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Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan NP, Niigata
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Sasagamine’s opening began around 1811, when wood-turning artisans came from Otari. In 1851, 24 households tried growing potatoes; disease wiped out the crop, and the settlement was abandoned in 1904.
A severe frost in July 1935 killed the cedars planted here just 3 years earlier. Locals replanted with cold-hardy German spruce seedlings brought from Hokkaido, working over 4 years to create today’s 54-hectare forest.
U tana no Shimizu releases about 4.8 million liters daily at a steady 6°C. Within just 1 meter of the spring, that water has already become a creek flowing toward Shimizugaike.
Beef from Black Wagyu and Japanese Shorthorn cattle grazed at Sasagamine is sold as Kubiki beef, named for the plain below. At Sasagamine Green House, the regular steak serving is a hearty 400 g; half is 200 g.
Dream Plain, at about 1,350 meters, was lake bottom around 25,000 years ago. Today, a forested slope and wetlands hide that ancient lake story beneath the beech and birch trees.
The Dream Plain trail follows old forest-railway ground and forestry work paths. A sawmill operated here from 1932 for about 20 years, and the workers’ settlement even had a school.
A side path at Dream Plain leads to a katsura tree estimated to be 300 years old, with a trunk circumference of about 10 meters. It’s a remarkable giant in a highland better known for its spruce forest.
Sasagamine’s grasslands are home to more than 90 butterfly species, including the chestnut tiger butterfly, or Asagimadara. The abundance of insects also draws birds, making the highland a noted birdwatching area.
Sasagamine’s 1,300-meter zone is a summer breeding ground for the Oriental honey-buzzard. This raptor has an unusual specialty: it feeds heavily on bees and wasps, including their larvae.
Each summer, Sasagamine’s 108-hectare pasture takes cattle from farmers across Niigata. The cooperative divides them into 3 herds and moves them among 17 paddocks for about 5 months, building fitness while easing farmers’ workload.
Water released from Sasagamine Dam, at 1,200 meters, takes about 10 hours to reach rice fields below. On the way, it also passes through 12 hydroelectric plants—one highland reservoir helps irrigate crops and generate power.
A small Inari shrine thought to date from the Edo period was found in the forest in 1991. It was moved from an old route up Shindoyama to its present spot along the Dream Plain trail.
In 2025, 53 volunteers and local partners removed 850 kg of invasive Rudbeckia around Sasagamine’s campground, trailhead and stream. It was the 14th year of the highland’s plant-removal campaign.
