Tadewara Marsh

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

TadewaraRamsar siteKujumarshboardwalk

Photo: Raita Futo from Tokyo, Japan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) · original

Tadewara Marsh is one of the reasons Oita keeps coming up whenever the conversation turns to Japan's landscapes.

Tadewara is one of the largest intermediate marshes in Japan, sitting at about 1,000 metres on the Handa highland at the foot of the Kuju range, and it was listed under the Ramsar Convention in 2005 together with the Bogatsuru marsh higher up. What makes it unusual is that it is not natural in the sense of being left alone: the grassland and marsh have been maintained for centuries by controlled burning every spring, and without that annual fire the whole basin would revert to forest within a few decades.

Boardwalks cross the marsh in three loops of increasing length, the shortest of them fully step-free. The plant list runs to hundreds of species with a strong showing of grassland specialists that have disappeared from most of Japan, and the Kuju peaks stand directly behind, which makes the flat easy walking disproportionately rewarding.

Plan your visit

Time to allow

1–1.5 hours

Hours

Open at all hours | Chojabaru Visitor Centre hours vary — confirm before travelling

Closed: Open year-round; boardwalks can be icy in winter

Best time to visit

Late September–November for autumn grassland | June–August for marsh flowers | March–April for the controlled burning

Entry fee

Free | Free parking at Chojabaru

Finding your way there

Access notes

Tano, Kokonoe Town, Kusu District, at the Chojabaru area in Aso-Kuju National Park. By car from Kokonoe Interchange; buses between Beppu and Kumamoto stop at Chojabaru. Free and open at all hours. Three boardwalk loops: about 800 m step-free, roughly 20 minutes; about 1,500 m, roughly 40 minutes; about 2,500 m, roughly 60 minutes. Chojabaru Visitor Centre beside the trailhead has exhibitions and free parking — confirm its current opening hours before travelling.

Beyond the guidebook

**The burning is in spring and it is the reason the marsh exists.** Controlled fires clear the basin around March and April. The blackened ground looks like destruction and is the opposite; the grassland flora depends on it. **Autumn grass is the signature.** Silver plumes across the whole basin from late September into November with the Kuju range behind, which is the image the national park uses. **The 800-metre loop is genuinely step-free.** Rare for a Japanese mountain wetland and worth knowing if the party includes a wheelchair or a pushchair. **Start at the visitor centre.** It explains the burning, the Ramsar listing and what is in flower that week, and the boardwalks make much more sense afterwards. **Kuju trailheads start here.** Chojabaru is the standard access point for the range, including the climb to Bogatsuru and the Kuju peaks. If the marsh has you looking uphill, this is where you would begin.

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