Iwatayama Monkey Park Audio Guide

Monkey Park Iwatayama: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Monkey Park Iwatayama

   Welcome to Monkey Park Iwatayama, known in Japanese as 嵐山モンキーパークいわたやま. It sits in Nishikyo Ward in western Kyoto, on Iwatayama, one of the subsidiary peaks of the Arashiyama mountain range. The park lies on the opposite side of the Oi River from the Arashiyama train station, so you reach it by leaving the busy riverside behind and heading up the hillside. The park is built around a troop of more than 100 wild Japanese macaques, about 120 in all. They are not caged. They roam freely across the grounds, and you come to them rather than the other way around. The visitor center stands on the mountainside at an elevation of 160 meters, scattered with cherry and Japanese maple trees, and it looks out over the city of Kyoto. Over the next few minutes we will look at how this troop came to be watched and fed on this hill, the unusual rules that keep monkeys and people at ease with one another, and the scientists whose work still shapes the place. Let's start with a surprisingly personal detail: nearly every monkey here has a name.

2. 02

   From Mountain Troop to Public Park

   The story begins in 1954, when researchers from the science faculty of Kyoto University started feeding the wild Japanese macaques of Iwatayama. Food drew the monkeys to a feeding place, and once they gathered there reliably, the site could be prepared for visitors. In March 1957 it opened to the public as a park, covering roughly 6,000 square meters. The land itself came from a local businessman named Sonosuke Iwata, whose family name is also the name of the mountain. He donated the ground where the park and its visitor facilities now stand, and he financially supported the park's operations until 1974. Then, because of financial difficulties, the park was sold to Kyoto City. The early years were not entirely smooth. At the start about 50 macaques were counted, and the troop grew so much that at one point it caused crop damage in the surrounding area. Today about 120 monkeys live here, and the way people behave around them is a large part of why that arrangement works.

3. 03

   Science on the Hillside

   Monkey Park Iwatayama is not only a place to watch monkeys. It grew alongside serious science. Primatologists from Kyoto University began studying these macaques in 1954 and helped open the facility in 1957. From around that time, the park staff began giving a name to every monkey in the troop, which is a way of knowing animals as individuals rather than as a crowd. University researchers still come regularly to study the macaques. The troop's wider story is even older than the park. Before the park existed, the wild macaques of Arashiyama had barely been studied. A survey in 1951 had found only droppings. A researcher named Naonosuke Mano, who took on the fieldwork, spent two months searching the mountains without seeing a single monkey. He gathered local sightings and drew a blank map on which to record his data. Then he found fresh droppings and feeding traces at a valley on the border with Kameoka, and later, after a tip from a boatman on the Hozu River, he finally met the troop in the national forest of Arashiyama. The troop's range was once much larger. It was recorded as stretching from Iwatayama in the east, across the mountains of Kutan Tamba in the west, to the Oeda and Ohara area in the south. Today it is limited to the Arashiyama national forest and a narrow area around Iwatayama, less than one seventh of what it once was.

4. 04

   Living Beside the Monkeys

   What makes Monkey Park Iwatayama feel different from a zoo is the lack of fences. The monkeys move freely through the grounds, and sometimes they come up very close to you. That works because of a firm principle: people must never harm the monkeys. Because this rule has been enforced consistently, the macaques have stopped fearing humans, and they do not attack them either. There are a few simple manners to follow. Do not stare at the monkeys from close range, and do not touch them. Follow those guidelines and the encounter stays safe and calm for both sides. Feeding is part of the experience here. From the visitor center you can watch the staff feed the troop, and you can also give food to the monkeys, which is sold at the shop. The center sits partway up the mountain, so as the macaques gather, you have a view over Kyoto spreading out behind them. In spring the cherry trees on the slope add color, and the Japanese maples do the same in autumn.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   As you look out over Kyoto from the slope of Iwatayama, it is worth remembering how much history is packed into this one hillside. A troop that scientists once spent months searching for in vain is now a group of about 120 macaques that you can watch at close range. Take a moment to notice the individuals. Every monkey in the troop has been given a name since the park's early days, and you may see the differences in how they move, rest, and interact. Notice too how calmly they share the space with people, a result of decades of the same simple rule. And as you make your way back down toward the river, you might wonder what the Arashiyama troop's wider mountain range looked like when it stretched so much further than it does now. That question is part of what keeps this small hillside interesting long after the visit.