Ebino Plateau (えびの高原　''ebinokōgen'', lit. “Plateau of Shrimp”) is a basin within the

Mount Kirishima are a 1700 meter high active volcano group in Kagoshima Prefecture and Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. Numerous eruptions have been recorded since 742. Very strong eruptions happened in 788, 1716 and 1717. Augite-hypersthene andesite is t ...

mountain ranges, situated in southern

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is surrounded by the Mount Shiratori (白鳥山 ''shiratoriayama''),

Mount Karakuni or Mount Karakuni (1,700m) is a volcano in Kagoshima and Miyazaki Prefectures, Japan. It is part of Kirishima-Yaku National Park. Name Karakunidake was named as such from two accounts before the Edo period: the first of which referred to the m ...

(韓国岳 ''karakunidake''), Mount Ebino (蝦野岳 ''ebinodake'') and Mount Koshiki (甑岳 ''koshikidake'') mountain peaks.

Environment

A field of susuki grass (''

Miscanthus sinensis ''Miscanthus sinensis'', the eulalia or Chinese silver grass, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, native to eastern Asia throughout most of China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. Description It is an herbaceous perennial gras ...

'') is located on the volcanic

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...

of the north-western slope of Mount Karakuni, and blooms red in autumn. The occurrence of the characteristic red hue is the result of a number of factors.

Sulfur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic activ ...

emitted from nearby Mount Iō (硫黄山 ''iōzan'') is

oxidized Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a d ...

to form diluted

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

, which is absorbed through the soil into the plant and used as

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical compo ...

s. Other factors include the plateau's high level of rainfall, the temperature decrease in autumn, and strong

ultraviolet rays Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation i ...

. Forestry in the surrounding hills consists of Japanese red pine trees (''

Pinus densiflora ''Pinus densiflora'', also called the Japanese red pine, the Japanese pine, or Korean red pine, is a species of pine tree native to East Asia. Distribution and habitat ''P. densiflora'' has a home range that includes Japan, the Korean Peninsula, ...

''). The area is known for its beauty, and has been selected as one of Japan's "100 Forest Therapy" forests ( 森林浴の森100選). A protected species of crab apple known as ''nokaidou'' ( ノカイドウ, ('' Malus spontanea'') is exclusively native the Ebino Plateau region. Other alpine vegetation found in the region includes clusters of Kyushu azalea (''

Rhododendron kiusianum ''Rhododendron kiusianum'', the Kyushu azalea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to Kyushu, Japan. It is a parent of a large number of hybrid dwarf azaleas. It is the official flower of Unzen, Nagasaki, and of Kagos ...

''), dwarf abelia (''

Abelia serrata ''Abelia'' is a previously recognized genus that contained about 30 species and hybrids, placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. Molecular phylogenetic studies showed that the genus was not monophyletic, and in 2013, Maarten Christ ...

''), false lily-of-the-valley (''

Maianthemum dilatatum ''Maianthemum dilatatum'' (snakeberry, two-leaved Solomon's seal or false lily of the valley) is a common rhizomatous perennial flowering plant that is native to western North America from northern California to the Aleutian islands, and Asia acr ...

''), and the perennial plant species '' Achizocodon soldanelloides''. Local fauna include

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

(''

Sus scrofa The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...

'') and the Kyushu sika deer ('' Cervus nippon nippon''). The autumn

mating call A mating call is the auditory signal used by animals to attract mates. It can occur in males or females, but literature is abundantly favored toward researching mating calls in females. In addition, mating calls are often the subject of mate choic ...

of the male deer was selected as one of the "

100 Soundscapes of Japan In 1996, as part of its efforts to combat noise pollution and to protect and promote protection of the environment, the Ministry of the Environment designated the . There were 738 submissions received from all over the country and the 100 "best" we ...

" (日本の音風景100選).

History

According to a common theory, Ebino Plateau was named for the susuki grass fields that bloom red in autumn. The color can be likened to that of shrimp, which are called “ebi” (蝦) in Japanese. However, whether this is true or not is unknown, and an alternate theory suggests that the

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

of the name comes from the area being at the foot of the volcanic Mount Karakuni, which overlooks

Kagoshima Bay also known as Kinkō Bay, is a deep inlet of the East China Sea on the coast of Japan.''Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition'', p. 562. Kagoshima Bay is on the south coast of the island of Kyūshū. The port city of Kagoshi ...

. If this version were to be taken as true, the name would still have been be read as “ebino” (江火野), but originally written with characters meaning “bay” (江), “fire” (火) (taken from the word “volcano” (火山)), and “field” (野). During the mid-10th century, the

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monk Shoku ( 性空 ''shōkū'') went to Ebino Plateau to train. The

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contrast ...

(島津氏) were also known to frequently visit the area. Sulfur

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

has been carried out in the vicinity of Mount Io since the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

. Since the 1950s,

Miyazaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 7,735 km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefecture borders Ōita Prefecture to the north, Kuma ...

(宮崎県 ''miyazaki ken'') has worked to develop Ebino Plateau as one of its key tourist destinations. Though originally there were only cabins designed to accommodate sulfur miners, in 1951 many Russian-style mountain huts were built around Fudo Lake (不動池 ''fudō ike'') and began to attract hikers. Prefectural lodgings and a prefectural road leading from the town of Iinomachi (飯野町 ''īnomachi'') were both opened in 1953. Access was improved in 1958, when the North Kirishima Toll Road （県道1号） was opened. Additionally, prominent Japanese businessman Shotaro Iwakiri ( 岩切章太郎 ''iwakiri shōtarō'') commissioned the construction of the Ebino Plateau Hotel (えびの高原ホテル). Known as the Kirishima Plateau Hotel (霧島高原ホテル) at the time, it was developed as a health resort. Initially, there was little public awareness of these tourism developments. This began to change when the western regional director of the now-defunct

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(日本国有鉄道 ''nihon kokuyū tetsudō'') visited the area, and affectionately nicknamed the local express train "Ebino". Following this, the awareness and popularity of Ebino Plateau began to increase nationwide.岩切章太郎　「えびの高原のあゆみ」　『霧島山総合調査報告書』

References

{{coord missing, Kagoshima Prefecture Landforms of Kagoshima Prefecture Plateaus of Japan