Nara City Tourism Association

Sarusawa-ike Pond is a pond with a circumference of 360 meters situated in Nara Park in Nara City, Nara Prefecture. The stunning reflection of Kohfukuji Temple's five-story pagoda and the surrounding willows on the water's surface is regarded as one of the "Eight Views of Nara."

Sarusawa-ike Pond is an artificial pond built in 749 as a pond for the Hojo-e ceremony of Kohfukuji Temple. Hojo-e is a religious ceremony in which captured creatures are released back into the wild and all living things are cherished.

On the north side of Sarusawa-ike Pond are the five-story pagoda of Kohfukuji Temple and the stone steps known as the Goju-ni-dan, which comprise 52 steps. Sanjo-dori Street runs east-west between them and the pond, connecting JR Nara Station to the approach of Kasugataisha Shrine.

The seven mysteries of Sarusawa-ike Pond have been well-known since ancient times:

1. The water is never clear.

2. It is never muddy.

3. There is no river flowing into it.

4. No rivers are flowing out, yet the water level remains constant.

5. There are no frogs.

6. There is no algae.

7. Even though many fish are released into the pond each year, it is never overcrowded with fish.

Every autumn, on the day of the harvest moon, the Uneme Festival, an annual event at Uneme Shrine, located on the banks of the pond, is held.