The elegant swimming of colorful koi fish in the pond, as if passing through water lilies blooming in a highly transparent spring, resembles Monet’s famous work ‘Water Lilies.’ The unnamed pond at Nemichi Shrine in Itatori, Seki City, Gifu Prefecture has come to be called ‘Monet’s Pond’ by people over time. In 1999, the pond was overgrown with weeds, but Mr. Satomaro Kobayashi, the owner of Flower Park Itatori, a nearby flower seedling production and sales company, cleared the weeds and planted water lilies and kouhone. Local residents then brought koi fish that they could no longer keep at home and set free them to the pond. Originally, the pond was created by the spring water from the nearby Itatori River, and it quickly transformed into ‘Monet’s Pond.’ Before long, the information spread rapidly through newspapers, TV shows, and even national broadcasts on NHK, and it became a major tourist attraction with 3.36 million visitors in 2016, seven years later.

透明度の高い湧水に咲く睡蓮をくぐる様に、池の中を優雅に錦鯉が泳ぐ姿はまるでモネの代表作「睡蓮」のよう。岐阜県関市板取の根道神社の名もなき池はいつの間にか人が「モネの池」と呼ぶ様になりました。1999年、池は雑草が生い茂っていましたが、近くで花苗の生産販売をする「フラワーパーク板取」の経営者、小林佐富朗氏が除草を行い、スイレンやコウホネを植えました。そこに地元住民が自宅で飼えなくなって錦鯉持ち込みました。元々、近くを流れる板取川の湧水でできた池でしたので、瞬く間に「モネの池」に変身したのです。いつしか新聞や情報番組、さらにはNHKテレビの全国放送にも取り上げれるにおよんで情報が一気に拡散、７年後の2016年には336万人もの観光客が訪れる一大観光スポットになったのです。