Jigokudani Yaen Kōen

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View of the Jigokudani Onsen Korakukan in the gorge of the Yokoyu River

Jigokudani Yaen Kōen ( Japanese 地獄 谷 野 猿 公 苑 , English  Jigokudani Monkey Park ) is a facility for observing wild monkeys in Nagano Prefecture on the Japanese main island of Honshū . It belongs to the Jōshin'etsu-Kōgen National Park and is located in a gorge of the Yokoyu River, not far from the city of Yamanouchi . The facility is best known for the wild Japanese macaques ( Makaka fuscata ), which come from the mountains of Nagano to the hot springs in the park in winter to bathe there.

The Jigokudani Yaen Kōen was founded in 1964, although the monkeys came to the hot springs to bathe before that time. The facility consists of a system of paths, bridges, an artificial water basin, and a visitor house where tickets and souvenirs can be purchased. Originally, the Japanese macaques were only seen in winter because they spent the rest of the year in more remote mountain regions. In the meantime, the monkeys are being fed by employees of the Jigokudani Yaen Kōen, so that they can sometimes be observed outside of the winter months. The animals are wild and can climb the steep walls of the gorge at any time or follow the Yokoyu River upstream to greater heights. Visitors get to the facility via the opening part of the valley (and thus in the opposite direction to the monkeys' usual route), and they have to walk a 30- to 40-minute hike. In front of the park is an onsen opened in 1864 , which offers visitors the opportunity to bathe in the hot springs and stay overnight. As the famous go pro Go Seigen stayed at this onsen numerous times, the inn is also popular with go players.

The Jigokudani Yaen Kōen gained greater fame through a cover page of the American magazine Life from 1970, which showed a Japanese macaque bathing in winter under the title “Ecology becomes everybody's business”. During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, numerous visitors to the games came to watch the monkeys in the Jigokudani Yaen Koen. A BBC documentary entitled Snow Monkeys from 2014, in which actor Liam Neeson acted as the narrator, reached a larger audience .

gallery

  • Japanese macaques bathing in the hot springs

  • Visitors photographing the macaques

  • Young animal in Jigokudani Yaen Kōen

  • Video: Japanese macaques grooming in Jigokudani Yaen Kōen (1 minute 20 seconds, 47.8 MB)

Web links

Commons : Jigokudani Yaen-koen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b About JIGOKUDANI YAEN-KOEN on the official website of Jigokudani Yaen Kōen, last accessed on November 18, 2018.
  2. ↑ Further information under Snow Monkeys , description page of the Internet Movie Database , last accessed on November 18, 2018.

Coordinates: 36 ° 43 ′ 59 ″  N , 138 ° 27 ′ 48 ″  E