Hide-and-Seek: mysterious Trichosanthes cucumeroides in a concrete-jungle

When early winter comes, we can sometimes find bright orange fruits dangling within forests of Yokohama. By then, autumn leaves are ending, and the scenery in the forest turns into dark green and brown. So, the orange color stands out. It’s Trichosanthes cucumeroides, aka Japanese Snake Gourd, a climbing plant endemic in China and Japan. The fruit is well-known here, but not many people have seen flowers of them. Well, to have a fruit, a plant needs flowers, doesn’t it? Of course, Trichosanthes cucumeroides has flowers. The reason not many people have noticed them is, it opens only after sunset. Wondering into a dark forest is not a popular sport, and so flowers for Trichosanthes cucumeroides are not known widely. But, it does not mean the flowers are not seen actually. The case in point: one early August morning very near from my home, a typical suburb of Yokohama with lots of houses and concreted car roads, I noticed Trichosanthes cucumeroides is profusely blooming over a wire fence covering a culvert. They were flowering about 2m down from a parapet of the bridge of a main street, without being noticed by busy commuters of the city. 

A typical bush of Trichosanthes cucumeroides found in a autumn forest of Kanagawa.
 The orange dots in this photo are its fruits.

Young flower buds of Trichosanthes cucumeroides found in Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 this July.
 The time of their flowering is August in Yokohama.

When the sun rises, the flowers of Trichosanthes cucumeroides look like rolled-up cotton balls (and so is my photo.). The fully bloomed 5-petaled flower is like a white star with lots of complicated threads encircling the flower-body. When the sun set, their bud starts to open and completes in several minutes to show off their delicately-laced flower. They set up their night shop in haste for welcoming long-mouthed Sphingidae that can pollinate them in spite of a thin funnel-like structure of their pistils and stamens. Theirs is business of limited edition: after a week or so of opening, a flower of Trichosanthes cucumeroides closes its door. Hmmmmmmmm … They are like samba dancers of favelas in Rio de Janeiro. To stand out in dark summer nights, they have a strikingly white flower with halo-like ornament on their back that can be deployed quickly. All year long, they must have been preparing for their carnival of just a week. It’s a wonder of the nature how they manage to spread so swiftly such a complex structure without being entangled (; this You Tube video shows their process captured by a high-speed camera). They are strong. They don’t care the concreted space over a culvert. As long as there is some soil for them to establish, it’s OK. That’s amazing! 

This is what I found early morning.

They are looked like these before sun-set.

But during night, they open their petals.
 I’m so sorry for this out-of-focus photo …
 It’s the best shot I managed with my smart phone.
 You see? The place was dark,
 and the flowers were near the bottom of the culvert …

Unlike its Indian cousin, Snake Gourd with long snake-like fruits, Japanese Snake Gourd has only a round fruit. It contains peculiarly-shaped seeds covered by slimy fibers. (The slime makes it easy for birds to spread the seeds as poops.) Some of our ancestors thought they were similar to a magic gavel, called a “Malletof Luck 打出の小槌” held by a legendary Buddhist monk of China named Hotei 布袋. Hotei symbolizes wealth and abundance and his mallet is a cornucopia that materializes fortune by just one swing. So! Seeds of Trichosanthes cucumeroides are a talisman that can invite lots of money to your wallet!!! And then, what’s good for your bank account is good news. Hence, the language of flowers for Trichosanthes cucumeroides in Japan is, “Good News,” and “Sincerity” which is desirable characteristics for bankers, of course. OK, OK, OK … Huh, another language for the flower? “Misandry.” Oh dear ... Why do these words coexists in Trichosanthes cucumeroides? 

When you open a fully-ripen fruit of
  Trichosanthes cucumeroides, it’s like this.

It’s Japanese version of cornucopia.

