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Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan NP, Niigata
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Local businessman Tsukuda Noboru created the trail in 1991. While clearing it, he found a pond of blooming Asian skunk cabbage that looked like a mirage—and named the place Yumemidaira, “Dream-seeing Plain.”
Parts of the path follow a former forest-rail alignment. In logging days, horse carts carried timber along it to Kurohime Station, about 20 km away—a very different kind of trail traffic.
In spring, Japanese black salamander egg strings in Mino Pond swell into white sacs as they absorb water, while forest green tree frogs suspend foamy egg clutches on branches above the pond.
The trail’s interpretive history records an unusual pest-control plan: sawmill workers brought foxes from Hokkaido to curb rabbits that were eating young trees in the logging forest.
Today, this forested slope sits around 1,350 m above sea level. Niigata Prefecture says it was lake bottom about 25,000 years ago—a remarkable change in scenery.
A government sawmill once supported a forest settlement: more than 100 people worked there, and the housing area had an elementary school. The trail also passes the old school and charcoal-kiln sites.
A side trail leads to a katsura estimated at 300 years old. Niigata Prefecture gives its trunk circumference as about 10 m—a giant that’s easy to miss if you stick to the main loop.
A beech and a mizunara oak have grown shoulder to shoulder for about 200 years. Their close-growing pair is known as Enmusubi-no-ki—the “Matchmaking Tree.”
The trail’s Inari shrine was discovered in 1991 along an old path up Mt. Shindo. Myoko City says it likely dates to the Edo period; it was moved downhill to its present spot.
Beside the trail’s Inari shrine stand 2 giant mizunara oaks, known as the sacred trees Kamihiko and Michihime. Forest-class students have paused here to pray for safety and good health.
In mid-to-late May, white Asian skunk cabbage stands out against lingering mountain snow. Its showy white part is actually a bract, not a petal.
A local volunteer group began maintaining the trail in 1992, just a year after it was created. Since 2008, residents, city staff and forest managers have also joined spring flower walks here.
