A prefectural rink 940 m up Mount Haruna with two indoor sheets and a 400 m outdoor oval
Ikaho Rink, formally the Gunma Prefectural Sports Center Ikaho Rink, stands 940 metres up on the slopes of Mount Haruna above the Ikaho hot-spring town, about 120 km from Tokyo. It opened in 1967 as the Ikaho Highland Skate Center and held the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships in 1993. It closed in 1999 for financial reasons and passed to the prefecture that August.
It has two indoor sheets of 58 by 28 metres, the first open from September to March and the second, for elite skaters, from October to the end of February, and a 400 metre outdoor oval open from mid-November to mid-February. Olympic medallists including Akira Kuroiwa, Toshiyuki Kuroiwa and Ayano Sato have trained or raced here.
Public skating uses the first indoor rink, or on a few days the second, and the Gunma Sports Association posts a monthly PDF that lists every day, including the closing days and the days given over to events. Mountain weather can keep the outdoor oval shut.
Admission, rentals and arrival details, researched from official rink information. Source checks stay current for 30 days.
Skating costs ¥1,250 for adults and ¥720 for high school students and younger when you enter from 9 am, and ¥930 and ¥510 when you enter from 5 pm; pre-school children and spectators are free. A prefectural rate gives half price to holders of a disability certificate and a carer, and to people aged 65 and over.
Source checked · · Official source
Hire skates cost ¥310 and come as figure skates for beginners from 15 to 30 cm, hockey skates from 23 to 29 cm, half-speed skates from 19 to 28 cm and speed skates from 20 to 28 cm.
Source checked · · Official source
Helmets, knee pads and elbow pads can be borrowed free of charge.
Source checked · · Official source
The car park is free and holds 80 cars and 10 buses.
Source checked · · Official source
Holders of a disability certificate and one carer, and people aged 65 and over, pay half price for skating.
Source checked · · Official source
A source check records what the rink published on that date. Session-specific booking details take precedence.