And they are the seeds of
  Trichosanthes cucumeroides.
 For me, they look more like croissants …

When I was a kid for a kindergarten decades ago, the area I’ve found flowers of Japanese snake gourd this summer was a vacant semi-riverbed covered with lots weeds. I remember we played hide-and-seek in the untamed grass field, could be with Trichosanthes cucumeroides. That was a thrilling sport for 4 years’ olds. Come to think of it, I did not have any “shocking” feeling to find Trichosanthes cucumeroides anywhere in the forest. I may have been accustomed to be around them thanks to the hide-and-seek … Before long, housing development drained our playground completely, built a well-paved road connected to the main street, and made sprouting more than 10 detached houses along the alley. By then, we kids were busy in homework, entrance exams for grade schools, and jobs. The beloved place for hide-and-seek was completely disappeared together with our memory … so I thought. Then, this summer, I’ve suddenly noticed Trichosanthes cucumeroides flowering under the concrete bridge, almost hiding from the eyes of busy city folks. It’s like, “A Man-hater night lady wears a gorgeous white dress with intricately laced collar. She may have a superpower of attracting large sum of money. Though, honestly she does not care to attract humans whose utility for her is far lower than that of Sphingidae.” Now I found them in a concreted and sweltered city. Are they doing another hide-and-seek? 

If you find a problem in the Forests of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-671-2881
FAX: 045-641-3490

http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/kankyo/

A Quick Introduction to Outing to the Riverside in Japan: Play It Safe 101

It’s HOT! Basically Japanese summer is very humid, e.g. 80% or above humidity, always. This year, the dampness often dances with extremely high temperature, like 38 or 40C◦. I’ve heard a conversation, “Well Jakarta is far cooler now than in Tokyo, honestly.” OK, OK, OK. So, we in Megalopolis Tokyo are devising remedial measures to cope with the reality. Let’s go to riverside! Japanese culture has lots of traditional ways to summer with river. You may know tourists’ attractions like shows of fishing with cormorants 鵜飼 (for example, here or here), having banquets on houseboat (for example in Tokyo Bay, here or here), or watching fireworks on the riverside. Er, well, it would be nice to feel a breeze from a river during those shows, but they are (A) expensive, and/or (B) for you to cram yourself in a limited space of a city. Take Sumida River Fireworks Festival 隅田川花火大会; it attracts more than 1 million people within 2.5km² along Sumida River 隅田川. Looking up to see fireworks with 1 million people situating shoulder-to-shoulder in humidity 80% at 35C◦ would be … not for cool breeze, I guess. There is another up-to-date kind of summering with Japanese rivers. That is BBQ or picnic on the riverside in forests.

Having said that, strolling and having lunch on riverbed
 can be relaxing during spring.
 It’s a scenery along Arakawa River 荒川 in March.

But during mid-summer,
 rivers in the city cannot offer much retrieve
 compared with the streams in the mountain
 … It’s Tsurumi River 鶴見川 this august.
 The banks are deserted, aren’t they?

Kanagawa Prefecture 神奈川県 has many rivers with dry riverbed when weather is nice. So people go there with cooler boxes staffed with foods and drinks. We set up a tent for shade, and prep for a riverside party. Nice, isn’t it? Yeah, but before that, a basic info: Japanese rivers and riverbeds are the property of the government. The biggest or the nationally important ones are owned by the national office. For smaller ones, prefectural or municipal governments take the ownership. In any case, the national government delegates day-to-day management of the rivers to local governments so that local offices have actual jurisdiction over the usage of Japanese rivers. They are responsible for flood control and environmental conditions of the rivers. Inevitably, there are several protocols for picnic with rivers. Let me list them.

The riverbank of Sagami River 相模川 near Samukawa Water Intake Facility 寒川取水堰.
 Sagami River and its riverbeds are owned by the national office,
 and Kanagawa 神奈川県 and Yamanashi Prefectures 山梨県 are
 commissioned to manage it within each border.
 The Kanagawa Prefectural Office has built
 an athletic field-cum-retarding basin here.

