This festival is dedicated to Engelbert Kaempfer(1651-1716) who introduced the natural world of Hakone to the world in the 17th century, and Cyri Montague Birnie(1868-1958) who loved Hakone and preached the importance of natural conservation in the Taisho Period.
When the Queen Elizabeth visited Japan in 1975 she quoted from Kaempfer's book in her speech. The same quotation was carved in a stone monument built in Hakone in 1922. The local people found out about it and started this festival to conserve nature in Hakone.