Futatabi Park, Futatabiyama Permanent Vegetation

Futatabi Park, Mt. Futatabi Permanent Vegetation Preservation Area, and Kobe Foreign Cemetery: A Living Memorial in the Forest of Modern Japan

Hidden in the green folds of the Rokkō Mountains, just twenty minutes by car from the bustle of Sannomiya, lies one of Japan's most quietly remarkable cultural landscapes. Futatabi Park (Futatabi-kōen) wraps around a serene reservoir called Shiogahara Pond, set among forests that were once stripped bare and then patiently brought back to life through more than a century of human care. Within the same designated area rises the Mt. Futatabi Permanent Vegetation Preservation Area, where Japan's first urban-scale reforestation experiment took root in 1902. And tucked into the northern half of the park, beneath century-old trees, the Kobe Municipal Foreign Cemetery holds the graves of nearly 2,900 people from sixty-one countries, many of whom shaped modern Japanese life in ways still tasted, worn, and watched today.

Together, these three elements were designated as a National Place of Scenic Beauty (Meishō) in February 2007, and the park itself had already become, in 2006, the very first urban park in Japan to be entered on the national register of monuments for its scenic value. Few places weave nature, civic engineering, and the human stories of Japan's opening to the world quite so seamlessly.

From Bare Slopes to a Reborn Forest

To understand why this park matters, picture Kobe in the late 19th century. After the port opened to foreign trade on January 1, 1868, the narrow strip of city wedged between sea and mountain grew explosively. Demand for construction timber and firewood surged, and the Rokkō range behind the city was logged at a relentless pace. By the turn of the century, the slopes around Mt. Futatabi (470 meters) had been reduced largely to bare rock and exposed soil, with frequent landslides threatening the city below and water sources running brown.

In 1902 (Meiji 35), the city embarked on what would become a landmark in Japanese environmental history: a coordinated reforestation programme covering roughly 600 hectares. Stone retaining walls were built to stabilize the slopes, and more than twenty species of trees—including ornamental varieties chosen for landscape beauty—were planted in carefully designed compositions. This was the first vegetation-restoration project ever undertaken in the Rokkō range, and the methods pioneered here became a model for forest recovery throughout urban Japan. Walking the old "Futatabi-goe" path between the Rokkō Traverse and the park, observant visitors can still spot the Meiji-era stone terraces among the roots of the trees they were built to nurture.

Shiogahara Pond was added as a reservoir to secure clean drinking water and to slow the runoff that had caused such damaging floods. By 1937 (Shōwa 12), with the forest sufficiently restored, the area was officially opened as Futatabi Park. In 1974, after the Japan meeting of the International Vegetation Society held a field excursion here, the city designated a portion of the woods as the Mt. Futatabi Permanent Vegetation Preservation Area, and ecologists have surveyed the soil and plant life every five years since—an ongoing scientific record that informs how the entire Rokkō range is cared for today.

Why It Was Designated a Place of Scenic Beauty

The Agency for Cultural Affairs cites two intertwined values for the designation. The first is historical: the slopes around Mt. Futatabi represent the inaugural large-scale forest restoration in the Rokkō range and an early milestone in Japan's modern park and landscape culture. The second is aesthetic. The official wording praises the area for "outstanding scenic beauty and design conception, with high artistic and ornamental value"—a recognition that the forest, the pond, and the cemetery were composed with intention, not simply allowed to happen.

The Foreign Cemetery's inclusion in the designation adds a third layer: this is also a landscape that narrates Kobe's emergence as one of Japan's principal windows on the world. As a single integrated monument, it speaks at once to environmental restoration, to the development of the modern Japanese city, and to the international encounters that shaped early modern Japanese culture.

Highlights to Look For

Shiogahara Pond and the Reflections of Mt. Futatabi

The pond is the visual heart of the park. In spring, azaleas line its banks; in autumn, maples and other broadleaf species set the entire shore aflame, making this one of the finest autumn-foliage spots in the Rokkō range. Reflections of Mt. Futatabi shift through the day with the light, and in the early morning a thin mist often hovers over the water. The pond's name "Shiogahara" comes from the tradition that the monk Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) carried out Buddhist rites here before his journey to Tang China.

The Story Behind the Name "Futatabi" — "Twice"

"Futatabi" literally means "once again." According to local tradition, the great Heian-period monk Kūkai prayed at this mountain for the success of his voyage to China; on his safe return, he climbed the same peak a second time to give thanks and perform the rites once more. The mountain has been called Futatabi—"twice climbed"—ever since.