1.     Not all riverbeds are safe.

It would be a common sense. Especially in Japan, many rivers are short and rapid with upstream dams for flood control. May be due to global warming, these several years we are having sudden and unexpectedly heavy downpours in deep mountains around such dams. A short and small river can quickly turn into a wide muddy stream and running down to the downstream riverbed within 10 minutes. The place you think is safe enough for picnic can abruptly be swallowed up by Tsunami-like river water, even under sunny blue sky. So,

A) Please check locals beforehand if it is safe for pitching a tent for your BBQ or picnic at your chosen riverbed. If they recommend not to, just follow their local knowledge.

B) During the consultation, locals can tell you if there would be emergency sirens or the notices issued by the authority when the imminent danger is coming. Please do take this information seriously and follow the local instruction if you unfortunately are facing such calamity. Where is the megaphone for the sirens? Where can the officers come to let you know the time to escape? Which direction is safe if the muddy water chases you? You must make it sure at least these points, and be ready for such contingencies.

One day, we’ve found trashes
 beneath Yadoriki-ohashi Bridge 寄大橋 in Tanzawa 丹沢.
 Disgusting … who did it?

And a week later,
 the riverbed beneath the Bridge was almost cleared …

We found only a chair at 10m below of the weir.
 The thing is,
 during that week no substantial rain came in Yokohama,
 and it was difficult for us to imagine
 Yadoriki River 寄沢 had such a massive flow
 to push down the garbage.
 Hmmmmmmmmmm.

2.     Don’t underestimate Japanese river.

A) Yeah, ours are tiny, but often rapid, or hiding swift stream underneath. These days, lots of city folks come to a riverside, having a beer party, jumping into a river laughing, and drawn dead due to the ferocious torrent. This newspaper article is one of the recent ones calling our attention to the issue. Be very prudent, please.

B) Tiny rivers in Japanese mountains are almost always surrounded by forests. In order to stop forest fires, unless the place is designated, fire is prohibited in all the riverbeds in Japan. You’d better check if you can BBQ over there, first. Otherwise, you’ll be charged by criminal offense.

A riverbed of Ushiro-zawa Stream ウシロ沢 running on the south-west slope of
 Mt. Nabewari 鍋割山 (ASL 1272m) of Tanzawa.
 Yeah, when it’s a fine day, the river width is not much
 but the water runs very rapidly.
 Moreover, tiny but high water falls
 join with the stream here and there,
 and we find lots of large rocks with sharp edges along the river.
 i.e. When it rains,
 this refreshing small flow becomes destructive torrent
 gouging out the porous soil of Tanzawa.

On the riverbed Yadoriki-sawa River 寄沢,
 any fire usage is prohibited.
 Instead, people can come for sun-bathing
 and have sandwiches.

3.     Often a nice picnic riverbed is attached to a business right.

A) The most obvious one is fishing rights. It’s safe to think all the attractive rivers in Japan are covered by fishing rights of some fisheries cooperatives. Do you know even the estuary of Tama River 多摩川 of Tokyo-Kanagawa is divided by the rights of several cooperatives who fish for Conger-eel, aka Anago あなご, for sushi? So, if you go fishing in Japanese river, please check first where to buy an appropriate fishing license. Otherwise, your deed can be a theft punishable by a jail-time.

B) OK, you plan to have a BBQ party on that riverbed. But is it allowed to do so? You see, if no one looks, weekend revelers can trash the place with garbage, play loud music without thinking the residents nearby, leave poops et al anywhere, and, for the worst case, invite crimes. So, municipalities often request local business to watch for the manner of visitors by giving them business rights on the riverbed. The nicer the riverbed, the more lucrative for business. Almost all the nice-looking BBQ places in Japan are covered by local BBQ proprietary these days. Before start a fire with your charcoal, you’d better know if it is OK to bring your BBQ gear to that riverbed. The place could be only for the customers who borrow such things from the vender situated nearby. Making trouble with them would be charged by an obstruction of business. 

