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Shikotsu-Tōya NP., Hokkaido
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Shikotsuko Onsen’s ice festival began in 1979 to enliven the quiet winter. Inns, boat crews and city workers built the first sculptures; today, crews spray lake water onto frames around the clock to grow them.
The Hime-masu served in Shikotsuko Onsen’s eateries arrived only in 1894, transplanted from Lake Akan. Locals call it “chip,” from Ainu cheppo in kapa-cheppo, “thin fish.”
At the Shikotsuko Shrine autumn festival, local youth and hotel staff carry a mikoshi—a portable shrine—right into the lake, praying for safe boating and prosperous business. Children have their own procession, too.
A grand Oji Paper guest villa was built in today’s onsen district in 1916 for Prince Kan'in. Moved uphill in 1960 as shops crowded the lakefront, it hosted Emperor Shōwa in 1961; he wrote a poem praising the maple leaves.
When its 1974 hot-spring source dwindled, Shikotsuko Onsen drilled anew: a well completed in 2013 yielded over 3× the flow and began supplying inns in 2014, adding chloride to the bicarbonate-rich water.
The fishery cooperative makes Hime Shizuku, a local fish sauce, from Hime-masu after spawning—an ingenious second use for the lake’s famous fish beyond its short summer catch.
“Shikotsu” was once the nearby river’s name; the lake was called Shikotsu-to. In 1805, officials renamed the river Chitose, inspired by local cranes and the saying “cranes live 1,000 years,” because Shikotsu seemed inauspicious in Japanese.
The lakeshore settlement began with Hime-masu hatchery workers, not resort builders. Around the park’s 1949 designation, it had about 100 residents and 7–8 simple stands, shops and eateries; a planned facilities district followed in 1952.
