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Nikko NP, Tochigi
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At the former Nasu Imperial estate, then-Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko sometimes joined researchers in the field. Their 1997–2001 inventory recorded 3,492 species, including 23 then-undescribed species and 25 first records for Japan.
A road divides part of the forest, so an animal bridge was built for tree-dwelling wildlife. Just after midnight on October 23, 2011—the day after it was completed—a camera caught a Japanese dormouse crossing, though staff thought it might already be hibernating.
Winter cameras have recorded both white and brown Japanese hares here. A ranger account identifies them as the white-coated Tohoku form and brown Kyushu form—two regional types sharing the same forest.
In 2008, about 560 hectares—nearly half the Nasu Imperial Villa grounds—passed to the Environment Ministry so the public could experience nature there. Nasu Heisei-no-Mori opened on May 22, 2011.
A woodpecker’s old nest hole can become a ready-made home: dormice, flying squirrels, owls, bees, bats and tits may move in. The Learning Forest has 4 resident woodpecker species that help create these valuable cavities.
In one May camera survey, rangers recorded 2 black-bear families in the forest at once: one cub was born that spring, while the other was in its second year. Bear cubs are born during winter hibernation.
Two kinds of bamboo grass grow together here: Miyako-zasa has hairy leaf undersides, while Chishima-zasa is smooth on both sides. Their overlap reflects the forest’s position between Pacific-side and Japan Sea climate zones.
Komadome means “horse-stopping”; local lore says even travelers’ horses paused to admire the falls. Once hidden from ordinary visitors behind the imperial estate’s restricted grounds, the cascade was also known as the “phantom waterfall.”
This is a recovering forest, not untouched primeval woodland: parts were cut for charcoal, planted or grazed by horses. Surveys documented coppiced trees and earthen banks thought to mark old pastures; some areas have regrown naturally for nearly 100 years.
The beech woods on the slope beside the Yosasa River are part of Japan’s Monitoring Sites 1000 network. The program aims to track nature at more than 1,000 sites for over 100 years, so slow changes here can be measured across generations.
