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Towada-Hachimantai NP, Aomori
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Tsutanuma’s famous fiery dawn isn’t simply red foliage: the surrounding beech-and-oak woods are usually yellow, but sunrise briefly paints them crimson. When the water is still, the pond doubles the color in its mirror.
Tsutanuma’s 1-km shoreline sits in the aftermath of Mt. Akakura’s ancient collapse. An estimated 100–300 million m³ of debris swept down the mountain, blocked drainage and left hollows that filled to form the area’s ponds.
A ranger’s list of Tsutanuma fish includes char, carp and kokanee salmon, plus the roughly 5-cm ibara-tomiyo, or ninespine stickleback—a tiny fish with a row of sharp spines along its back.
A surprising helper in the beech forest’s recovery was livestock: after early-20th-century army land purchases, farmers moved cattle and horses into these hills. They ate sasa, opening the understory, while selective woodcutting let beech seedlings grow.
The “Seven Ponds of Tsuta” have a small catch: the usual loop visits six. The seventh, Aka-numa, lies about 2 km northwest, away from the lakeside trail.
At the start of the Tsutanuma walk, nearby Tsuta Onsen brings a thousand years of human history into the forest: its earliest written record dates to 1147. Later, pilgrims bound for Towada Shrine stopped here to soak.
The pond loop passes through a changing landscape: damp woods of horse chestnut and Japanese wingnut gradually give way to beech forest. The route reveals how the land shifts from wetland to woodland, not just from pond to pond.