A sign of selling fishing license
 for Hinata River 日向川 on the foot of Mt. Oyama 大山 (ASL 1252m).

Doshi River 道志川 is famous
 for its large choices of camping and BBQ sites.
 (For Doshi River, pls see my previous posts in last January and February.)
 It’s Lower Doshi area,
 Aone community 青根 of Kanagawa Prefecture,
 where we can recognize the camping business
 down there along the river.

Huh, you may think these are all the cumbersome rules for your summer ... er, well, it’s your choice to think so … One anecdote. On August 13, 1999, there were lots of campers who used the informal riverbed of Kurokura River 玄倉川 pouring into Lake Tanzawa 丹沢湖. There suddenly came typhoon rain around 15:00, and the water level of the river got rapidly higher. Upstream is KurokuraDam 玄倉ダム as an intake weir that protects Miho Dam 三保ダム of Lake Tanzawa, one of the main water sources for 9 million people in Kanagawa Prefecture. The authority saw the danger of an outburst in Kurokura Dam and decided to open the gate if the time comes. From 15:20, the dam officers ran around the area calling for evacuation, but 21 people from Yokohama poo-pooed the warning and stayed on the riverbed. At 20:06, the dam asked local police to enforce the evacuation of those “remained,” and at 20:20 Kurokura Dam reached the limit to open the gate. At 21:10, their camping site became a sandbank within a violently muddy stream that prevented the police, firefighters etc. from reaching to their place. After midnight, the main mass of the typhoon clouds hit the area, and August 14 was the day of rescue and search by the emergency rangers of the Japanese Defense Force in the storm and the angry river. 13 dead bodies of them, including a 1-year old baby girl, was found in Lake Tanzawa. The authority even opened the gate of Miho Dam to find them, which was criticized because it could cause water shortage among 9 million people if the weather condition was worsened. Not much sympathy for those campers was found in the public.

… so they tried to drain the Lake Tanzawa
 for finding a body of a baby …
 Looking Kurokura River joining with the Lake Tanzawa,
 at the bottom of this photo.

In Yamakita Town 山北町,
 there are wide riverbeds
 in the downstream for Miho Dam in Sakawa River 酒匂川.
 No locals stay there for a long time.
 They know it.

Happy summering with Japanese rivers! Take care, and be prudent. Oh, yes, please don’t leave any garbage after your picnic or BBQ. 😉

The office of Kanagawa Prefecture which deals with the issues of rivers is

Division of Rivers, Prefectural Land Development Bureau 

神奈川県土整備局河川下水道部河川課
1 Nihon-Ohdori, Naka-ku, Yokohama, 231-8588
Phone: 045-210-1111
Fax: 045-210-8897

http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/docs/f4i/index.html

On Reincarnation: My Meditative Insect Observation in Yadoriki River 寄沢

What do you think they are?

Exhibit 1

Caddisflies (Trichoptera)

Duration of Adult Life (approx. ave. max): a week

Feeding as an adult: none

Exhibit 2

Stoneflies (Plecoptera)

Duration of Adult Life (approx. ave. max): two weeks

Feeding as an adult: none

Exhibit 3

Mayflies (Ephemeroptera)

Duration of Adult Life (approx. ave. max): a day

Feeding as an adult: none

Exhibit 4

Crane Fly (Tipulidae)

Duration of Adult Life (approx. ave. max): 10 days

Feeding as an adult: none

Exhibit 5

Protohermes grandis

Duration of Adult Life (approx. ave. max): two weeks

Feeding as an adult: none

Exhibit 6

Mnaiscostalis

Duration of Adult Life (approx. ave. max): 50 days

Feeding as an adult: meat-eater

Exhibit 7

Fireflies (Luciola)

