nagatoro | Japanese Countryside Travel Notes

Nagatoro, located a short distance downstream from the center of Chichibu, is famous for its boat trips down the rapids and is also renowned for its dense cherry blossoms. Incidentally, while boat trips down the river are great, I also recommend rafting in the middle of summer and jumping into the Arakawa River midway through. Now, even in areas with a high concentration of cherry blossoms, the cherry blossom areas are spread out over a wide area, so you’ll get tired of walking unless you narrow down your area based on information about when the blossoms are in full bloom.

North cherry blossoms Street in Nagatoro (4)

North cherry blossoms Street in Nagatoro (5)

North cherry blossoms Street in Nagatoro (3)

North cherry blossoms Street in Nagatoro (6)

nagatoro cherry blossoms area: source Nagatoro Turist Office

I recommend the 2.5-kilometer-long row of cherry trees along Kita-Sakura(North Cherry Blossoms) Street, which starts from Nagatoro Station to the next station, Nogami. The tunnel of cherry blossoms stretches on and on, and when you try to take a picture of it, a car or motorcycle inevitably gets in the shot because it’s so long and unobstructed.

North cherry blossoms Street in Nagatoro (1)approach to Mt.Hoto

weeping cherry blossoms in Seiunji temple (2) — Go back to itinerary

Chichibu is a place where you can see that the ocean floor strata have sunk beneath the Japanese archipelago due to the mantle, and have come to the surface. The limestone from Mt. Buko, which is still being scraped away, was a concrete material that supported Japan’s period of high economic growth, but it originally came from coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean.

nagatoro2 legs holding on — legs holding on crystalline schist

Nagatoro’s rock tatami is made of crystalline schist, which forms thin horizontal cracks (like puff pastry) when the pressure on the rock that was buried deep underground is released.

nagatoro3 left

nagatoro4 right

nagatoro6 left

nagatoro7 right

nagatoro9

nagatoro8

nagatoro5 rever rafting

“Tsukinoishi Momiji Park” is literally translated in English to “moon stone and maple park.” “Moon stone! ” Does this indecates the first one collected by Apollo and exhibited at the Osaka Expo 1970 ? That’s what you could think. It’s confusing because it’s said to have been named after the phrase “moon stone” that appears in a haiku written by a Meiji haiku poet. Maple trees grow in clusters on the west bank of the Arakawa River that runs through Chichibu, so when you come up from the river, you can see the red leaves of the maple trees shining in the clear setting sun.