In seasonNagano · Chino CityVOL.0 · 2026-W43
Autumn larches at Mishaka Pond
A pond built to fight crop failure that became the setting for Higashiyama Kaii's painting "Midori Hibiku."
Mishaka Pond was not dug for the view. This part of Oku-Tateshina, above 1,100 meters, was once said to yield rice only one year in three, and its water source, the Shibu River, ran cold and strongly acidic. The pond, completed in 1933, let farmers dilute and warm that water before sending it to the paddies, and harvests improved greatly. The water still sits around pH 4, and acid-loving chatsubomi moss grows on the bottom.
It is about 30 minutes by car from Suwa IC on the Chuo Expressway, deep in the forest at roughly 1,500 meters. The pond is known as the place the painter Higashiyama Kaii studied for his work "Midori Hibiku," and in autumn the surrounding larch, birch and rowan change color. Entry inside the embankment is prohibited, and you cannot walk down to the water.
The name is said to come from the area's past as a sacred hunting ground, where deer were shot as offerings for the Ontosai festival of Suwa Taisha's Kamisha shrine.
Highlights HIGHLIGHTS
- 01
About 30 min from Suwa IC
About 30 minutes by car from Suwa IC on the Chuo Expressway, in the Oku-Tateshina forest.
Source：Nagano Tourism Organization go-nagano.net - 02
The pond surface
At about 1,500 m, ringed by larch, birch and rowan that are mirrored in the water.
Source：Nagano Tourism Organization go-nagano.net - 03
The embankment (no entry)
The bank of the 1933 irrigation pond. Entry inside it is prohibited, and you cannot get close to the water.
Source：Nagano Tourism Organization go-nagano.net - 04
Tateshina Otaki Falls
About 15 min by car from the pond; a roughly 25 m fall, about a 10-min walk through old forest from the Pool-daira parking lot.
Source：Nagano Tourism Organization go-nagano.net
Sources and official information SOURCES
- OfficialNagano Tourism Organization go-nagano.nethttps://www.go-nagano.net/nature-and-outdoors/id16956
- SourceNagano Prefecture pref.nagano.lg.jphttps://www.pref.nagano.lg.jp/nochi/sangyo/nogyo/kiban/rekishi/documents/2001_misyaka.pdf
- SourceNagano Tourism Organization go-nagano.nethttps://www.go-nagano.net/nature-and-outdoors/id22332
Written by the APEX DRIVE editors from facts in the official sources above (not a copy of the official text).Last checked: . Details may change. Please check the official page before you go.