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Nikko NP, Tochigi
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The reservoir beside Numappara Marsh feeds a pumped-storage plant whose pump-turbine was the first in the world to exceed a 500-metre pumping head: it reaches 528 metres. The plant began operating in 1973.
Numappara’s landscape began as an ancient lake. The Forestry Agency describes how volcanic ash accumulated there over time, turning the lake into the wetland visitors see today.
In 1695, the shogunate funded the Aizu Naka Kaido, a road passing through this area. Records say daimyo processions traveling for sankin-kōtai used it 4 times.
Numappara’s zazenso, or skunk cabbage, can generate enough heat to melt nearby snow. Its Japanese name means “Zen meditation plant”: the flower’s hood resembles a cave sheltering a meditating monk.
Forest green tree frogs breed around Numappara, laying their eggs in foamy clusters on branches over water. After about 1–2 weeks, the eggs hatch and tiny tadpoles tumble down into the wetland.
By 2023, deer had sharply reduced Numappara’s famous Nikko daylilies. In 2024, local volunteers, the city, park officials, 7-Eleven Japan and Tochigi Brex completed a roughly 1-kilometre protective fence around the marsh.
Buddhist ascetics used the route north of Numappara to worship a sacred spring on Mount Nasu’s western slope, a practice known as Hakuyuzan faith. A stone Buddha still stands along the forest path.
This 250-by-500-metre marsh supports about 230 plant species. Spring zazenso and blue gentian give way to early-summer daylilies, summer irises and pink meadowsweet, then autumn gentian.
