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Oze NP, Gunma
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A decades-old pull-tab can surfaced beside Yamanohana’s boardwalk, a relic of Oze’s litter crisis. The 1972 carry-your-trash campaign led to more than 1,400 bins being removed the next year—and spread nationwide.
At Ozegahara’s treeless pools, forest tree frogs often lay their foamy egg masses at the water’s edge instead of on overhanging branches. The visitor center’s nearby research-garden map highlights these nests as something to look for.
A tiny hunter grows in the research garden: sundew leaves glisten with sticky droplets that trap and digest insects. Its white flowers rise on tall stalks, helping keep visiting pollinators above the leaf-traps.
Oze’s deer are seasonal visitors: deep snow prevents them from wintering here, so they arrive from the Nikko region in spring and return there in winter. Their browsing has become a concern for wetland plants around Yamanohana.
A 2013 deer-proof test fence in Yamanohana’s research garden let favored plants grow larger and flower more. A larger barrier, installed from 2020, now protects about 126,000 m² as part of this living restoration effort.
Mount Shibutsu beside Yamanohana holds Oze’s only serpentine outcrops, formed about 230 million years ago. Rare Oze-so was first discovered there; the rock’s unusual chemistry helps specialized plants persist.
The steep upper trail from the research garden to Mount Shibutsu is uphill-only to protect both hikers and plants. Descending hikers often left the difficult path, trampling vegetation and worsening soil erosion.
The white “petal” of Oze’s iconic mizubashō isn’t a petal or a flower: it is a protective bract. The true flowers are tiny yellow dots packed onto the central spike, easy to overlook on the wetland walk.
