2008, following Emperor Akihito’s wish to share its nature with the public. The forest opened in 2011.
The former Nasu Imperial Villa, whose grounds included this forest, was completed in 1926. It was the first Imperial Villa built after Crown Prince Hirohito’s marriage in 1924, following his visit to Nasu in 1923.
The Field Center stands between 2 zones: Fureai no Mori is open for independent visits, while Manabi no Mori is entered only on guided walks. Visitors clean their shoes first to help keep out non-native seeds and disease.
The forest opened on May 22, 2011, International Day for Biological Diversity. Local Nasu Elementary pupils set off on its very first guided walk; the first public-booking walk followed at 1 p.m.
The beech forest on the Yosasa River slope is one of Japan’s Monitoring Site 1000 study areas, where long-term changes in the natural environment are tracked. Researchers also monitor the forest’s rivers, plants, and wildlife.
