Poet and travel writer Omachi Keigetsu 1869-1925
The poet and travel writer Omachi Keigetsu has traveled to and climbed many mountains throughout Hokkaido. In the essay ""From Sounkyo to Daisetsuzan (Chuokoron)"", which was published in 1923, there is a famous line, “If you wish to know the height of a mountain, climb Mt. Fuji. If you wish to know the scale of a mountain, climb the Daisetsuzan Mountain Range”. At the Hagoromo-no-Taki Falls, Omachi expressed the beauty of the falls – which is reminiscent of the Milky Way falling – in a poem, linking it to the line ""Could this be the Milky Way?"" from the Chinese poem “Admiring the Waterfall at Lu Mountain” by Li Bai.
Novelist Togawa Yukio 1912-2004
Kibao Monogatari, which is one of the most famous works of Togawa Yukio, who was a prominent author of novels about animals, is set in the Daisetsuzan Mountain Range, and features Kiba as the main character, a cross between a wolf and a dog. This story was serially published in the evening edition of Mainichi Shimbun for one year starting in December 1956. Afterwards, it was also turned into a manga, conveying, throughout Japan, the attractiveness of Tenninkyo and the Daisetsuzan Mountain Range at the time in the form of literature and cartoon strips. In 2018, a reprint was published. In 1965, Togawa also became famous for discovering the iriomoteyamaneko (Iriomote cat), which later became a protected native species of Japan.
"Opening and Development of Tenninkyo Onsen", Matsuyama Tamezo and Sato Monji
In 1897, Matsuyama Tamezo, who ran a Japanese-style inn in Asahikawa, was exploring the upstream part of the Chubetsu River under the guidance of the Ainu, and discovered a then-unknown gushing hot spring. Three years later, in 1900, Matsuyama opened the “Matsuyama Onsen (present-day Tenninkyo Onsen)”, and became known as the founder of the hot springs. In 1941, Sato Monji purchased “Taisetsu-sou (formerly Matsuyama Onsen)”, founded the Tenninkyo Onsen Co. Ltd., and the speed at which the area developed, increased.
