Midorogaike Pond: Kyoto’s Most Haunted Pond

 Midorogaike Pond thrives in the north of Kyoto city, surrounded by lush greenery and vibrant wildlife. This pond is famous not only for its serene beauty but also for its intriguing reputation as a haunted site. 

Midorogaike Pond

Midorogaike Pond is located about a 10-minute walk north of Kitayama Station. During the walk, you’ll pass through a residential area, and the pond sits at the end of this path. Surprisingly, the pond is not very large. 

In the Kansai region, many ponds (especially manmade ponds) are inaccessible, but Midorogaike Pond is open for public use. It is a quiet place with a unique atmosphere that some might describe as a bit eerie.

This pond is about 100,000 years old and appears in a lot of literature. It is a pond that is very familiar to Kyoto residents. But I think Midorogaike Pond is of a marsh than a pond. 

The Haunting of Midorogaike Pond 

The story of Midorogaike Pond goes like this: 

Once upon a time, a woman got into a cab on a rainy night in Kyoto. She asked the driver to take her to Midorogaike Pond. The driver wondered why she was going there in the middle of the night but decided to drive her there anyway.

The inside of the car was very quiet. At one point, the driver glanced at the backseat in the rearview mirror and noticed that the woman had disappeared. Looking around, he saw that no one was in the car. When he checked the backseat, he found wet hair stuck to the seat.

It is one of the urban legends that people in Kyoto are very familiar with, and there is a rumor that if you take a cab from Kyoto Station to Midorogaike Pond at night, the driver might refuse to go there. 

Flora and Fauna

Despite its reputation for its spooky story, Midorogaike Pond’s primary function is as a nature preserve that serves as a habitat for a diverse array of creatures. 

The pond is particularly famous for brasenia, or more commonly junsai in Kyoto, and is frequently added to soups. Due to its slimy texture and difficulty to grab with chopsticks.  People in Kyoto often use the expression “like junsai” to describe people who are hard to understand.

Junsai flowers bloom all over the pond from early summer through autumn.

If you look closely at the pond, you will notice an island in the middle. In fact, it is a floating island! Over the long history of the pond, dead plants have accumulated on the surface of the water, creating these floating islands where a wide variety of plants thrive. 

However, it is impossible to stand on the floating island, as it is just a mass of plant matter. If you want to get a better view, try to head to the boardwalk that circles the pond, but even then, it can be challenging to see without binoculars.

Dead End?

After about a 5-minute walk, the boardwalk reaches the opposite shore of the pond and the path abruptly ends.

It seems that it is not possible to go all around the pond. It is also a little creepy that there is nothing to indicate this is the end of the walk nor is this even the path.