Duration of Adult Life (approx. ave. max): two weeks

Feeding as an adult: none

They are larvae for aquatic insects all regularly found in Yodoriki River 寄沢 running through Yadoriki Water Source Forest やどりき水源林 of Tanzawa. Their presence is a good thing for us in Kanagawa Prefecture. Japanese Ministries of Environment and of Land, Transport and Infrastructure publish study guides for kids to try water quality testing (; the texts are retrievable from here and here). Both of them cite above babies of bugs to be found in the best quality water-flows in Japan. Yadoriki River is a tributary of Sakawa River 酒匂川 that provides roughly 1/3 of water for us, the City of Yokohama inclusive. Wonderful. One day, one of my senior Forest Instructors went deep upstream of Yadoriki River with an ambition to collect “pure” water from the source of the source. He reached there and found lots of these officially designated indicator species happily wriggling in a river bed of the transparent stream. Could he collect water for his best tea without catching them or their excrements? He decided not to try, and returned with his empty water bottle … A lesson learned: knowing a thing can sometimes limit your action.

Could you see something oblong in left corner of a plastic vessel?
 It’s a casing of a caddisfly larva.
 It collects particles of sand,
 glue them around its body with its excrement,
 and hide inside,
 probably dreaming for its very short adult days …
 FYI, We returned them after making an observation record.

Don’t you think there is something down there in the riverbed?

So I tried water-proof cover for my cell-phone
 to take a photo inside of the stream
 … Couldn’t catch any clear-cut shot
… but it’s an arty photo, isn’t it?

Utility-wise, finding them in our water source is re-assuring for sure … But after learning a bit of their life, I felt a sort of melancholy. Those bugs spend roughly 1 year (or 2-3 years for Protohermes grandis) as larva, to eat voraciously underwater ... Having larva of fireflies as pets is a hobby requires 300,000 -400,000 yen per year to purchase living pond snails to satisfy their appetite … They then become adults one day, within few days find their mate, lay eggs, and die. Many of them even do not eat during their very short adult days. Latin name of Mayflies, Ephemeroptera, says everything. Ephemeral. It’s just a fact of nature, and they don’t argue about it … How holy they are …

During the season of firefly mating,
 you can of course visit the places
 in the evening to watch their illuminated dance.
 But at least in Metropolitan Tokyo area,
 it’s a bit congested attraction.
 So, I recommend you to visit the places daytime,
 and quietly search for the bugs resting beneath the leaves.
 This guy was sleeping in Niiharu 新治市民の森 this summer.

Ditto in Yokohama’s Nature Observation Forest 横浜自然観察の森.

One day, in internet, I found a free fortune telling to predict my reincarnation. According to this, after the current cycle as a human, “You’ll be an insect. At least it won’t last long enough for you to suffer, so you should be happy about it.” … Yes, sure, indeed. Thank you, internet. I’m now looking forward to being a larva of crane fly in Yadoriki, inspected my junior Forest Instructors someday, and die quickly. Oh so divine!

A scene of Yadoriki River after heavy rain.
 Those larvae are surviving this …

By the way, if you visit Yadoriki Water Source Forest on 18, 19, 25 of this month, we Forest Instructors will assist you, free of charge and all the equipment provided, to hunt larvae of water insects from Yadoriki River. (Weather permitting, of course.) Please come to the entrance gate of the forest either at 10:00 or 13:00 during the above weekend. The temperature of Yadoriki Forest is at least 3°C lower than in downtown, always.😊

If you find an environmental issues in Tanzawa, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121 〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657

Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/

Magical forest of ferns: Kamikawai Citizen Forest 上川井市民の森

Probably with a very bureaucratic reason these days, the City of Yokohama opens one Citizen Forest 市民の森 per year. 2018 is the turn for Kamikawai Citizen Forest 上川井市民の森, opened on 1 April 2018. As of July 2018, no official internet description is available for this forest. But, it’s not a forest freshly designated within a sea of houses. Actually, it’s a sort of a gap area of 10.1 ha between Seya Citizen Forest (19.1 ha) 瀬谷市民の森 and Oiwake Citizen Forest (32.9 ha) 追分市民の森. For some time, the forest was left as a closed “grey area” within the North Forest of Yokohama’s Citizen Forests. I guess there were long negotiations between the landlords and the city for what to do with this place surrounded by 2 large citizen forests, the venerable Hodogaya Country Club 程ヶ谷カントリークラブ, and Seya Prefectural High School 神奈川県立瀬谷高校 … Anyway, now the place is opened as a Citizen Forest of Yokohama, and so, the continuation of the North Forests of Yokohama is complete, from Seya Citizen Forest to Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 via Yokohama Zoorasia. That’s something we should celebrate for environmental improvement, I think. Moreover, the Forest itself is, I tell you, magical!

Kamikawai Citizen Forest
 is there at the tip of a larger yellow arrow,
 next to the Hospital.

The access to Kamikawai Citizen Forest is the same for Seya, Oiwake, and Yasashi Citizen Forests 矢指市民の森. The nearest public transportation facility is Seibu Byoin-mae Bus Stop 西部病院前 for Sotetsu Bus #116 or Kanachu Bus #Sakai-21 (time table, here), from Sotetsu Mitsukyo Station 相鉄三ツ境駅. From the Stop to the entrance of the Forest, it’s about 100m: you’ve got the idea, haven’t you? You can spend ¥210 for one-way of the bus, or actually it’s just 1.3km from Mitsukyo Station. Although the route is slightly going up, walking is not that hard. When you walk from Mitsukyo Station, the road is lined with large cherry blossom trees; i.e. in spring it must be gorgeous. On your left we can see Tanzawa Mountains 丹沢山系 over there. In any case, first go to Yokohama City Seibu Hospital of St. Mariana Univ. School of Medicine 聖マリアンナ医科大学横浜西部病院, and the entrance to the Kamikawai Forest is (almost) on the other side of the road in front of the parking for the Hospital. Easy. Oh by the way, there is no toilet or potable water in Kamikawai or Seya Forests. Please complete whatever you need before you enter the Forests. 😉

The ticket gate of Mitsukyo Station.
 After exiting the gate, please immediately turn left.
 Then,

we cross an overpass above the bus terminal including
 for the service to the Hospital and beyond.
 Adelante, por favor,
 and go down the steps of the flyover.

In front of you at the foot of the stairs is this map
 showing us the route to the North Forests of Yokohama.

We can just follow the direction of the above map.
 On our way,
 there is this sign vouching for us the right direction.

The tree-lined route goes through a residential area ...

And brings us to the crossing with
 the 4-laned Nakahara Street 中原街道.
 Just keep going straight.

The road from the crossing to the north is
 somehow loved by local drivers.
 If we drive there,
 we can enjoy a ride within “calm forests.”
 Bonus: it is a shortcut to Route 246 and
 Yokohama-Machida IC of Tomei Express Way

And we soon meet Yokohama Seibu Hospital on our right.
 The photo was taken from the bus stop for services from Mitsukyo Station.
 It’s the core hospital for people living in the north-west of Yokohama.
 Corollary: when you have to come here, it’s serious.

In front of the Hospital Parking is this three-forked road
 with the traffic light named “Entrance to Seya High School”
  瀬谷高校入口.
 The entrance to Kamikawai Citizen Forest is
 at the tip of the arrow in this photo.

Here it is. 😄

Now the Kamikawai Forest is officially a member of Citizen Forests family, the combined area of Seya, Oiwake, Yasashi, and Kamikawai Forests is 67.2ha, same as the Niiharu Citizen Forest (; an info from a member for the Lovers of Niiharu, i.e., me; Niiharu would become larger this fiscal year). The newly-added forest is about 15% of the area, not so big. In addition, as it’s next to the Seya Forest, the differences in elevation between the points of 5 trekking roads for Kamikawai Forest are definitely smaller than in the other Citizen Forests. Walking here is not hard. Having said that, the Forest is a part of the sources for Izumi River 和泉川, a tributary of Sakai River 境川 pouring to Sagami Bay 相模湾 in Katase Beach 片瀬海岸 (which is the beach in front of Enoshima Island 江の島, and the place of a legendary Battle of Sexes between the goddesses and a dragon) of the City of Fujisawa 藤沢市. The Forest certainly has slopes that can be slippery. Comparing with the Seya Forest, the place is definitely wetter and so more insects’ bites could be common for visitors during the season. Wearing the standard hiking gear is the MUST. And that’s the reason why Kamikawai Forest is enchanted. It has a magnificent undergrowth of ferns.