The Foreign Cemetery's Chapel and Viewing Terrace

Although the cemetery itself is closed to general entry except on guided open days, a chapel and viewing terrace on the high ground above are open to all visitors (10:00–16:30, closed December–March). From here you can look down across the gravestones rising in tiers among the trees, and a video introduces the history of the cemetery and the people interred there. This is the best place to grasp the visual composition of the cemetery within its forest setting.

Stone Terraces of the Meiji Reforestation

Along the old Futatabi-goe pass, the dry-stone retaining walls built in 1902 still hold the slope. They are unobtrusive but, once you know to look, they appear at almost every bend in the trail—a quiet, durable monument to the gardeners and engineers of more than a century ago.

The Foreign Cemetery: People Who Shaped Modern Japan

The Kobe Foreign Cemetery began with the very first Christmas of the treaty era. On December 25, 1867, the first burial took place at Onohama, near the foreign settlement; from 1899, burials shifted to a second site at Kasugano, and from 1952 to 1961 both were consolidated at the present site beside Shiogahara Pond. About 14 hectares of forested slope now hold the graves of roughly 2,900 people from sixty-one countries.

Among those interred are figures whose work continues to flavour daily life in Japan:

• John Marshall — first harbour master of the Port of Kobe.
• Edward Hazlett Hunter — pioneer of the Japanese shipbuilding industry, founder of the firm that would become Hitachi Zosen.
• Alexander Cameron Sim — Scottish chemist credited with introducing the popular soft drink "ramune" to Japan and a co-founder of the Kobe Regatta and Athletic Club, an early hub of modern sport in Japan.
• Valentin Fyodorovich Morozoff — Russian confectioner whose family business helped popularize Western-style chocolates and is widely associated with introducing the Japanese custom of giving chocolates on Valentine's Day.
• Heinrich Freundlieb — German baker who shaped the very style of bread now considered classic in Kobe.
• Walter R. Lambuth and James W. Lambuth — missionary educators, founders of Kwansei Gakuin, one of western Japan's leading private universities.
• Eliza Talcott — American missionary, founder of Kobe College (Kobe Jogakuin), an early institution of higher education for women.
• Edward B. Clarke — credited with introducing rugby football to Japan.

The cemetery also holds the graves of eleven French sailors killed in the 1868 Sakai Incident; French naval crews calling at Kobe still visit them when in port.

Visitor Information

How to Get There

Futatabi Park sits in Yamada-chō, Kita Ward, in the hills behind central Kobe. The most popular route is the Kobe City Bus No. 25 from JR Sannomiya Station heading toward the Forest Botanical Garden; alight at the "Futatabi-kōen" stop after about 30 minutes (the bus operates only on weekends and public holidays from April through November and is suspended in winter). On weekdays or out of season, a taxi from Sannomiya is the most reliable option, taking around 20 minutes.

When to Visit

Each season has its character. April and May bring fresh foliage and azaleas around the pond; June and July are deeply green and a little cooler than the city below. Autumn—from late October through November—is justly famous for its maples and is widely considered the most beautiful time. Mobile phone reception is patchy in the upland sections, so download maps in advance.

Seeing the Foreign Cemetery

The cemetery itself opens to the public, by reservation only, on the fourth Sunday of each month from April to June and from September to November (closed in midsummer for heat-stroke prevention and in winter for lack of bus service). Free guided tours are conducted in Japanese; details and applications are accepted through the Kobe city tourism office. Even outside open days, the chapel and viewing terrace on the upper grounds may be visited freely during posted hours.

What Not to Do

Barbecuing, fireworks, fishing, and camping are not permitted within Futatabi Park. Dogs must be kept on a lead. The cemetery requests that photography be limited and conducted with respect for the site.

Around the Park

Futatabi Park sits at the heart of one of Kobe's most rewarding hinterlands. Just below the park, the historic Tairyū-ji temple—long associated with the monk Kūkai—offers a striking contrast in mood. A short drive or a moderate hike brings you to the Kobe Municipal Forest Botanical Garden, with its remarkable collection of trees from around the world. The Nunobiki Falls and the Nunobiki Herb Garden, accessible by ropeway from the city, make a fine pairing for a longer day in the hills. And down at sea level, the Kitano district of historic Western residences—home to the families of many of those buried in the cemetery—offers a vivid sense of the city this landscape was made to serve.