Oita · TakasakiyamaNo.916★★★Open in map →
Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden
— Wild macaque troops on a mountain, and no cages
A hill of wild Japanese macaques between Oita and Beppu, where two troops walk down to a clearing to be fed and visitors stand among them with nothing in between. The park counts them, names them and explains their politics.
- FromOita Station
- ~25 minOita Kotsu bus, coast road
- Get off atTakasakiyama (Oita Kotsu bus)
- From there
- Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden
Where it is
12 more notes in Oita · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Park entrancethe ticket windows on the mountain side of Route 10, below the wooded slope
- Sarukko Raila small monorail up the hillside, the alternative to walking the path
- Saruyoseba, the feeding groundthe open clearing where the troops come down and the keepers scatter grain
- Challenge cornera daily demonstration of the animals' problem-solving and climbing, weather allowing
- Takasakiyama Osaru-kanthe free exhibition hall across the road, holding the first alpha male's skeleton
How to actually get there
- Oita Station → Takasakiyama (Oita Kotsu bus signed for Sekinoe, Kannawa or Kunisaki).
- Cross to the mountain side of Route 10 and buy a ticket at the entrance.
- Walk up to the feeding ground, or take the monorail and save the climb.
- On the way out, cross back for the free exhibition hall beside the aquarium.
- Oita Kotsu bus from Oita Station
- Oita Station →(Oita Kotsu bus, about twenty-five minutes)→ Takasakiyama. Take a service signed for Sekinoe, Kannawa or Kunisaki; they all run the coast road that links Oita with Beppu, and the park has its own stop on it. The same road carries the airport bus, so the park is easy to fold into an arrival or departure day.
- On to Beppu, or back to Oita
- Buses run both ways along the same coast road, which makes this a stop between the two cities rather than an out-and-back trip. From Beppu Station the ride is the shorter one, about fifteen minutes on a service signed for Oita Station.
About the place
Takasakiyama is a round wooded hill of 628 metres standing between Oita and Beppu, and the macaques on it are wild. Nothing is fenced and nothing is enclosed. Two troops, known simply as B and C, come down from the forest to a clearing at the foot of the slope where staff scatter grain, and visitors stand a few paces away on the same ground. A keeper narrates while the animals feed: who is grooming whom, which animal is being given room. What you are watching is a society rather than a collection.
How to enjoy it
The gate is open from 9:00 to 17:00 every day, with last entry at 16:30. From the entrance the feeding ground is about six minutes uphill on foot, or four minutes on the monorail beside the path. The stronger troop tends to arrive in the morning and hand the ground over to the other around midday, so coming before noon and staying an hour gives you a chance at both. The challenge corner runs at 14:40.
Background & history
Monkeys were part of the hill's reputation long before the park: a local gazetteer of 1698 already noted how many lived here. The site itself began as pest control. Post-war raids on farms led the mayor of Oita to try feeding the animals in one place instead of shooting them, and with a priest from the temple at the foot of the slope he started putting out food in 1952. The park opened the following year with a single troop of 220. It split twice, lost its founding troop in 2002, and kept the two that come down today.
Before you go
- Cash
- Admission is 500 yen for adults and 250 yen for high-school age, with children below primary-school age free and lower rates for groups of twenty or more. The window takes cards, transport IC and QR payments; the car park, shared with the aquarium next door, takes cash only.
- Before you go
- The park opens every day, though hours shift over Golden Week and the Obon holiday and a few unscheduled closures fall each year. The monorail stops in bad weather and for maintenance. The feeding ground is open hillside with little shelter, so rain is felt.
- Another way
- By car it is about twenty-five minutes from either Beppu or Oita interchange on the expressway. From Oita Airport the access bus toward Oita Station takes roughly fifty minutes to the same stop, and from the ferry terminal at Beppu International Tourist Port it is about twenty minutes by bus.
- After you get off
- The stop sits on Route 10 directly below the park. Cross to the mountain side and the ticket windows are a minute along the frontage, with the monorail platform behind them; the exhibition hall and the aquarium are on the sea side, so leave them for the way out.