4 adjacent forests for Yokohama’s North Forests

A map of Kamikawai Citizen Forest.
 The Forests is the area with “KA” points.
 You see? It has only 5 roads:
 KA1-KA2, KA2-KA3-KA4, KA1-KA4, KA1-KA5, and KA4-KA5.
 When we enter the forest from the entrance
 I’ve shown above, which is KA5,
 we can choose either KA1-KA5 or KA4-KA5 routes.
 This map can be found at KA1 and KA4.

KA2 point. KA1-KA2 is the road
 long-used for Seya Citizen Forest.
 On the right of this photo is Seya Forest.
 On the left is Kamikawai Forest.

So, KA1-KA2,
 or Nosakai-michi 野境みち for Seya Forest,
 has a feel more for the Seya Forest,
 i.e. relatively dry.

Around KA3,
 we cross a small wooden deck over a stream
 that is the source for Izumi River.

See? This part of the forest is wet.

When I’ve been there,
 I met lots of ground prowling insects,
 like Necrophila japonica (Motschulsky),
 or one with a shiny green back.
 (I could not take a photo of it!)
 This is a Carabus insulicola kantoensis Ishikawa et Ujiie,
 commonly found in Kanto area.
 It means the Forest can give them enough animal food to thrive.

Thanks to a long gestation period for opening, the roads within the Forest are still relatively soft. No gnarling roots of trees due to treading are exposed yet. The forest is mainly consisted of afforested cedars with occasional Quercus myrsinifolia, Cornus controversa, etc. all of which are at least 20m high. The next level of trees is familiar Acuba japonica, Trachycarpus fortune, and the other shade trees of so-so height. And the floor. I’ve been there just after a visit of a typhoon and the roads were still wet and the leaves were in fresh greens after showers. The fiesta of ferns and the creepers covered the forest floor with vivid hues of emerald. Polystichum polyblepharum, Stegnogramma pozoi ssp. Mollissima, Arachniodes Standishii … The atmosphere kept the moisture of tropical typhoon. The Forest practically looked like a tropical rainforest with rising mist at the height of my eyes. That was miraculous.

A scene along the route KA4-KA5

Beautiful Polystichum polyblepharum

I was welcomed by lots of mole hills.
 The ground was soft.

From KA4 to KA3, the road goes down.

The road KA2-KA3-KA4 was the most mysterious for me.

At least 4 kinds of ferns here …

KA1-KA5 runs along the motor road.
 Yet it preserves this charm.

I’m not sure how long the Forest could keep such wild freshness once it was opened as Yokohama’s Citizen Forest. The rangers of Yokohama Nature Observation Forest 横浜自然観察の森 in the South Forests of Yokohama are so strict for ways to stroll in the place. (“Don’t touch,” “don’t scratch,” etc.) Yet, after so many school excursions and popularity as a part of the hiking course for Yokohama-Kamakura Alps, the place sometimes has a feel as a “well-organized park.” Niiharu Lovers are worrying the effects of regular treading, since Niiharu becomes so popular these days not only for 3 million citizens of Yokohama, but even among Tokyonites ... The current charm of Kamikawai Forest might be due to its debutant status for the Citizen Forest system of Yokohama. But if it is so, it’s a pity. How can we preserve the softness of trekking routes surrounded by magnificent ferns in Kamikawai Citizen Forest?

If you find a problem in the North Forests of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-311-2016

FAX: 045-316-8420