The Winter the Lake Rumbled — Memories of Frozen Lake Haruna
When I was a child, I took it for granted that Lake Haruna would freeze in winter. Several skating rinks appeared on the lake, and go-karts ran on the ice. Even our elementary school sports day took place there. Tents set up by people fishing for smelt were another familiar winter sight.
These days, winters when the lake freezes enough for ice fishing are rare. If you visit in winter for the first time, it may surprise you to hear we used to hold a school sports day here. I want to write down the sound of the lake and the winters when people gathered on the ice, while I still remember them.
The lake let out a rumble
A low boom would come from the lake. When I think of frozen Lake Haruna, I hear that sound before I picture the view. Was ice forming or cracking? I have no way of knowing now, but as a child I heard it as the lake itself rumbling.
Lake Haruna sits at 1,084 metres above sea level. An old observation report held by the University of Tokyo describes ice splitting and buckling near the centre of the lake. It is a record of a different winter from the one I remember hearing, but it shows how the ice could still move after the lake froze.
Another town grew on the ice
There were several skating rinks on the winter lake I remember. People went skating and drove go-karts, and my elementary school held its sports day on the ice. Every winter the lake we usually looked out on from the shore became a place to gather. It felt as if another town had grown on the ice.
Records show people gathering on the ice long before my childhood. In January 1943, Lake Haruna hosted ice hockey at the winter edition of the 13th Meiji Shrine National Training Games. A 2,500-metre skating track was laid out for a team endurance race, and local residents and middle school pupils helped clear the snow.
The television cameras came
I remember television crews often coming to the lake in winter. One programme name that has stayed with me is Dokusen! Onna no 60-pun. I have not been able to verify the episode or its air date, so I am recording it here as a personal memory.
TV Tokyo’s own archive records a 2006 episode of Saturday Special that featured smelt fishing and go-karting on frozen Lake Haruna.
Anglers gathered on the white lake
Drill a hole in the ice and lower a line. Tents dotted the lake, which was busy with people fishing for smelt. In the busiest years, I remember tens of thousands of anglers going out onto the ice. We usually took boats out on that water. When it froze, people walked across it and fished through holes at their feet. I grew up watching that scene from the shore.
Winters when the lake rarely freezes enough
Ice fishing for smelt opened on 30 January 2018 for the first time in seven years. Reports at the opening put the ice at around 25 centimetres at its thickest. Fishing continued until 25 February. A February 2025 release from Takasaki City records seven consecutive cancellations after that season.
The skating rinks, the tents across the white lake, and that low boom. The sound and the view live in my memory now. That is why I am writing them down.